| Honorific-Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| The Lord Henley | |
| Honorific-Suffix: | PC |
| Office: | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy |
| Primeminister: | Theresa May |
| Term Start: | 27 October 2017 |
| Term End: | 26 July 2019 |
| Predecessor: | The Lord Prior of Brampton |
| Successor: | The Lord Duncan of Springbank |
| Office1: | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions |
| Primeminister1: | Theresa May |
| Term Start1: | 21 December 2016 |
| Term End1: | 15 June 2017 |
| Predecessor1: | The Lord Freud |
| Successor1: | The Baroness Buscombe |
| Office2: | Lord-in-waiting Government Whip |
| Primeminister2: | Theresa May |
| Term Start2: | 21 November 2016 |
| Term End2: | 20 June 2017 |
| Predecessor2: | The Lord Ashton of Hyde |
| Successor2: | The Baroness Vere of Norbiton |
| Primeminister3: | Margaret Thatcher |
| Term Start3: | 13 February 1989 |
| Term End3: | 24 July 1989 |
| Predecessor3: | New appointment |
| Successor3: | The Viscount Ullswater |
| Office4: | Minister of State for Crime Prevention and Antisocial Behaviour Reduction |
| Primeminister4: | David Cameron |
| Term Start4: | 16 September 2011 |
| Term End4: | 4 September 2012 |
| Predecessor4: | The Baroness Browning |
| Successor4: | Jeremy Browne |
| Office5: | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Resource Management, the Local Environment and Environmental Science |
| Primeminister5: | David Cameron |
| Term Start5: | 11 May 2010 |
| Term End5: | 16 September 2011 |
| Predecessor5: | The Lord Davies of Oldham |
| Successor5: | The Lord Taylor of Holbeach |
| Office6: | Opposition Chief Whip of the House of Lords |
| Leader6: | William Hague |
| Term Start6: | 3 December 1998 |
| Term End6: | 18 September 2001 |
| Predecessor6: | The Lord Strathclyde |
| Successor6: | The Lord Cope of Berkeley |
| Office7: | Minister of State for Education and Employment |
| Primeminister7: | John Major |
| Term Start7: | 6 July 1995 |
| Term End7: | 2 May 1997 |
| Predecessor7: | Ann Widdecombe |
| Successor7: | The Baroness Blackstone |
| Office8: | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence |
| Primeminister8: | John Major |
| Term Start8: | 20 July 1994 |
| Term End8: | 6 July 1995 |
| Predecessor8: | The Viscount Cranborne |
| Successor8: | The Earl Howe |
| Office9: | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment |
| Primeminister9: | John Major |
| Term Start9: | 16 September 1993 |
| Term End9: | 20 July 1994 |
| Predecessor9: | The Viscount Ullswater |
| Successor9: | James Paice |
| Office10: | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Social Security |
| Primeminister10: | Margaret Thatcher |
| Term Start10: | 25 July 1989 |
| Term End10: | 28 November 1990 |
| Predecessor10: | The Lord Skelmersdale |
| Successor10: | Ann Widdecombe |
| Office11: | Member of the House of Lords |
| Status11: | Lord Temporal |
| Term Label11: | as a hereditary peer |
| Term Start11: | 28 February 1978 |
| Term End11: | 11 November 1999 |
| Predecessor11: | The 7th Baron Henley |
| Successor11: | Seat abolished |
| Term Label12: | as an elected hereditary peer |
| Term Start12: | 11 November 1999 |
| 1Blankname12: | Election |
| 1Namedata12: | 1999 |
| Predecessor12: | Seat established |
| Birth Date: | 22 November 1953 |
| Party: | Conservative |
| Alma Mater: | Collingwood College, Durham |
Oliver Michael Robert Eden, 8th Baron Henley, 6th Baron Northington PC (born 22 November 1953), is a British hereditary peer and politician, who is a Conservative member of the House of Lords. He has served in a number of ministerial positions in the governments of Margaret Thatcher, John Major, David Cameron and Theresa May, most recently as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
Lord Henley served as a Minister of State at the Home Office with responsibility for Crime Prevention and Anti-Social Behaviour Reduction, a role in which he succeeded Lady Browning in September 2011 to September 2012.[1]
Lord Henley is the eldest son and fourth child of Michael, the seventh Baron, and Nancy Mary Walton. He was educated at Clifton College. He graduated from Collingwood College, Durham University, with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1975. He was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple in 1977.
Lord Henley succeeded to the peerage in 1977 upon the death of his father. An Irish peer, he is able to sit in the House of Lords by virtue of a United Kingdom peerage granted to the 3rd Baron Henley, namely Baron Northington. He was an elected County Councillor for Cumbria from 1986 to 1989. He was also at that time President of the Cumbria Association of Local Councils.
He served as a House of Lords whip under Margaret Thatcher from 1989 to July 1990. He then moved to become a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Social Security, retaining the position when John Major rose to power and serving until 1993. He was then briefly moved to the Department of Employment, when in 1994 he was again fleetingly moved to the Ministry of Defence. In 1995 he was promoted to Minister of State at the Department for Education and Employment, serving until the Conservative government lost the 1997 general election.
With the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999, Lord Henley along with almost all other hereditary peers lost his automatic right to sit in the House of Lords. He was however elected as one of the 92 hereditary peers to remain in the House of Lords pending completion of House of Lords reform. He first served as opposition spokesman for Home Affairs before becoming Opposition Chief Whip in the Lords from 1998 to 2001 and as Opposition spokesman for Justice from 2003 to 2010.
After the 6 May 2010 general election, Lord Henley was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in the Cameron Ministry. He was promoted to Minister of State at the Home Office on 16 September 2011, with special responsibility for crime prevention and anti-social behaviour reduction, replacing Baroness Browning who stepped down for health reasons.[2] He was a member of the Joint Committee on Human Rights until November 2016. On 21 November 2016, it had been announced that he had been appointed a Lord in Waiting, one of the government whips in the House of Lords.[3] In addition to that role, he was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions on 21 December 2016.[4]
He was appointed to the Privy Council (PC) in 2013.
Eden married Caroline Patricia Sharp, daughter of Alan G. Sharp, on 11 October 1984. The couple has four children. The family seat is Scaleby Castle, Carlisle.