Alistair Cooke, Baron Lexden

The Right Honourable The Lord Lexden OBE
Born	Alistair Basil Cooke (1945-04-20) 20 April 1945 (age 71)
Nationality	British
Occupation	Historian
Years active	1973 - present

Alistair Basil Cooke, Baron Lexden, OBE (born 20 April 1945), is a British historian, author and politician who sits as a Conservative life peer in the House of Lords.

Lord Lexden has been official historian of the Conservative Party since 2009; Consultant and Editor in Chief, Conservative Research Department since 2004 and official historian and archivist of the Carlton Club since 2007.

Cooke was born on 20 April 1945, second son of Dr Basil Cooke and Nancy Irene Cooke (née Neal). He was educated at the independent Framlingham College, Suffolk. He went on to study at Peterhouse, University of Cambridge, from which he graduated Master of Arts (MA) in 1970. He was a Lecturer and Tutor in Modern History at The Queen's University of Belfast from 1971–77 and was awarded a PhD from that institution in 1979.

Cooke worked as a desk officer within the Conservative Research Department from 1977-83. During this period he served as political advisor to Airey Neave, Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, 1977–79. He joined the Conservative Political Centre in 1983 as Assistant Director, becoming Deputy Director two years later and Director between 1988-97. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1988 New Year Honours. He was a founder, in 1997, and member since 2005 of the Conservative Party Archive Trust. He was Chairman of Trustees of the pressure group Friends of the Union between 1995–2003 and has been Senior Trustee of the T. E. Utley Memorial Fund since 2000.