Henry Brooke, Baron Brooke of Cumnor
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The Right Honourable The Lord Brooke of Cumnor CH PC |
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|---|---|
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| Home Secretary | |
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In office 14 July 1962 – 16 October 1964 |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Prime Minister |
Harold Macmillan Sir Alec Douglas-Home |
| Preceded by | Rab Butler |
| Succeeded by | Sir Frank Soskice |
| Chief Secretary to the Treasury | |
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In office 9 October 1961 – 13 July 1962 |
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| Chancellor | Selwyn Lloyd |
| Preceded by | Office created |
| Succeeded by | John Boyd-Carpenter |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 April 1903 |
| Died | 29 March 1984 (aged 80) |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | The Baroness Brooke of Ystradfellte |
| Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford |
Henry Brooke, Baron Brooke of Cumnor CH PC (9 April 1903 – 29 March 1984) was a British Conservative Party politician.
Brooke was educated at Marlborough College and Balliol College, Oxford.
Brooke became a founder of the Conservative Research Department in 1929. He was elected as a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewisham West in a 1938 by-election. He was an ardent defender of Neville Chamberlain in the debate of May 1940, just before the prime minister's fall from power, and Brooke himself was defeated in the 1945 general election. The next year he was elected to the London County Council, and served as Conservative leader on the council until 1951, continuing to serve on the Council and the Hampstead borough council until 1955.
Brooke returned to parliament in 1950, and entered Winston Churchill's government in 1954 as Financial Secretary to the Treasury. He continued in this job until 1957, when he became Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister of Welsh Affairs in the Macmillan government, entering the Cabinet, and in 1961 he became the first Chief Secretary to the Treasury. In 1962 he reached his highest level in government, becoming Home Secretary following Harold Macmillan's "Night of the Long Knives" when many senior ministers were sacked. As Home Secretary, Brooke was not particularly successful, and his actions caused controversy on several occasions, including a failure to provide adequate security for a state visit by King Paul and Queen Frederica of Greece. Brooke indeed is widely regarded as one of the worst Home Secretaries of the twentieth century.
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