The Right Honourable The Viscount Thurso PC |
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Chairman of the Finance and Services Committee | |
In office 6 May 2010 – 8 May 2015 |
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Preceded by | Sir Stuart Bell |
Succeeded by | Nick Brown |
Liberal Democrat Business, Innovation, and Skills Spokesman | |
In office 8 October 2008 – 13 May 2010 |
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Leader | Nick Clegg |
Preceded by | Sarah Teather |
Succeeded by | Vince Cable (2015) |
Liberal Democrat Transport Spokesman | |
In office 2003–2005 |
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Leader | Charles Kennedy |
Preceded by | Tom Brake |
Succeeded by | Don Foster |
Member of the House of Lords | |
Assumed office 19 April 2016 as an excepted hereditary peer |
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Preceded by | The Lord Avebury |
In office 31 October 1995 – 11 November 1999 as a hereditary peer |
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Preceded by | Robin Sinclair, 2nd Viscount Thurso |
Succeeded by | House of Lords Act 1999 |
Member of Parliament for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross |
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In office 7 June 2001 – 30 March 2015 |
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Preceded by | Robert Maclennan |
Succeeded by | Paul Monaghan |
Personal details | |
Born |
John Archibald Sinclair 10 September 1953 Thurso, Caithness, Scotland, UK |
Nationality | British |
Political party | Liberal Democrats |
Spouse(s) | Marion Sage (present Viscountess Thurso) |
Children | 1 daughter, 2 sons |
Alma mater | Eton |
John Archibald Sinclair, 3rd Viscount Thurso, PC (born 10 September 1953), known also as John Thurso, is a Scottish businessman, Liberal Democrat politician and hereditary peer.
Thurso is notable for having served in the House of Lords both before and after a period in the House of Commons. He first joined Parliament in the Lords as a hereditary peer between 1995 and 1999. Most hereditary peers were removed from Parliament following the House of Lords Act 1999. Subsequently, he was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross from the 2001 election until he was defeated in the 2015 election by SNP candidate Paul Monaghan. He was the fifth generation of the Sinclair family to represent the Caithness area in the House of Commons. In 2016, he returned to the House of Lords after winning a by-election to fill a vacancy among the remaining Liberal Democrat hereditary peers.
John Sinclair was educated in Thurso and at Eton College. Thurso joined the Savoy Group as a management trainee in 1972 and following this worked for many years in the hospitality industry. He was a manager at the Lancaster Hotel in Paris (1981–85) and founding the hotel at Cliveden (1985–92) before becoming CEO of Granfel Holdings, owners of East Sussex National Golf Course from 1992 to 1995. Finally from 1995 until his election to parliament in 2001 he was CEO of the Champneys Group. During his time in this job he featured in the TV documentary Trouble at the Top - Shape up with Lord Thurso.