Nicholas Ridley, Baron Ridley of Liddesdale
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The Right Honourable The Lord Ridley of Liddesdale PC |
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| Secretary of State for Trade and Industry | |
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In office 24 July 1989 – 13 July 1990 |
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| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | The Lord Young of Graffham |
| Succeeded by | Peter Lilley |
| Secretary of State for the Environment | |
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In office 21 May 1986 – 24 July 1989 |
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| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | Kenneth Baker |
| Succeeded by | Chris Patten |
| Secretary of State for Transport | |
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In office 11 June 1983 – 21 May 1986 |
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| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | Tom King |
| Succeeded by | John Moore |
| Financial Secretary to the Treasury | |
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In office 14 September 1981 – 11 June 1983 |
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| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | Nigel Lawson |
| Succeeded by | John Moore |
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Member of Parliament for Cirencester and Tewkesbury |
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In office 8 October 1959 – 9 April 1992 |
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| Preceded by | William Morrison |
| Succeeded by | Geoffrey Clifton-Brown |
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Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal |
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In office 28 July 1992 – 4 March 1993 Life peerage |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
17 February 1929 Northumberland, United Kingdom |
| Died | 4 March 1993 (aged 64) Carlisle, United Kingdom |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Clayre Campbell (1950–1974, divorced) |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford |
Nicholas Ridley, Baron Ridley of Liddesdale, PC (17 February 1929 – 4 March 1993) was a British Conservative Party politician and government minister.
As President of the Selsdon Group, a free-market lobby within the Conservative Party, he was closely aligned with Margaret Thatcher, and became one of her Ministers of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1979. Responsible for the Falkland Islands, he tried to resolve the long-running sovereignty issue with Argentina, which detected Britain’s reluctance to defend the territory, and later invaded it.
As Secretary of State for Transport, Ridley performed a key function in building-up coal stocks in advance of the UK miners' strike (1984–1985), which helped the government to defeat the union. As Secretary of State for the Environment, Ridley opposed a low-cost housing development near his own property, earning him the title of NIMBY ('Not In My Back Yard'). He was also responsible for introducing the Community Charge (also known as the 'Poll Tax'), which was one of the main factors leading to Thatcher's resignation in 1990. He was created a life peer in 1992.
Ridley was the second son of Matthew White Ridley, 3rd Viscount Ridley, and Ursula Lutyens, daughter of architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. His elder brother was Matthew Ridley, 4th Viscount Ridley. He was educated at West Downs School, Winchester, Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford, where he gained a third in mathematical moderations in 1947 and a second-class degree in engineering science in 1951. A contemporary at Eton was Tam Dalyell, later Labour MP for West Lothian. The two were not even able to agree on whether or not Dalyell had been Ridley's fag, though Dalyell greatly admired Ridley's skills as an artist, quoting his teacher as saying that Ridley was 'more talented than his grandfather' Edwin Lutyens.
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