Thomas Galloway Dunlop du Roy de Blicquy Galbraith, 2nd Baron Strathclyde, PC (born 1960), is a United Kingdom politician and the leader of the Conservative Party in the House of Lords.
Strathclyde's father, Tam Galbraith , was Conservative MP for Glasgow Hillhead (1948-82) but died before his own father in 1982, triggering the famous by-election that saw the election of Roy Jenkins.
Strathclyde first entered the House of Lords in 1986, becoming a junior whip in 1988, then Minister for Tourism in 1989. Between 1990 and 1992 he was Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries in the Scottish Office. He then served in the Department of the Environment and the Department of Trade and Industry before being appointed Conservative Chief Whip in the House of Lords in 1994, succeeding Lord Ullswater. He retained this post when the Conservatives entered opposition in 1997.
In 1998 Strathclyde, along with the entire of the Conservative front bench in the House of Lords, tendered his resignation if the party refused to accept a proposed compromise plan for reform of the Lords that had been negotiated by Lord Cranborne, Conservative leader in the Lords, to the disapproval of party leader William Hague. Hague accepted the proposals, though Cranborne was dismissed for the way in which they had been negotiated, and Strathclyde was appointed to succeed him. Under his leadership the House of Lords Act 1999 passed. Strathclyde was subsequently elected as one of the 92 hereditary peers to remain in the House of Lords.
He is also a director of Auchendrane Estates Ltd , a landowning company in Scotland.
See also
Last updated: 06-03-2005 00:59:43
