John Julian Ganzoni, 2nd Baron Belstead, Baron Ganzoni, (30 September 1932 – 3 December 2005) was a
British Conservative politician and
peer who served as
Leader of the House of Lords
The leader of the House of Lords is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Lords. The post is also the leader of the majority party in the House of Lords who acts as ...
under
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
from 1988 to 1990.
Background and education
Ganzoni was the only son of
Sir John Ganzoni, a barrister and Conservative MP for
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...
who was created
Baron Belstead in 1938, and his wife Gwendolen Gertrude Turner, daughter of Arthur Turner, of
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...
. He went to
Eton before reading History at
Christ Church, Oxford.
Political career
Belstead showed little interest in politics at first, and waited six years after succeeding to the peerage on his father's death in 1958 before making his maiden speech. In 1970,
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath a ...
appointed him to become Parliamentary Under-Secretary to
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
at the
Department of Education and Science
An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
; he was moved in the same rank to the
Northern Ireland Office
The Northern Ireland Office (NIO; ga, Oifig Thuaisceart Éireann, Ulster-Scots: ''Norlin Airlann Oaffis'') is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for Northern Ireland affairs. The NIO is led by the Secretary of State for N ...
three years later.
When
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
led the Tories back to power in 1979, she sent him to the Home Office. He was then made Minister at the
Foreign Office when
Lord Carrington and his team resigned after the
Falklands invasion. In 1980, he was interviewed by the BBC's Panorama current affairs program about Britain's preparations for a nuclear attack.
He next moved to the
Ministry of Fisheries and Food, and went back to the Education Department again before becoming Deputy Leader to
William Whitelaw
William Stephen Ian Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw, (28 June 1918 – 1 July 1999) was a British Conservative Party politician who served in a wide number of Cabinet positions, most notably as Home Secretary from 1979 to 1983 and as ''de fac ...
as Leader of the House of Lords. He succeeded Whitelaw in
that post in 1988, taking the sinecure post of
Lord Privy Seal at the same time.
After losing his Cabinet seat, which he had gained when he became Lord Privy Seal, in 1990 he became
Paymaster-General
His Majesty's Paymaster General or HM Paymaster General is a ministerial position in the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. The incumbent Paymaster General is Jeremy Quin MP.
History
The post was created in 1836 by the merger of the posit ...
and Northern Ireland Minister under
John Major, retiring from the Government to become Chairman of the Parole Board in 1992.
In the
1983 New Year Honours
The New Year Honours 1983 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countries ...
, he was sworn of the
Privy Council. After the
House of Lords Act 1999
The House of Lords Act 1999 (c. 34) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. The Act was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. For centuries, the House of Lords ...
removed the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords, he was created a
life peer (an honour given to all former Leaders of the House of Lords) as Baron Ganzoni, of Ipswich in the County of Suffolk on 17 November 1999. He also gave his name to the new "Belstead Centre" at
Woodbridge School
Woodbridge School is an independent school in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, founded in 1577, for the poor of Woodbridge. It was later supported by the Seckford Foundation. Woodbridge School has been co-educational since September 1974.
Histor ...
.
Personal life
Lord Belstead never married. He died in December 2005, aged 73, when both the hereditary peerage and the baronetcy became extinct. He is buried in the churchyard of St Mary's,
Great Bealings
Great Bealings is a small village in Suffolk, England. It has about 302 people living in it in around 113 households. Its nearest towns are Ipswich ( away) and Woodbridge (). Nearby villages include Little Bealings, Playford, Culpho, Has ...
, Suffolk.
He was an active Freemason and president of the Board of General Purposes for the
United Grand Lodge of England
The United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) is the governing Masonic lodge for the majority of freemasons in England, Wales and the Commonwealth of Nations. Claiming descent from the Masonic grand lodge formed 24 June 1717 at the Goose & Gridiron ...
. He was appointed to be a
Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Suffolk on 2 April 1979.
Coat of arms
References
External links
*
Obituary Guardian.co.uk. Accessed 8 January 2023.
House of Lords minutes of proceedings, 23 November 1999
House of Lords minutes of proceedings, 5 December 2005
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Belstead, John Ganzoni, 2nd Baron
1932 births
2005 deaths
English people of Italian descent
Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
Barons Belstead
Conservative Party (UK) hereditary peers
Ganzoni
Leaders of the House of Lords
Lord-Lieutenants of Suffolk
Lords Privy Seal
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
People educated at Eton College
Politicians from Ipswich
Freemasons of the United Grand Lodge of England
Northern Ireland Office junior ministers
Ganzoni
Life peers created by Elizabeth II