Roger Norman Freeman, Baron Freeman, PC (27 May 1942 – 2 June 2025) was a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a ministerial office in the Government of the United Kingdom. Excluding the prime minister, the chancellor is the highest ranking minister in the Cabinet Office, immediately after the prime minister ...

in the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...

from 1995 to 1997. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) representing the constituency of

Kettering Kettering is a market town, market and industrial town, industrial town in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, west of Cambridge, England, Cambridge, southwest of Peterborough, southeast of Leicester and north- ...

from 1983 to 1997, and was made a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

in 1997.

Early life and career

Freeman was born in the Wirral on 25 May 1942, and privately educated at

Whitgift School Whitgift School is an independent day school with limited boarding in South Croydon, London. Along with Trinity School of John Whitgift and Old Palace School it is owned by the Whitgift Foundation, a charitable trust. The school was prev ...

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

He then studied at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

. When he was at Oxford, he was the President of the

Oxford University Conservative Association The Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA) is a student Conservative association founded in 1924, whose members are drawn from the University of Oxford. Since October 2009, OUCA has been affiliated with Conservative Future and its ...

in Hilary Term 1964. Before entering Parliament, he was a Chartered Accountant working for an investment bank.

Political career

After an unsuccessful attempt to be elected as MP for Don Valley in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, Freeman was finally elected as MP for

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

. Before joining the Cabinet, he served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Armed Forces (1986–88), Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health (1988–90), and Minister for Public Transport (1990–1995) ranking as

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

. In that post he was responsible for steering through the House of Commons the Railways Bill, providing for the

privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the Rail transport in Great Britain, railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, the process was largely compl ...

and enacted as the

Railways Act 1993 The Railways Act 1993 (c. 43) was introduced by John Major's Conservative government and passed on 5 November 1993. It provided for the restructuring of the British Railways Board (BRB), the public corporation that owned and operated the nation ...

. At the time he achieved a degree of notoriety with his comment on a "cheap and cheerful" rail service being provided for typists. In the

1993 Birthday Honours The 1993 Queen's Birthday honours were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of the Queen's b ...

, Freeman was sworn of the Privy Council. In 1995, he was brought into the Cabinet by

. In this role, he made a ministerial visit to

Lancaster Royal Grammar School Lancaster Royal Grammar School (LRGS) is an 11–18 boys grammar school in Lancaster, England, Lancaster, Lancashire, England. Old students belong to The Old Lancastrians. The school's sixth form opened to girls in 2019. LRGS is also in the Unit ...

in 1995. He also inaugurated the process of

privatisation Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

HM Stationery Office The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is the body responsible for the operation of His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) and of other public information services of the United Kingdom. The OPSI is part of the National Archives of the Un ...

(HMSO), though as a former minister for MOD Procurement, one of HMSO's major customers, he could be adjudged to have had a

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...

. He therefore misjudged the effect of privatisation on HMSO, which, rather than preserve the business as a whole, and protecting jobs, hastened the already-established process of splitting the business into its various parts, resulting in the destruction of some, and the sale of others to foreign owners. The loss of jobs has been massive. The National Audit Office later denounced the whole process as a debacle. It could be argued that he, along with his colleague Lord North in the other place, may have misled the house. He did his best to make the dying days of the Major government more colourful by appearing on Channel 4's 'bottom up' television programme ''

The People's Parliament The People's Parliament is a Channel 4 programme in which 90-100 randomly selected citizens, sitting in a mockup of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, debated and voted on controversial issues.Back to the polis: direct democracy. ''The ...

''. Appearing by video link, he was quizzed by the female Scots host on the alleged unapproachability of politicians "in grey suits". Freeman quipped: "Well, I can't just start turning up to work in a jumper!". Freeman's remark though was better-judged than any viewer might have realised at the time. The Major government's strategy weekend where Cabinet members arrived wearing jumpers was much lampooned. Narrowly defeated in the 1997 general election, he was shortly afterwards raised to the peerage as Baron Freeman, ''of Dingley in the County of Northamptonshire'' in the 1997 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours. He sat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

until his retirement on 1 October 2020.

Charitable Associations

Lord Freeman was the chairman of the charity

SkillForce SkillForce was a British education charity that used the skills and experience of a predominantly ex-Service instructor workforce to support children and young people in UK primary and secondary schools to improve their confidence, resilience and ...

from 2004 to 2016. He was later Patron of

and the Independent Transport Commission.

Personal life and death

His wife, Jennifer Freeman, is a former Secretary of the

Victorian Society The Victorian Society is a UK charity and amenity society that campaigns to preserve and promote interest in Victorian and Edwardian architecture and heritage built between 1837 and 1914 in England and Wales. As a statutory consultee, by l ...

and is a specialist developer of architecturally historic buildings. He died following a stroke and a protracted illness on 2 June 2025, at the age of 83.Roger Freeman, Major-era minister who handled defence procurement and rail privatisation details
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Arms

References

External links

* http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/roger-freeman/26901 *
Debrett's profile
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Baron Freeman, Roger Freeman 1942 births 2025 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Conservative Party (UK) life peers Life peers created by Elizabeth II Chancellors of the Duchy of Lancaster Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of the Bow Group Presidents of the Oxford University Conservative Association People educated at Whitgift School UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 Peers retired under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014