Sir Peter James Luff (born 18 February 1955) is a British former politician and previous Chair of the

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and the

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. Formerly a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Conservative Party politician, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Worcestershire from 1997 to 2015 and for

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

from 1992 until 1997. He was a junior Defence minister from 2010 to 2012.

Early life

Peter Luff was born in the town of Windsor in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

and attended the local

Windsor Grammar School The Windsor Boys' School is a Comprehensive school (England and Wales), comprehensive all-boys upper school and sixth form located on Maidenhead Road in Windsor, Berkshire, England, within the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Local Autho ...

. He studied at

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...

, receiving a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(BA) degree in Economics in 1976. Before entering parliament, he worked for three years from 1977 as a research assistant to the Conservative MP Peter Walker, before managing

Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 1916 – 17 July 2005) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 ...

's private office for two years from 1980. He became the managing director of Good Relations Ltd, a public affairs company, in 1982. In 1987, he became a special adviser to the

Secretary of State for Trade and Industry The secretary of state for business and trade (business secretary), is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Department for Business and Trade. The incumb ...

, David Young. He became a senior consultant for Lowe Bell Communications (later

Bell Pottinger BPP Communications Ltd., which did business as Bell Pottinger Private, was a British multinational public relations, reputation management and marketing company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. On 12 September 2017 it went into admini ...

Communications) in 1989, before again working for Good Relations from 1990.

Parliamentary career

He contested Holborn and St Pancras at the 1987 general election, but was comfortably beaten by the sitting Labour MP,

Frank Dobson Frank Gordon Dobson (15 March 1940 – 11 November 2019) was a British Labour Party politician. As Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St. Pancras from 1979 to 2015, he served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Health from 1997 ...

. He was first elected to Parliament for

, when he succeeded his former boss, Peter Walker. Following changes in the parliamentary constituency boundaries, he was selected for the new Mid Worcestershire constituency, comprising large areas of three former constituencies, defeating another sitting Conservative MP,

Eric Forth Eric Forth (9 September 1944 – 17 May 2006) was a British Conservative politician. He served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Birmingham North from 1979 to 1984. He then served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Worcestersh ...

, for the nomination. He won the

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both. With such seats, there is very little chance of a seat changing h ...

comfortably and was a member of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

from 1992. In the

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

Labour landslide, he held his seat, and retained it until standing down in 2015. He was appointed a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) in 1993 to the energy minister Tim Eggar, and from 1996 he served as PPS to both

Ann Widdecombe Ann Noreen Widdecombe (born 4 October 1947) is a British politician and television personality who has been Reform UK's Immigration and Justice spokesperson since 2023. Originally a member of the Conservative Party, she was Member of Parliame ...

the prisons minister at the

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

and Lord Mackay,

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, holding these two positions until the defeat of the

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at the general election of

. As a backbench MP, he served on many parliamentary select committees, including chairing the Agriculture Select Committee from 1997 to 2000, and from 2005 to 2010 he chaired what was successively known as the Trade and Industry Committee; the Business and Enterprise Select Committee; and the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee. He was the founder member of the Parliamentary Hunting with Hounds Middle Way Group, and took a keen parliamentary interest in India. In the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition of May 2010, Luff was appointed as a junior Defence minister at the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

, with the post of

Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology The Minister of State for Defence Procurement and Industry is, as a Minister of State, a mid-level defence minister in the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence of the British Government frontbench, British Government. The curr ...

. Prior to the general election of

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, Luff stood down as a candidate. He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in the

2014 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2014 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 New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for political and public service. He joined the

and the

as Chair of the Board of Trustees on 30 March 2015.

Personal life

He married Julia Jenks in 1982. They have a son and a daughter.

References

External links

Peter Luff MP
''official constituency website'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Luff, Peter 1955 births Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Living people Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 Knights Bachelor People from Windsor, Berkshire Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Worcester