Norman Lamont attended Loretto School in Musselburgh, Scotland.
College/University
Gallery of Norman Lamont
Search Results Storey's Way, Cambridge CB3 0DG, United Kingdom
Norman Lamont read Economics at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, where he was Chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association and President of the Cambridge Union Society in 1964.
Career
Gallery of Norman Lamont
1974
The Top Ten Tiemen celebrate their victory by displaying their winning ties at a presentation at the Playboy Club, Park Lane.
Gallery of Norman Lamont
1986
Norman Lamont
Gallery of Norman Lamont
1989
British Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet of July 1989.
Gallery of Norman Lamont
1991
Norman Lamont
Gallery of Norman Lamont
1991
London, England, United Kingdom
Chancellor of the Exchequer and Conservative, Norman Lamont with wife Rosemary (with William Hague in the background) on the steps outside 11 Downing Street on budget day on 19th March 1991 in London, England.
Gallery of Norman Lamont
1992
Chancellor Norman Lamont (seated) with his treasury Ministerial team inside the Treasury, where they were holding a pre-budget photocall. With Mr. Lamont are John Maples, David Mellor, Gillian Shephard, and Francis Maude.
Chancellor of the Exchequer and Conservative, Norman Lamont with wife Rosemary (with William Hague in the background) on the steps outside 11 Downing Street on budget day on 19th March 1991 in London, England.
Chancellor Norman Lamont (seated) with his treasury Ministerial team inside the Treasury, where they were holding a pre-budget photocall. With Mr. Lamont are John Maples, David Mellor, Gillian Shephard, and Francis Maude.
Search Results Storey's Way, Cambridge CB3 0DG, United Kingdom
Norman Lamont read Economics at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, where he was Chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association and President of the Cambridge Union Society in 1964.
(Norman Lamont was the Chancellor of the Exchequer who fou...)
Norman Lamont was the Chancellor of the Exchequer who fought in 1991-92 to keep Britain inside the European monetary system, and who in 1995 is now its most vociferous critic. In this book, Lamont reveals how, in his view, Britain had lost control of her own economic policy, and how Europe had convinced him from the inside that never again must Britain allow its affairs to be run by France, Germany or anyone but itself.
Norman Stewart Hughson Lamont, Baron Lamont of Lerwick is a British politician and former Conservative Member of Parliament for Kingston-upon-Thames. He is best known for his period serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer, from 1990 until 1993. He was created a life peer in 1998.
Background
Norman Stewart Hughson Lamont was born on May 8, 1942, in Lerwick, Shetland Islands, United Kingdom. His father was a surgeon, father, who had moved to Grimsby Hospital, and the family settled in the town center.
When moving to Grimsby, his mother worked as a French teacher at St Martin’s School on Bargate. Lamont said: “I lived my teenage years here, and while at university I continued to come back,” he said. “We were in Welholme Road, opposite the park, with trawler owners either side. It was a very happy time and I have fond memories.”
Education
Norman Lamont attended Loretto School in Musselburgh, Scotland.
He read Economics at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, where he was Chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association and President of the Cambridge Union Society in 1964. He also took part in the English-Speaking Union's Tour of the United States.
When Lamont attended Cambridge University, he joined a group of young Conservatives known as the "Cambridge Mafia," who would later rise to prominent positions in the British government. Among them were Michael Howard, who became the leader of the Conservative Party, John Gummer, who would become chair of the Conservative Party, Leon Brittan, who would later be secretary of state for trade and industry and home secretary, and Kenneth Clarke, who would become a home secretary and chancellor of the Exchequer.
In 1963 Lamont was president of the Conservative Association of Cambridge and in 1964 was president of the Cambridge Union. After graduating, he continued his political interests by taking a position as a research assistant to Duncan Sandys (1965), a Tory member of Parliament. He worked as a staff researcher for the Conservative Party from 1966 to 1968, and in 1970 he ran for a seat in the House of Commons but did not succeed. From 1968 to 1979, he worked as a merchant banker for the investment banking firm N.M. Rothschild and Sons. In 1972 he ran in an election that was called to fill a vacancy in the House of Commons and won; by the time he reached thirty years of age, he was already the youngest Conservative member of Parliament.
Lamont eventually rose through the ranks, and is most noted for becoming chancellor of the exchequer in 1990, just when England was entering a deep recession. Faced with the burden of dealing with the recession he inherited, Lamont was in a difficult position. He tried to institute various reforms and gave speeches exhorting the public to be optimistic about the country's financial future. He remained a member of the House of Commons until 1997.
He was created a life peer in 1998.
In 2008, Lord Lamont became the President of the Economic Research Council, Britain's oldest economics-based think tank.
In 2016, he was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Iran.
A Cabinet Minister under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, and a member of the House of Commons for 25 years, Lord Norman Lamont is a stalwart of British politics and was made a Life Peer in 1998.
He is in high demand on the corporate circuit and makes an exceptional keynote speaker whose topics span economics, politics, and current and international affairs.
Lamont is a supporter of the Eurosceptic organization Leave Means Leave, which is a pro-Brexit, Eurosceptic political pressure group organization that campaigns and lobbies for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union following the 'Leave' result of the EU referendum on 23 June 2016.
He is a British Conservative politician who was Chancellor of the Exchequer in the government of John Major from 1990 to 1993. His term of office was not a happy one as the United Kingdom was in a recession, and it included the embarrassment of Black Wednesday on 16 September 1992 when the Pound Sterling was forced out of the exchange rate mechanism. After Lamont was dismissed in May 1993 he made clear his personal dislike of John Major. He lost his Parliamentary seat in the 1997 election and was subsequently made a Peer; in the House of Lords, he has been a strong opponent of the European Union.
Sir Alan Walters, Economic Advisor to Lady Thatcher, described Norman in his post-ERM actions “to be not only the most effective but also the bravest Chancellor since the War”. Many economists have attributed the economic stability and growth enjoyed by Britain in the ‘90s and thereafter to the tough politics introduced by him.
When he was Chancellor, Norman’s political advisor was David Cameron. In 2008, Cameron asked him with other Chancellors to be part of a team to advise on Britain’s financial problems.
Norman was Britain’s Chief Negotiator at the Maastricht Treaty and secured Britain’s non-participation in the euro, of which he remains a strong opponent and critic.
He was an active member of the Leave Campaign during the Referendum. Matthew D’Ancona in the Guardian said that the campaign to leave the European Union owed its origins to Norman whom, he said, gave the idea of Brexit intellectual credibility when, in 1994, he said he did not regarding leaving the European Union as unthinkable and that, one day, Britain might be forced to consider it.
Views
Quotations:
"There is something wrong with the way in which we make our decisions. The Government listen too much to the pollsters and the party managers. The trouble is that they are not even very good at politics, and they are entering too much into policy decisions. As a result, there is too much short-termism, too much reacting to events, and not enough shaping of events. We give the impression of being in office but not in power. Far too many important decisions are made for 36 hours' publicity."
"Rising unemployment and the recession have been the price that we have had to pay to get inflation down. That price is well worth paying."
"No one will vote for a party that loathes itself and wants to cut its heroes and heroines down to size."
Personality
The London Times reporter remarked that Lamont’s social life may have been the reason for his lack of advancement. In one incident, Lamont showed up at the House of Commons with a black eye and could not give a good explanation for it; gossips said that he had been punched in the eye by a London art dealer, Richard Connolly, who had discovered Lamont at Connolly’s girlfriend’s home. The Times journalist wrote that this event “only helped to confirm his reputation as a slightly raffish bon viveur, the sort who can always be found talking to the most attractive woman at a party."
As a keynote speaker, Lord Lamont is informed and open, making him an ideal addition to any event.
Quotes from others about the person
In an article in the London Times, a reporter wrote: "To his friends, his belief that there is more to life than politics is delightful; his tendency to flippancy, his repartee, and his endearing indiscretion make him good company."
In the London Times, a reporter wrote, “It took him a frustratingly long time to reach the cabinet. For ten years, he was reshuffled in the junior and middle echelons ... as contemporaries overtook him. For an ambitious member of Parliament who entered Parliament in 1972, it must have been galling to watch [others who entered in 1979] reach the cabinet first.”
Interests
birdwatching, reading
Sport & Clubs
soccer
Connections
Norman Lamont was married to Rosemary White (married in 1971, divorced in 1999). The couple has two children Hillaire James Lamont and Sophie Lamont.
Father:
Daniel Lambert
Mother:
Helen Irene Hughson
Son:
Hillaire James Lamont
Daughter:
Sophie Lamont
ex-spouse:
Rosemary Lamont
colleague:
Michael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, (born 7 July 1941), is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet positions in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, including Secretary of State for Employment, Secretary of State for the Environment and Home Secretary.
Kenneth Harry Clarke (born 2 July 1940) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1993 to 1997 and Home Secretary from 1992 to 1993. Clarke was the Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire from 1970 to 2019.
Leon Brittan, Baron Brittan of Spennithorne, (25 September 1939 - 21 January 2015) was a British politician, Conservative Member of Parliament, and barrister, as well as a member of the European Commission. He served several ministerial roles in Margaret Thatcher's government, including Home Secretary.
colleague:
John Gummer
John Selwyn Gummer, Baron Deben (born 26 November 1939 in Stockport, Cheshire) is a British Conservative Party politician, formerly Member of Parliament for Suffolk Coastal and now a member of the House of Lords.
Lamont served in successive governments under Margaret Thatcher.
Collegue :
John Major
Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Major was Foreign Secretary and then Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Thatcher Government from 1989 to 1990, and was Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon from 1979 until his retirement in 2001. Since the death of Margaret Thatcher in 2013, he has been both the oldest and earliest-serving of all living former prime ministers.
