Education
John Sinclair was educated in Thurso and at Eton College.
John Sinclair was educated in Thurso and at Eton College.
He was the fifth generation of the Sinclair family to represent the Caithness area in the House of Commons. Thurso joined the Savoy Group as a management trainee in 1972 and following this worked for many years in the hospitality industry. He was a manager at the Lancaster Hotel in Paris (1981-1985) and founding the hotel at Cliveden (1985-1992) before becoming Chief Executive Officer of Granfel Holdings, owners of East Sussex National Golf Course from 1992 to 1995.
Finally from 1995 until his election to parliament in 2001 he was Chief Executive Officer of the Champneys Group.
During his time in this job he featured in the television documentary Trouble at the Top - Shape up with Lord Thurso. Lord Thurso comes from a family of Liberal parliamentarians.
Archibald Sinclair was the 1st Viscount Thurso and a Liberal Party leader. The family live at Thurso, Caithness.
Thurso holds the Presidency of The Tourism Society and the Academy of Food and Wine Service.
He is a Fellow of Confederation of Tourism and Hospitality (HCIMA) (FIH) and served as its Patron for six years, until June 2003. He was President of the British International Spa Association, a Trustee of the Clan Sinclair Trust, and Patron of the Bluebell Railway 50th Anniversary Appeal. Following his father’s death in 1995 he took his seat in the House of Lords as the 3rd Viscount Thurso where he became spokesman on Tourism and later Food Matters.
Thurso spoke many times in the House of Lords in favour of Lords reform.
His automatic right as a hereditary peer to sit in the House of Lords was abolished in 1999, and he did not attempt to remain in that capacity. At the 2001 general election he was elected to the House of Commons to represent Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross becoming the first British hereditary peer elected to sit in the House of Commons without having to disclaim his title.
He served as Liberal Democrat Shadow Scotland Secretary under Charles Kennedy, but was sacked by Sir Menzies Campbell. Lord Thurso was sworn of the Privy Council in 2014.
Lord Thurso lost his Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross at the 2015 General Election.
However, Lord Thurso had a good result in comparison with many Liberal Democrat candidates. On the 7th of March 2016, it was announced that Lord Thurso would become the chair of VisitScotland.
He has publicly gone against party policy by declaring his support for nuclear power, and his criticism of 24-hour drinking and wind power. Only four Scottish Liberal Democrats were closer to winning their seats, including Alistair Carmichael who held his Orkney and Shetland seat.
53rd United Kingdom Parliament. 54th United Kingdom Parliament. 55th United Kingdom Parliament]
Thurso was Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross from the 2001 election until he was defeated in the 2015 election by Scottish National Party candidate Paul Monaghan.
Following the election, Lord Thurso became a board member of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.