50 Facts About Michael Howard

Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne was born on Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941 and is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005.

Michael Howard 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.

Michael Howard studied at Peterhouse, Cambridge, following which he joined the Young Conservatives.

Michael Howard first became a Member of Parliament at the 1983 general election, representing the constituency of Folkestone and Hythe.

In November 2003, following the Conservative Party's vote of no confidence in Iain Duncan Smith, Michael Howard was elected to the leadership unopposed.

Michael Howard did not contest his seat of Folkestone and Hythe in the 2010 general election and entered the House of Lords as Baron Michael Howard of Lympne.

Michael Howard was a cousin of the Landy family who had helped Bernat Hecht come to Britain.

When Michael Howard was six, his parents became naturalised as British subjects and the family name was changed to Michael Howard.

Michael Howard passed his eleven-plus exam in 1952 and then attended Llanelli Boys' Grammar School.

Michael Howard gained a place at Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he was President of the Cambridge Union in 1962.

Michael Howard was one of a cluster of Conservative students at Cambridge University around this time, sometimes referred to as the "Cambridge Mafia", many of whom held high government office under Margaret Thatcher and John Major.

Michael Howard was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1964 and specialised in employment and planning law.

Michael Howard continued his career at the Bar, becoming a practising Queen's Counsel in 1982.

At the 1966 and 1970 general elections, Michael Howard unsuccessfully contested the safe Labour seat of Liverpool Edge Hill; reinforcing his strong support for Liverpool FC which he has held since childhood.

In June 1982, Michael Howard was selected to contest the constituency of Folkestone and Hythe in Kent after the sitting Conservative MP, Sir Albert Costain, decided to retire.

Michael Howard gained quick promotion, becoming Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Trade and Industry in 1985 with responsibility for regulating the financial dealings of the City of London.

Michael Howard guided the 1988 Local Government Finance Act through the House of Commons.

Michael Howard personally supported the tax and won Thatcher's respect for minimising the rebellion against it within the Conservative Party.

Michael Howard subsequently guided through legislation abolishing the closed shop, and campaigned vigorously for Thatcher in the first ballot of the 1990 Conservative leadership election, although he told her a day before she resigned that he felt she was not going to win and that John Major was better placed to defeat Michael Heseltine.

Michael Howard retained his Cabinet post under John Major and campaigned against trade union power during the 1992 general election campaign.

Michael Howard repeatedly clashed with judges and prison reformers as he sought to clamp down on crime through a series of 'tough' measures, such as reducing the right to silence of defendants in their police interviews and at their trials as part of 1994's Criminal Justice and Public Order Act.

Michael Howard voted for the reintroduction of the death penalty for the killing of police officers on duty and for murders carried out with firearms in 1983 and 1990.

Michael Howard's reputation was damaged on 13 May 1997 when a critical inquiry into a series of prison escapes was published.

Michael Howard repeatedly said that he "did not instruct him", ignoring the "threaten" part of the question.

Michael Howard stood but his campaign was marred by attacks on his record as Home Secretary.

Michael Howard came in last out of five candidates with the support of only 23 MPs in the first round of polling for the leadership election.

Michael Howard then withdrew from the race and endorsed the eventual winner, William Hague.

Michael Howard served as Shadow Foreign Secretary for the next two years but retired from the Shadow cabinet in 1999, though continued as an MP.

Michael Howard avoided repeating such managerial missteps as Duncan Smith's firing of David Davis as Conservative Party Chairman and imposed discipline quickly and firmly: for example, he removed the party whip from Ann Winterton after she joked about 23 Chinese migrants' deaths.

In February 2004, Michael Howard called on then-Prime Minister Tony Blair to resign over the Iraq War, for failing to ask "basic questions" regarding WMD claims and misleading Parliament.

Michael Howard was named 2003 Parliamentarian of the Year by The Spectator and Zurich UK.

Michael Howard was part of discussions for British Airways to resume flights to Pakistan in 2003, this was until their final departure in 2008 the only European airline serving the nation.

Michael Howard returned briefly to Newsnight on Jeremy Paxman's final episode on 18 June 2014 for a cameo.

The day after the election, Michael Howard stated in a speech in the newly gained Conservative seat in Putney that he would not lead the party into the next general election as, already aged 63, he would be "too old" by that stage, and that he would stand down "sooner rather than later", following a revision of the Conservative leadership electoral process.

Yet Michael Howard almost doubled his majority to 11,680, while the Liberal Democrats saw their vote fall.

The reforms to the party's election process took several months and Michael Howard remained in his position for six months following the election.

Michael Howard oversaw Blair's first parliamentary defeat, when the Conservative Party, the Liberal Democrats and sufficient Labour Party rebels voted against government proposals to extend to 90 days the period that terror suspects could be held for without charge.

Michael Howard stood down as Leader in December 2005 and was replaced by David Cameron.

Michael Howard announced on 17 March 2006 that he would stand down as MP for Folkestone and Hythe at the 2010 general election.

On 19 June 2006 it was reported that Michael Howard would become chairman of Diligence Europe, a private intelligence and risk assessment company founded by former CIA and MI5 members.

On 23 October 2006, Michael Howard said that he had voluntarily been questioned as a potential witness as part of the investigation into the Cash-for-Honours scandal relating to fundraising for the 2005 election campaign.

Michael Howard was not suspected of any criminal activity, was not accused of any criminal activity and gave evidence purely as a witness in an investigation focusing primarily on the Labour Government's use of the peerages system and their party fundraising.

Michael Howard was appointed a Conservative life peer in the 2010 Dissolution Honours with the title of Baron Michael Howard of Lympne, of Lympne in the County of Kent.

In 2010, David Cameron wanted Michael Howard to join his Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, possibly as Lord Chancellor, via the House of Lords as part of David Cameron's appeal to rightwing Tories.

However, it did not happen, Michael Howard having criticised the government's proposal for a 'rehabilitation revolution'.

In February 2011 there was increased speculation that Cameron would reshuffle his cabinet, with Lord Michael Howard brought in to replace Kenneth Clarke as Secretary of State for Justice.

Michael Howard was appointed a Companion of Honour in the 2011 Birthday Honours for public and political services.

Michael Howard compared the post-Brexit situation of Gibraltar's disputed sovereignty with Spain with the resolution of a similar issue by the Falklands War in 1982.

In June 2022, Michael Howard called on Boris Johnson to resign as Prime Minister.

Michael Howard is a keen supporter of the hospice movement and was chairman of Hospice UK from 2010 until 2018.