29 Facts About Nicholas Soames

Nicholas Soames had the whip removed on 3 September 2019, for voting against the government, before it was restored on 29 October.

Nicholas Soames is a grandson of former prime minister Winston Churchill.

Nicholas Soames is a grandson of the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and a grandnephew of Lady Baden-Powell, World Chief Guide, the wife of the founder of the Scout movement, Lord Baden-Powell.

In or around 1953, when Nicholas Soames was five, he didn't know how important his grandfather was until someone told him.

Nicholas Soames was transferred to Regular Army Reserve of Officers on 9 March 1970 before resigning his commission on 5 August 1975.

When Diana first accused the Prince of Wales of adultery with Camilla Parker Bowles, Nicholas Soames told the BBC that the accusation, and Diana's fear of being slandered by her husband's courtiers, stemmed merely from Diana's mental illness, and "the advanced stages of paranoia".

Nicholas Soames fought Central Dunbartonshire in Scotland in 1979, where Labour's Hugh McCartney defeated him by 12,003 votes.

Nicholas Soames was elected as the MP for Crawley at the 1983 general election.

Nicholas Soames sat for Crawley until the 1997 general election.

Nicholas Soames served as a Parliamentary secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food between 1992 and 1994, as Minister of State for the Armed Forces at the Ministry of Defence under Prime Minister John Major between 1994 and 1997, and later as the Shadow Secretary of State for Defence from 2003 to 2005.

On 9 May 2005, shortly after Michael Howard announced his intention to resign as leader of the Conservative Party, Nicholas Soames resigned from the shadow cabinet.

Nicholas Soames was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 EU membership referendum.

Nicholas Soames endorsed Rory Stewart during the 2019 Conservative leadership election.

On 31 January 2017, Nicholas Soames made 'woofing' noises at Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh when she was asking the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, a question in the House of Commons.

John Bercow, the speaker, described the noises as "discourteous and that expression should not be used", and Nicholas Soames was asked to apologise.

Nicholas Soames did so, saying he was only offering her a "friendly canine salute" in reply to her "snapped" question.

On 3 September 2019, Nicholas Soames joined 20 other rebel Conservative MPs to vote against the Conservative government of Boris Johnson and pass a motion allowing backbenchers to take control of the House of Commons timetable in order to pass a bill to stop a no-deal exit from the EU without parliamentary approval.

Nicholas Soames announced that he would not be standing in the 2019 general election.

Nicholas Soames urged the government to recognise Palestine as a sovereign state based on the 1967 borders and described the UK as a "midwife at the birth of Israel".

Nicholas Soames was chairman of the private security contractor Aegis Defence Services which was bought in 2015 by GardaWorld, for whom he now acts as a member of the International Advisory Board.

Nicholas Soames was a director of the liquidated company Framlington Second Dual Trust plc.

Nicholas Soames is listed as a director of The Amber Foundation.

Nicholas Soames was invited to ride in the King's procession at Royal Ascot 2023.

Nicholas Soames has a position as a senior advisor at Francis Maude Associates, a consultancy set up by Francis Maude.

Nicholas Soames was an honorary colonel of the C Squadron The Royal Yeomanry until 5 October 2023.

In October 2017, Nicholas Soames was criticised by Labour MP Kate Hoey following a meeting with President Robert Mugabe while visiting Zimbabwe.

Nicholas Soames said that his father, Lord Soames, who had overseen Southern Rhodesia's transition to independence as Zimbabwe, would not have forgiven him if he had not tried to meet the President.

On 28 October 2022, he was created Baron Nicholas Soames of Fletching, of Fletching in the County of East Sussex.

On 15 May 2008, Nicholas Soames pleaded guilty to riding a quad bike on a public road without motor insurance.