Nicholas Lyell

The Right Honourable The Lord Lyell of Markyate PC QC
Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales
In office 2 May 1997 – 19 June 1997
Leader	John Major
Preceded by	John Morris
Succeeded by	Edward Garnier
Attorney General for England and Wales Attorney General for Northern Ireland
In office 10 April 1992 – 2 May 1997
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	Patrick Mayhew
Succeeded by	John Morris
Solicitor General for England and Wales
In office 13 June 1987 – 10 April 1992
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher John Major
Preceded by	Patrick Mayhew
Succeeded by	Derek Spencer
Member of Parliament for North East Bedfordshire
In office 1 May 1997 – 14 May 2001
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Alistair Burt
Member of Parliament for Mid Bedfordshire
In office 9 June 1983 – 8 April 1997
Preceded by	Stephen Hastings
Succeeded by	Jonathan Sayeed
Member of Parliament for Hemel Hempstead
In office 3 May 1979 – 13 May 1983
Preceded by	Robin Corbett
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	(1938-12-06)6 December 1938 London, England
Died	30 August 2010(2010-08-30) (aged 71) Berkhamsted, England
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford

Nicholas Walter Lyell, Baron Lyell of Markyate, PC, QC (6 December 1938 – 30 August 2010) was an English Conservative politician, known for much of his active political career as Sir Nicholas Lyell.

Early life

Born in London, he was the son of Sir Maurice Lyell, a High Court judge, and Veronica Luard, a sculptor and designer whose father, Lowes Dalbiac Luard, had been a contemporary of Augustus John and Walter Sickert. His mother died when he was 11, leaving Lyell and his sister Prue to continue their mother's work to preserve the work of their grandfather.

Educated at Wellesley House School in the coastal town of Broadstairs in Kent and at Stowe School, he was his father's best man when he married the also widowed Kitty, Lady Farrar, younger daughter of Walter Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford. Lyell read modern history at Christ Church, Oxford, where he joined the Bullingdon club, and after National Service with the Royal Artillery trained as a lawyer.

Legal career

Lyell trained with the firm associated with his stepmother's family, Walter Runciman and Co, and was called to the bar at Inner Temple in 1965. He served his pupillage with Gordon Slynn, and after being part of the team that debated a case over the world's first onion-peeling machine, specialised in commercial and public law.

Political career

After unsuccessfully contesting Lambeth Central in October 1974, Lyell was elected Member of Parliament for Hemel Hempstead winning the seat from Labour in 1979, then Mid Bedfordshire from 1983, and moved to North East Bedfordshire at the 1997 election, having been defeated for the nomination by former Bristol MP Jonathan Sayeed in the Mid Bedfordshire constituency.

Lyell was one of very few lawyers to have combined a successful career in Parliament and a major private practice. He was also the longest continuously serving law officer for more than 100 years. After 20 years at the Bar he was appointed Solicitor-General from 1987 to 1992 under Margaret Thatcher, during which time he appeared in the Factortame case, and Attorney General for England and Wales and Northern Ireland under John Major from 1992 to 1997. He was knighted in 1987. He stood down as an MP at the 2001 election.

Commenting on Lyell's retirement as an MP, Conservative Party chairman Michael Ancram said:

Nick Lyell served his country and his party extremely well as attorney general and in a number of other senior roles in the last Conservative Government and he has been a tireless servant of his constituents during his 21 years in Parliament. His presence will be missed by all at Westminster. I am extremely grateful for all the years of service Nick has put in for the Conservative Party and I wish him well in his retirement.

Matrix Churchill affair

Main article: Arms-to-Iraq

Lyell was at the centre of the Matrix Churchill affair, the controversy to sell arms to Saddam Hussein's Iraq. In 1996, the Scott Report directly criticised Lyell as Attorney General for trying to obtain a "gagging order" to prevent the disclosure of secret documents concerning machine tool and material supply to Baghdad. Prime Minister John Major chose to stand by Lyell.

Peerage

On 13 May 2005, it was announced that he would be created a life peer, and on 27 June 2005 he was created Baron Lyell of Markyate, of Markyate in the County of Hertfordshire.

Other interests

Lyell was a former chairman of the board of Governors of Stowe School, standing down from the role at the end of the 2006–7 academic year. Always interested in the countryside and culture, he was from 2005 Chairman of the Federation of British Artists at the Mall Galleries in London.

Lyell was an underwriting 'Name' at the Lloyd's of London insurance market. He joined in 1974 but suffered enormous losses in the bad years 1989 – 1992 as a result of the Piper Alpha oil rig disaster in 1988 and the tsunami of claims from asbestos-related Mesothelioma personal injury. His losses have variously been estimated to be between £622,591 and £2,000,000; he underwrote on numerous syndicates.

Personal life

Married to Susanna, the couple had two sons and two daughters. Lyell died in the Hospice of St Francis in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire after a 12-year battle with cancer on 30 August 2010.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Nicholas Lyell