Name Hugh Baron | Role British Politician | |
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Hugh John Maxwell Dykes, Baron Dykes, (born 17 May 1939) is a British politician and member of the House of Lords. Initially a Europhile Conservative, he later defected to the Liberal Democrats.
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Family and education
Dykes was educated at Weston-super-Mare Grammar School, Somerset, followed by Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge. He married Susan Margaret Smith in 1966 and they had three sons. They divorced in 2000.
Life and career
After unsuccessfully contesting Tottenham in 1966, Dykes served as a Conservative Member of Parliament for Harrow East from 1970 until he lost his seat at the 1997 general election. He also served as a Member of the European Parliament between 1974 and 1977. While an MP, Dykes served in the Ministry of Defence and the Cabinet Office in Edward Heath's government.
Following the defeat of Kenneth Clarke in the Conservative leadership contest following the 1997 general election, Dykes joined the Liberal Democrats. Within a year of joining the party, he came to serve as an adviser to Paddy Ashdown on European Union affairs.
He has served as chairman of the European Movement-UK and as vice president of the British-German Association. In 1991 he was awarded the German Order of Merit, followed by the Luxembourg Médaille pour l'Europe in 1993.
In 2004, Dykes was raised to the peerage as Baron Dykes, of Harrow Weald in the London Borough of Harrow. The same year he received the French Légion d'Honneur. He currently sits as a nonaffiliated member.