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John Nott

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Prime Minister
  
Preceded by
  
Party
  
Prime Minister
  
Margaret Thatcher

Role
  
British Politician

Succeeded by
  
Name
  
John Nott

Preceded by
  
Francis Pym

Succeeded by
  

John Nott itelegraphcoukmultimediaarchive02437JohnNo

Children
  
Julian Nott, William Nott, Sasha Nott

Parents
  
Richard Nott, Phyllis Francis

Books
  
Mr Wonderful Takes a, Mr Wonderful Seeks Im, Here Today - Gone To, Haven't We Been Here Before

Similar People
  
Margaret Thatcher, Julian Nott, Hugo Swire, Angus Wright, Elizabeth II

John nott walks out of interview


Sir John William Frederic Nott KCB (born 1 February 1932) is a former British Conservative Party politician prominent in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He featured heavily in the public eye as Secretary of State for Defence during the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands and the subsequent Falklands War. In 2016, he claimed David Cameron had poisoned the EU referendum debate.

Contents

John Nott Margaret Thatcher wasn39t just fighting Argentina but

Sir john nott we will be more secure if we vote leave


Early life

John Nott British Empire The Falklands War

Born in Bideford, Devon, the son of Richard Nott and Phyllis (née Francis), Nott was educated at Bradfield College and was commissioned as a regular officer in the 2nd Gurkha Rifles (1952–1956). He served in the Malayan emergency after a period of service with the Royal Scots. He left to study law and economics at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was President of the Cambridge Union Society. He was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1959. At Cambridge he met his future wife Miloska, a Slovene. Lady Nott was awarded an OBE in 2012 for her humanitarian work. They have two sons and a daughter.

Member of Parliament

John Nott Cringeworthy letter sent from former defence secretary

Nott was Member of Parliament for St Ives in Cornwall from 1966 to 1983. He was the last person to commence his parliamentary career under the nearly obsolete National Liberal label. The National Liberals were formally absorbed by the Conservatives in 1968, after which Nott sat as a Conservative MP.

In government

John Nott Falklands defence secretary Sir John Nott in planning row

Nott served in the early 1970s government of Prime Minister Ted Heath as Economic Secretary to the Treasury. He joined the shadow cabinet in 1976 and the Cabinet when Margaret Thatcher won the 1979 general election. With this appointment to the cabinet, he was made a Privy Counsellor. He served first as Secretary of State for Trade which incorporated The Department of Prices & Consumer Affairs. Nott was responsible for repealing the Prices & Incomes policy and played a leading role in the abolition of Exchange Control. The Department of Trade also covered responsibility for Shipping and Aviation. Nott announced the privatisation of British Airways, the first privatisation of the Thatcher Government. He was moved to Defence in the reshuffle of January 1981.

John Nott Sir John Nott Thatcher39s Defence Secretary Voted Ukip In

He was widely criticised by the Royal Navy chiefs over the 1981 Defence White Paper for his decision to cut back on government naval expenditure during the severe economic recession of the early 1980s; the cuts originally included the proposed scrapping of the Antarctic patrol ship HMS Endurance and the reduction of the Surface Fleet to 50 frigates and from three to two Aircraft Carriers. He switched the resultant savings into nuclear submarines, naval weapon systems and air defence. He announced and took through Parliament the upgrading of the nuclear deterrent to the current Trident system (D5).

Resignation and retirement

Nott offered his resignation as Defence Secretary to Thatcher following the Argentinian invasion of the Falklands in March 1982. Unlike then Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington, however, the resignation was not accepted. Nott remained Secretary of State for Defence throughout the four-month conflict. He was eventually replaced by Michael Heseltine in January 1983 when Nott announced he would not seek re-election in 1983. In the same year, he was knighted, as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.

Nott, John Major and Malcolm Rifkind are the only surviving members of Mrs Thatcher's cabinet who do not currently sit in either house of Parliament.

In 1985, he became Chairman and Chief Executive of the banking firm Lazard Brothers. He was Chairman of Hillsdown Holdings, a multi-national food company, the Canadian firm Maple Leaf Foods, Deputy Chairman of Royal Insurance and other companies. He was an adviser to APAX Partners and Freshfields. Currently he is a supporter of Brexit, the move to leave the European Union. He now lives on his farm at St Erth in Cornwall.

Personal life

Nott's son, Julian Nott, is a film composer, screenwriter and director, most famous for writing the scores for the Wallace & Gromit and Peppa Pig animated short films. Nott's other son, William, works for an international oil company in London. Nott's daughter, Sasha, is married to the Member of Parliament for East Devon, Hugo Swire MP.

Books

Nott's autobiography Here Today, Gone Tomorrow is a reference to an interview conducted by Sir Robin Day in October 1982. Day described Nott, who had already announced or was shortly to announce that he would not stand at the next election, as "a transient, here-today and, if I may say so, gone-tomorrow politician." He asked whether the public should believe the MP's statements on defence cuts. Nott promptly stood up calling the interview "ridiculous", removed his microphone and walked off the set.

Nott's second book, Mr Wonderful Takes a Cruise, was published in 1988.

In 2007, he published a family history entitled Haven't We Been Here Before.

In 2012, he published Trewinnard - A Cornish History about his home in Cornwall.

Nott's fourth book, Mr Wonderful Seeks Immortality, was published in 2014.

In the media

Nott was interviewed about the rise of Thatcherism for the 2006 BBC TV documentary series Tory! Tory! Tory!.

European Union referendum

In 2016, Nott criticised the "poisoned EU debate" in the Conservative Party, and announced he would not renew his party membership until there was change of leadership.

Nott was portrayed by Clive Merrison in the 2002 BBC production of Ian Curteis's controversial The Falklands Play. In the film The Iron Lady Nott is played by Angus Wright.

References

John Nott Wikipedia


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