Name Patrick 9th | ||
 | ||
James Patrick Montagu Burgoyne Winthrop Stopford, 9th Earl of Courtown (also known as Patrick Courtown; born 19 March 1954), styled Viscount Stopford between 1957 and 1975, is an Irish peer and politician. He is one of the 92 hereditary peers elected to remain in the House of Lords after the House of Lords Act 1999 and sits for the Conservatives.
In 1995 he was appointed a Lord in Waiting to Her Majesty The Queen, and as a Government Whip. He was a government spokesman for the Home Office, Department of Transport and the Scottish Office. In 2013 he was appointed a Conservative party whip. Following the 2015 election he was invited to join the Government as a Lord in Waiting to Her Majesty and as a Government Whip. He was promoted to Deputy Chief Whip and Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard in the May ministry in July 2016.
The son of the 8th Earl of Courtown and Patricia Winthrop, he was educated at Eton and the Berkshire College of Agriculture. He attended school later at the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester. He succeeded to the Earldom of Courtown in 1975.
Lord Courtown has been married since 1985 to Elisabeth Dunnett, daughter of I. R. Dunnett.
Lord Courtown's heir apparent is his son, James, who is currently styled as Viscount Stopford.