Oliver Eden, 8th Baron Henley

The Right Honourable The Lord Henley PC
Lord Henley in 2019
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
In office 27 October 2017 – 26 July 2019
Prime Minister	Theresa May
Preceded by	The Lord Prior of Brampton
Succeeded by	The Lord Duncan of Springbank
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
In office 21 December 2016 – 15 June 2017
Prime Minister	Theresa May
Preceded by	The Lord Freud
Succeeded by	The Baroness Buscombe
Lord-in-waiting Government Whip
In office 21 November 2016 – 20 June 2017
Prime Minister	Theresa May
Preceded by	The Lord Ashton of Hyde
Succeeded by	The Baroness Vere of Norbiton
In office 13 February 1989 – 24 July 1989
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	New appointment
Succeeded by	The Viscount Ullswater
Minister of State for Crime Prevention and Antisocial Behaviour Reduction
In office 16 September 2011 – 4 September 2012
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	The Baroness Browning
Succeeded by	Jeremy Browne
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Resource Management, the Local Environment and Environmental Science
In office 11 May 2010 – 16 September 2011
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	The Lord Davies of Oldham
Succeeded by	The Lord Taylor of Holbeach
Opposition Chief Whip of the House of Lords
In office 3 December 1998 – 18 September 2001
Leader	William Hague
Preceded by	The Lord Strathclyde
Succeeded by	The Lord Cope of Berkeley
Minister of State for Education and Employment
In office 6 July 1995 – 2 May 1997
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	Ann Widdecombe
Succeeded by	The Baroness Blackstone
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence
In office 20 July 1994 – 6 July 1995
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	The Viscount Cranborne
Succeeded by	The Earl Howe
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment
In office 16 September 1993 – 20 July 1994
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	The Viscount Ullswater
Succeeded by	James Paice
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Social Security
In office 25 July 1989 – 28 November 1990
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	The Lord Skelmersdale
Succeeded by	Ann Widdecombe
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
as a hereditary peer 28 February 1978 – 11 November 1999
Preceded by	The 7th Baron Henley
Succeeded by	Seat abolished
Incumbent
as an elected hereditary peer 11 November 1999
Preceded by	Seat established
Personal details
Born	Oliver Michael Robert Eden (1953-11-22) 22 November 1953
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	Collingwood College, Durham

Oliver Michael Robert Eden, 8th Baron Henley, 6th Baron Northington (born 22 November 1953), is a British hereditary peer and politician, who is a Conservative member of the House of Lords. He has served in a number of ministerial positions in the governments of Margaret Thatcher, John Major, David Cameron and Theresa May, most recently as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Lord Henley served as a Minister of State at the Home Office with responsibility for Crime Prevention and Anti-Social Behaviour Reduction, a role in which he succeeded Lady Browning in September 2011 to September 2012.

Early life

Arms of the Baron Henley: Quarterly: 1st and 4th: Gules, on a chevron argent between three garbs or banded vert as many escallops sable (Eden); 2nd and 3rd: Azure, a lion rampant argent ducally crowned or a bordure of the second charged with eight torteaux (Henley).

Lord Henley is the eldest son and fourth child of the 7th Baron Henley and his wife, Nancy Mary née Walton. He was educated at Clifton College. He graduated from Collingwood College, Durham University, with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1975. He was called to the bar by the Middle Temple in 1977.

Political career

By right as an hereditary peer

Lord Henley succeeded to the peerage in 1977 upon the death of his father. An Irish peer, he is able to sit in the House of Lords by virtue of a United Kingdom peerage granted to the 3rd Baron Henley, namely Baron Northington. He was an elected County Councillor for Cumbria from 1986 to 1989. He was also at that time President of the Cumbria Association of Local Councils.

He served as a House of Lords whip under Margaret Thatcher from 1989 to July 1990. He then moved to become a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Social Security, retaining the position when John Major rose to power and serving until 1993. He was then briefly moved to the Department of Employment, when in 1994 he was again fleetingly moved to the Ministry of Defence. In 1995 he was promoted to Minister of State at the Department for Education and Employment, serving until the Conservative government lost the 1997 general election.

By election from among hereditary peers

With the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999, Lord Henley along with almost all other hereditary peers lost his automatic right to sit in the House of Lords. He was however elected as one of the 92 hereditary peers to remain in the House of Lords pending completion of House of Lords reform. He first served as opposition spokesman for Home Affairs before becoming Opposition Chief Whip in the Lords from 1998 to 2001 and as Opposition spokesman for Justice from 2003 to 2010.

After the 6 May 2010 general election, Lord Henley was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in the Cameron Ministry. He was promoted to Minister of State at the Home Office on 16 September 2011, with special responsibility for crime prevention and anti-social behaviour reduction, replacing Baroness Browning, who stepped down for health reasons. He was a member of the Joint Committee on Human Rights until November 2016. On 21 November 2016, it had been announced that he had been appointed a Lord in Waiting, one of the government whips in the House of Lords. In addition to that role, he was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions on 21 December 2016.

He was appointed to the Privy Council (PC) in 2013.

Personal life

Eden married Caroline Patricia Sharp, daughter of Alan G. Sharp, on 11 October 1984. The couple has four children. The family seat is Scaleby Castle, Carlisle.

References

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages – Peerages beginning with "H" (part 3)