Anthony Nutting
Encyclopedia
Sir Harold Anthony Nutting, 3rd Baronet (11 January 1920 – 24 February 1999) was a British diplomat and Conservative Party
politician.
and Trinity College, Cambridge
where he studied agriculture and kept a pack of hounds.
When World War II
broke out, he joined the Leicestershire Yeomanry
, but he had to be invalided out a year later after a steeplechase
accident, and he entered the Foreign Service
. Both of his elder brothers were killed on active duty. He served as an attaché at the British Embassy in Paris
. When France fell in World War II he was assigned to the embassy in Madrid
, where he organized escape routes for Allied servicemen caught behind enemy lines from 1940 to 1944 . He joined the Embassy in Rome
in 1944-45.
He married his first wife, Gillian Leonora Strutt, with whom he had three children, John, David and Zara, they divorced however in 1959. He married his second wife, Anne Gunning Parker, in 1961, he later married his third wife Margarita.
, aged 25, Nutting was elected as Member of Parliament
for Melton
a constituency in the heart of famous hunting country and it was said of it that "most of the voters are foxes!". He served as chairman of the Young Conservatives
1946-47 and he was the youngest member of Winston Churchill
's Government after World War II.
He was made a Privy Councillor
in 1954 and he led the British delegation to the United Nations General Assembly and Disarmament Commission in 1954 and 1955. He was an internationalist, an early enthusiast for British membership of the European Economic Community
and an Arabist
who was a founding member of the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding (CAABU) in 1967. In the worlds of the political writer Peter Kellner:
"He belonged to, and was set fair to lead, a new generation of post-war Tories: moderate, inclusive and internationalist. He preferred the spirit of the United Nations Charter to the ethos of empire. He understood earlier than most of his contemporaries that Britain needed to find a new role in the world."
of Egypt
under which British troops withdrew from Suez
; so when he discovered the joint British and French invasion plan at a meeting on the 14 October 1956 he believed that the mission was mistaken and deceitful. On the 31 October, after failed attempts by Harold Macmillan
, the future Prime Minister, to persuade him not to resign telling him that "you will lead the party one day". Nutting resigned his post as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs
but for security reasons, he did not give the customary resignation speech to the House of Commons
, and his unexplained action proved so unpopular that his constituents forced him to give up his seat in Parliament
. He later wrote of feeling suddenly "bereft of friends... a castaway adrift on a sea of anger and recrimination, an object of distrust... torn between loyalty to principle and loyalty to friends and associates."
until 1967 when in his book No End of a Lesson, he explained that backing the Suez action would have put him in the position of lying to the House of Commons and the United Nations
.
"Either I had to tell the whole story as I saw it, or say nothing at all," he wrote. "And as long as any of the chief protagonists of the Suez war still held high office in Britain it would clearly have been a grave disservice to the nation, which they still led and represented in the councils of the world, to have told the whole story." The Suez Crisis had caused so much bitterness that even eleven years after his resignation he came under pressure from the Cabinet Secretary
not to proceed and there was even a threat of prosecution under the Official Secrets Act
.
In his later years, still a political outcast, he divided his time between writing biographies and histories in London
, fox hunting
in Shropshire
, and farming at Achentoul
in Scotland
.
He died on 24 February 1999 at his London home of heart failure.
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
politician.
Early and private life
Nutting was born on 11 January 1920, the son of Sir Harold Stanmore Nutting, 2nd Bt. a wealthy family who owned estates in England and Scotland. He was educated at Eton CollegeEton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
where he studied agriculture and kept a pack of hounds.
When World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
broke out, he joined the Leicestershire Yeomanry
Leicestershire Yeomanry
The Leicestershire Yeomanry was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1794 and again in 1803, which provided cavalry and mounted infantry in the South African War and First World War and provided two field artillery regiments of the Royal Artillery in the Second World War,...
, but he had to be invalided out a year later after a steeplechase
Steeplechase (athletics)
The steeplechase is an obstacle race in athletics, which derives its name from the steeplechase in horse racing.-Rules:The length of the race is usually 3000 m; junior events are 2000 m, as women's events formerly were. The circuit has four ordinary barriers and one water jump. Over 3000 m, each...
accident, and he entered the Foreign Service
Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service
Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service is the diplomatic service of the United Kingdom, dealing with foreign affairs, as opposed to the Home Civil Service, which deals with domestic affairs...
. Both of his elder brothers were killed on active duty. He served as an attaché at the British Embassy in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. When France fell in World War II he was assigned to the embassy in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, where he organized escape routes for Allied servicemen caught behind enemy lines from 1940 to 1944 . He joined the Embassy in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in 1944-45.
He married his first wife, Gillian Leonora Strutt, with whom he had three children, John, David and Zara, they divorced however in 1959. He married his second wife, Anne Gunning Parker, in 1961, he later married his third wife Margarita.
Early political career
At the 1945 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1945
The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...
, aged 25, Nutting was elected as Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Melton
Melton (UK Parliament constituency)
Melton was a county constituency centred on the town of Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
a constituency in the heart of famous hunting country and it was said of it that "most of the voters are foxes!". He served as chairman of the Young Conservatives
Conservative Future
Conservative Future, abbreviated to CF, is the youth movement of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom for members aged up to 30 years old.Founded in 1998, Conservative Future is the largest political organisation on British campuses...
1946-47 and he was the youngest member of Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
's Government after World War II.
He was made a Privy Councillor
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
in 1954 and he led the British delegation to the United Nations General Assembly and Disarmament Commission in 1954 and 1955. He was an internationalist, an early enthusiast for British membership of the European Economic Community
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) The European Economic Community (EEC) (also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking world, renamed the European Community (EC) in 1993The information in this article primarily covers the EEC's time as an independent...
and an Arabist
Arabist
This is an article about the western scholars known as Arabists, not the political movement Pan-Arabism.An Arabist is someone normally from outside the Arab World who specialises in the study of the Arabic language and Arab culture, and often Arabic literature.-Origins:Arabists began in medieval...
who was a founding member of the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding (CAABU) in 1967. In the worlds of the political writer Peter Kellner:
"He belonged to, and was set fair to lead, a new generation of post-war Tories: moderate, inclusive and internationalist. He preferred the spirit of the United Nations Charter to the ethos of empire. He understood earlier than most of his contemporaries that Britain needed to find a new role in the world."
Suez Crisis
In 1954 he negotiated the final steps of the treaty with President Gamal Abdel NasserGamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
under which British troops withdrew from Suez
Suez
Suez is a seaport city in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez , near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boundaries as Suez governorate. It has three harbors, Adabya, Ain Sokhna and Port Tawfiq, and extensive port facilities...
; so when he discovered the joint British and French invasion plan at a meeting on the 14 October 1956 he believed that the mission was mistaken and deceitful. On the 31 October, after failed attempts by Harold Macmillan
Harold Macmillan
Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC was Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 January 1957 to 18 October 1963....
, the future Prime Minister, to persuade him not to resign telling him that "you will lead the party one day". Nutting resigned his post as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs is a junior ministerial position in the British government.-Ministers of State for Foreign Affairs 1945-1968:*1945: William Mabane*1945-1946: Philip Noel-Baker*1946-1950: Hector McNeil*1950-1951: Kenneth Younger...
but for security reasons, he did not give the customary resignation speech to the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
, and his unexplained action proved so unpopular that his constituents forced him to give up his seat in Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
. He later wrote of feeling suddenly "bereft of friends... a castaway adrift on a sea of anger and recrimination, an object of distrust... torn between loyalty to principle and loyalty to friends and associates."
After Suez
Sir Anthony kept his silence over the Suez CrisisSuez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
until 1967 when in his book No End of a Lesson, he explained that backing the Suez action would have put him in the position of lying to the House of Commons and the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
.
"Either I had to tell the whole story as I saw it, or say nothing at all," he wrote. "And as long as any of the chief protagonists of the Suez war still held high office in Britain it would clearly have been a grave disservice to the nation, which they still led and represented in the councils of the world, to have told the whole story." The Suez Crisis had caused so much bitterness that even eleven years after his resignation he came under pressure from the Cabinet Secretary
Cabinet Secretary
A Cabinet Secretary is almost always a senior official who provides services and advice to a Cabinet of Ministers. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powers, including general responsibility for the entire civil service...
not to proceed and there was even a threat of prosecution under the Official Secrets Act
Official Secrets Act
The Official Secrets Act is a stock short title used in the United Kingdom, Ireland, India and Malaysia and formerly in New Zealand for legislation that provides for the protection of state secrets and official information, mainly related to national security.-United Kingdom:*The Official Secrets...
.
In his later years, still a political outcast, he divided his time between writing biographies and histories in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, fox hunting
Fox hunting
Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase, and sometimes killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds, and a group of followers led by a master of foxhounds, who follow the hounds on foot or on horseback.Fox hunting originated in its current...
in Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
, and farming at Achentoul
Achentoul
Achentoul is a hamlet in the Kinbrace area of Sutherland, in the Scottish council area of Highland. Consisting of a few farmhouses and barns, Achentoul lies north of Kinbrace along the A897 road and south of Loch An Ruathair...
in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
He died on 24 February 1999 at his London home of heart failure.