Roger Freeman, Baron Freeman
Encyclopedia
Roger Norman Freeman, Baron Freeman, PC
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...

 (born 27 May 1942), is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

. A member of the Conservative Party
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...

, he served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is, in modern times, a ministerial office in the government of the United Kingdom that includes as part of its duties, the administration of the estates and rents of the Duchy of Lancaster...

 in the Cabinet
Cabinet of the United Kingdom
The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the collective decision-making body of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, composed of the Prime Minister and some 22 Cabinet Ministers, the most senior of the government ministers....

 of Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

 John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...

 from 1995 to 1997. He was a Member of 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...

 (MP) representing the constituency of Kettering
Kettering (UK Parliament constituency)
Kettering is a county constituency in Northamptonshire which returns one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....

 from 1983 to 1997, and was made a life peer
Life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...

 in 1997.

Freeman was born in the Wirral
Wirral Peninsula
Wirral or the Wirral is a peninsula in North West England. It is bounded by three bodies of water: to the west by the River Dee, forming a boundary with Wales, to the east by the River Mersey and to the north by the Irish Sea. Both terms "Wirral" and "the Wirral" are used locally , although the...

, and educated at Whitgift School
Whitgift School
Whitgift School is an independent day school educating approximately 1,400 boys aged 10 to 18 in South Croydon, London in a parkland site.- History and grounds :...

, Croydon
Croydon
Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...

, and Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....

. Before entering Parliament, he was a Chartered Accountant
Chartered Accountant
Chartered Accountants were the first accountants to form a professional body, initially established in Britain in 1854. The Edinburgh Society of Accountants , the Glasgow Institute of Accountants and Actuaries and the Aberdeen Society of Accountants were each granted a royal charter almost from...

 working for an investment bank.

After an unsuccessful attempt to be elected as MP for Don Valley
Don Valley (UK Parliament constituency)
Don Valley is a parliamentary constituency which returns one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.Created in 1918, Don Valley is a former coal mining area which has elected only Labour MPs since 1922...

 in 1979, Freeman was elected as MP for Kettering in 1983. Before joining the Cabinet, he served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Armed Forces (1986–88), Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health (1988–90), and Minister for Public Transport (1990–1995) ranking as Minister of State. In that post he was responsible for steering through the House of Commons the Railways Bill, providing for the privatisation of British Rail
Privatisation of British Rail
The privatisation of British Rail was set in motion when the Conservative government enacted, on 19 January 1993, the British Coal and British Rail Act 1993 . This enabled the relevant Secretary of State to issue directions to the relevant Board...

 and enacted as the Railways Act 1993.

In 1995, he was brought into the Cabinet by John Major as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. In this role, he made a ministerial visit to Lancaster Royal Grammar School
Lancaster Royal Grammar School
Lancaster Royal Grammar School is a voluntary aided, selective grammar school for boys in Lancaster, England. The school has been awarded specialist Technology College and Language College status. Old boys belong to The Old Lancastrians...

 in 1995.

He did his best to make the dying days of the Major government more colourful by appearing on Channel 4's 'bottom up' television programme The People's Parliament
The People's Parliament
The People's Parliament was a Channel 4 programme in which 90-100 randomly selected citizens, sitting in a mockup of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, debated and voted on controversial issues. Each programme started with a motion that was then debated by a proposer and witnesses for each...

. Appearing by video link, he was quizzed by the female Scots host on the alleged unapproachability of politicians 'in grey suits'. Freeman quipped: "Well, I can't just start turning up to work in a jumper!". Freeman's remark though was better-judged than any viewer might have realised at the time. The Major government's strategy weekend where Cabinet members arrived wearing jumpers was much lampooned.

Narrowly defeated in the 1997 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...

, he was shortly afterwards elevated as a life peer
Life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...

 to the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

 and sits as Baron Freeman, of Dingley
Dingley, Northamptonshire
Dingley is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England, located along the A427, about east of the nearest town, Market Harborough. It is also close to the A6 and near the border with Leicestershire...

 in the County of Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...

.

His wife, Jennifer Freeman, is a former Secretary of the Victorian Society
The Victorian Society
The Victorian Society is the national charity responsible for the study and protection of Victorian and Edwardian architecture and other arts in Britain....

.

External links

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