Michael Jopling, Baron Jopling

The Right Honourable The Lord Jopling PC
Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
In office 11 June 1983 – 13 June 1987
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Peter Walker
Succeeded by	John MacGregor
Chief Whip of the House of Commons Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
In office 4 May 1979 – 11 June 1983
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Michael Cocks
Succeeded by	John Wakeham
Member of Parliament for Westmorland and Lonsdale
In office 9 June 1983 – 1 May 1997
Preceded by	Constituency Created
Succeeded by	Tim Collins
Member of Parliament for Westmorland
In office 15 October 1964 – 9 June 1983
Preceded by	William Fletcher-Vane
Succeeded by	Constituency Abolished
Personal details
Born	10 December 1930 (1930-12-10)
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	Durham University Newcastle University

Thomas Michael Jopling, Baron Jopling, PC (born 10 December 1930) is a politician in the United Kingdom, and sits in the House of Lords as a member of the Conservative Party.

Jopling was educated at Cheltenham College and Durham University. He was a farmer and company director, and served on the national council of the National Farmers Union. He was a councillor on Thirsk Rural District Council.

Jopling was elected Conservative MP for Westmorland, now in Cumbria, in 1964 and became Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury from 1979 to 1983. In 1983, he was elected for Westmorland and Lonsdale after boundary changes, and was appointed Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from 1983 to 1987.

In his Diaries, the military historian and Tory member of Parliament Alan Clark famously quoted what he claimed was Jopling's "snobby but cutting" dismissal of the ambitious Conservative deputy prime minister Michael Heseltine: "The trouble with Michael is that he had to buy his own furniture".

Jopling was made a life peer as Baron Jopling, of Ainderby Quernhow in the County of North Yorkshire in 1997. He is a member of the Privy Council and the America All Party Parliamentary Group.

His younger son, Jay Jopling, is a British contemporary art dealer and gallerist.

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Michael Jopling

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by William Fletcher-Vane	Member of Parliament for Westmorland 1964–1983	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Westmorland and Lonsdale 1983–1997	Succeeded by Tim Collins
Political offices
Preceded by Michael Cocks	Chief Whip of the House of Commons 1979–1983	Succeeded by John Wakeham
	Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury 1979–1983
Preceded by Peter Walker	Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 1983–1987	Succeeded by John MacGregor