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Rupert Ponsonby, 7th Baron de Mauley

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Lt Col The Right Honourable
The Lord de Mauley
TD FCA
Official portrait
Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
In office
September 2012 – September 2015
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Sec. of StateOwen Paterson
Elizabeth Truss
Preceded byJohn Taylor, Baron Taylor of Holbeach
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office
14 March 2005
Hereditary peerage
Preceded byHugh Lawson, 6th Baron Burnham
Personal details
Born (1957-06-30) 30 June 1957 (age 67)
Political partyConservative
Alma materEton College

Rupert Charles Ponsonby, 7th Baron de Mauley TD FCA[1] (born 30 June 1957), is a British hereditary peer, former Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and retired Territorial Army officer.

Background and education

Ponsonby was born to Col. Hon. Thomas Ponsonby (1930–2001) and Maxine Thelluson. The 5th Baron de Mauley was his paternal grandfather.

He was educated at Eton College, an independent school for boys near Windsor, Berkshire.

Military service

Ponsonby first joined the Territorial Army in 1976, when he was commissioned into the Royal Wessex Yeomanry as a second lieutenant.[2][3] He was promoted to lieutenant in 1978,[4] major in 1988,[5] and lieutenant-colonel in 2003.[6] In 1988, he was awarded the Efficiency Decoration (Territorial) (TD).[7] He retired in 2005.[8] On 1 June 2011 he was appointed Colonel Commandant Yeomanry,[9] and on 1 July 2015 he became Honorary Colonel of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry.[10]

Peerage and political career

Lord de Mauley succeeded his uncle, the 6th Baron de Mauley, in October 2002. On 10 March 2005 he was declared the winner of a by-election for a Conservative hereditary peers' seat in the House of Lords after the death of Hugh Lawson, 6th Baron Burnham. He was the first peer to have acceded to a title after the House of Lords Act 1999 to have obtained an elective hereditaries' seat in the House.

He was Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs between 2012 and 2015, after taking over from John Taylor, Baron Taylor of Holbeach, who went to the Home Office. He was previously a Government Lord-in-waiting (a position in the Royal Household given to Government Lords whips) and also served as a Shadow Minister for Children, Schools & Families and Energy & Climate Change from 2008 to 2009, and then an opposition whip from 2009 to 2010.[11]

His selection in 2014 to lead UK fisheries talks in the European Union faced widespread criticism, given his background as an hereditary peer with no prior experience in this field, especially compared to the fisheries minister of Scotland, where two thirds of the UK fishing industry is based.[12][13]

His brother, (Ashley) George Ponsonby, was allowed by a Warrant of Precedence from the Queen to use the style of Honourable, because his father would have held the peerage but for his predeceasing the previous holder.[14]

National Pollinator Strategy

In June 2013 de Mauley announced that his department would produce a National Pollinator Strategy. This followed the Bee Cause campaign led by Friends of the Earth and supported by well over 200 MPs for a bee action plan. Leading bee scientists set seven tests to help assess whether the plan is capable of helping pollinators.[15][16]

Master of the Horse

In July 2018, the Queen appointed Lord de Mauley to succeed Lord Vestey as Master of the Horse. His appointment will take effect on 1 January 2019.[17]

Family

Lord de Mauley is married to Lucinda, younger daughter of Lord Fanshawe of Richmond. His heir is his younger brother, the Hon. George Ponsonby, who is married to the former Camilla Gordon-Lennox, née Pilkington.[citation needed]

Ancestry

Notes

  1. ^ "List of Ministers' Interests" (PDF). Cabinet Office. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  2. ^ "No. 46909". The London Gazette (Supplement). 24 May 1976. p. 7439.
  3. ^ "No. 47264". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 July 1977. p. 8747.
  4. ^ "No. 47527". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 May 1978. p. 5471.
  5. ^ "No. 52665". The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 September 1991. p. 14496.
  6. ^ "No. 56811". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 January 2003. p. 125.
  7. ^ "No. 51543". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 November 1988. p. 13394.
  8. ^ "No. 58008". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 June 2006. p. 8065.
  9. ^ "No. 59873". The London Gazette (Supplement). 9 August 2011. p. 15188.
  10. ^ "No. 61307". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 July 2015. p. 13875.
  11. ^ The Lord De Mauley, TD
  12. ^ Alex Salmond slams David Cameron for sending toff banker to represent interests of Scots fishermen in Europe
  13. ^ For Scotland, independence day has already dawned
  14. ^ "No. 56937". The London Gazette. 16 May 2003. p. 6081.
  15. ^ Bees Summit: A Summary Heading towards a National Pollinator Strategy
  16. ^ National pollinator strategy (November 2014)
  17. ^ "Appendix To Court Circular". Court Circular. 26 July 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Baron de Mauley
2002–present 		Incumbent
Heir presumptive:
Hon. George Ponsonby

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