Norman Fowler, Baron Fowler

Template:Short description Template:Redirect Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox officeholder Peter Norman Fowler, Baron Fowler, Template:Post-nominals (born 2 February 1938) is a British politician who served as a member of both Margaret Thatcher and John Major's ministries during the 1980s and 1990s.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He held the office of Lord Speaker from 1 September 2016 to 30 April 2021.

After serving as Shadow Minister of Transport, Fowler was appointed Minister of Transport in 1979, being responsible for making seat belts compulsory. Later, as Secretary of State for Social Services, he drew public attention to the dangers of AIDS. He resigned from the cabinet as Employment Secretary, and was knighted in 1990.

Fowler was Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1992 to 1994, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions from 1997 to 1998, and Shadow Home Secretary from 1998 to 1999. In 2001, he left the House of Commons and later that same year was created a Conservative life peer. As is customary for presiding officers, he renounced his party political allegiance upon taking office as Lord Speaker. On 25 February 2021, he announced that in April he would step down as Lord Speaker to focus on campaigning work, particularly in relation to AIDS.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He continues to sit in the House of Lords.

Early life

Fowler was born on 2 February 1938 to Norman Frederick Fowler and Katherine (née Baker). He is an only child. He was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford, Essex.<ref>Dod's Parliamentary Companion 2005, 173rd edition, London, 2004, p.581.</ref> After school, he did National Service as a second lieutenant in the Essex Regiment. He then studied at Trinity Hall, Cambridge (BA Economics & Law 1961). He was Chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association in Michaelmas 1960, in which term he entertained both the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and Home Secretary Rab Butler. Following university, he became a journalist, and worked at The Times.<ref name = Godfrey>Template:Cite news</ref>

Member of Parliament

Fowler, who had aspired to become an MP since childhood, was elected for Nottingham South in 1970; after the seat was abolished, he switched to Sutton Coldfield at the February 1974 election.<ref name = Godfrey/>

In opposition

During the mid-1970s, Mr. Fowler was Shadow Minister of Transport. In April 1976, he was photographed outside the Palace of Westminster having just taken delivery of his third four-cylinder MG MGB GT — he had reportedly rejected the idea of buying a V8 version on account of its cost.<ref name=Autocar197604>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In government

Upon Margaret Thatcher becoming prime minister in 1979, she did not immediately appoint Fowler to her Cabinet, explaining: "we were short of one place. As a result, Norman Fowler, as Minister of State at Transport, was not able to be an official member of the Cabinet, although he attended all our meetings."<ref>Margaret Thatcher, The Downing Street Years (HarperCollins, 1993), p. 29.</ref>

As secretary of state for transport, Fowler drove through Lord Nugent's 1981 bill to make seat belts compulsory, a law that came into force in 1983.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

As secretary of state for social services in 1986, Fowler implemented the first official drive to educate the British public as to the dangers of AIDS and how transmission could be reduced.<ref name = Godfrey/> Under his tenure, awareness about how the disease was spread was transmitted widely — including through public health posters, newspaper advertisements, and television campaigns.<ref name = Godfrey/> The main public health campaign, labeled "Don't Die of Ignorance", included mailing a leaflet to 23 million homes. By 1987, a Gallup Poll showed that 98% of the public was aware of how HIV was transmitted, and the vast majority supported Fowler's campaign.<ref name = Godfrey/> By 1990, infection rates in the UK were below those of peer nations, including France and the US.<ref>Our World in Data [1]</ref>

Some Conservatives, including Thatcher herself, objected to the frank content of these messages, which contained material about needle usage and intravenous drugs, as well as discussions about the risks of unprotected sex.<ref name = Godfrey/> During this time, Thatcher told Fowler that she felt he had become known as the "Minister for AIDS", and she disapproved of this.<ref name = Godfrey/> The following year, she moved him to the role of Secretary of State for Employment.<ref name = Stanford>Template:Cite news</ref>

Backbenches, retirement and Shadow Cabinet

Fowler resigned from the Cabinet in January 1990. He later claimed that he was the first politician to cite a desire to spend more time with family as the reason for leaving office.<ref name = Family>Template:Cite news</ref> The phrase has been reused by many others as a reason for a resignation, and is often treated as insincere or euphemistic, though Fowler has said he was being literal, as he worried he was growing distant from his young children.<ref name = Rayner>Template:Cite news</ref>

Following his resignation from the Government frontbench, Fowler was knighted in 1990.<ref name="london gazette">Template:London Gazette</ref>

Fowler then returned twice to front-line politics. First as Chairman of the Conservative Party (though he remained a backbencher in the Commons) from 1992 to 1994, during which time he oversaw the parliamentary boundary changes of the early 1990s.<ref name = Rayner/> Following the Conservatives' loss to Tony Blair's New Labour, he sat on the Opposition front benches as Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions (1997–98) and then as Shadow Home Secretary (1998–99).

In 2001, Fowler stepped down as a Member of Parliament.

House of Lords

Fowler speaking from the Woolsack in 2021. His deputy and successor, Lord McFall of Alcluith, sits on the steps of the throne behind him.

After standing down from the House of Commons, he entered the House of Lords, sitting on the Conservative benches as Baron Fowler, of Sutton Coldfield, in the County of West Midlands.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> He had first been offered a peerage in 1989.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2003, Lord Fowler proposed that the European Union should appoint a high-level coordinator with ambassadorial rank to deal with the AIDS epidemic.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2006, Fowler chaired a House of Lords select committee which criticised the use of the television licence fee, which is used to fund the BBC.

His book A Political Suicide (Politico's Publishing Template:ISBN) was published in 2008, and was shortlisted for the Channel 4 Political Book of the Year Award.

In May 2013, Fowler gave his support to legislation aiming to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples, stating: "Parliament should value people equally in the law, and that enabling same-sex couples to marry removes the current inequity."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

He was elected as Lord Speaker in 2016.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He is the third person and first man to hold the office since it was established by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. Fowler has stated that he favours reducing the House of Lords to 600 members.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 19 March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the 82 year old announced that he would be taking public health advice and withdrawing from Westminster — he would instead be remote working, with deputy speakers taking over his in-person role in the House of Lords chamber. He returned in July of 2020 to resume his duties in-person.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 25 February 2021, some months before his term was to end in September, Fowler announced that he would be stepping down as Lord Speaker in April 2021, ahead of the introduction of a series of structural and organisational changes in the Lords, saying that it would be best for those changes to be "seen through by the team who will be implementing them".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He also stated his desire to stand down in order to "speak his mind" as an independent (crossbench) member of the House of Lords on issues he has campaigned for, in particular LGBT rights in the United Kingdom, and HIV and AIDS.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In March 2021, Fowler backed calls for the UK's first ever national AIDS memorial, supporting its aim of fighting stigma and discrimination against those with HIV and AIDS.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Private sector

Lord Fowler has served on the boards of directors of several companies and is non-executive chairman of Aggregate Industries plc.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He is a member of the National Union of Journalists.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

After a previous marriage ended in divorce, Fowler married Fiona Poole, a library clerk at the House of Commons, in 1979.<ref name = Stanford/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They had two daughters, and Fowler became a stepfather to his wife's son from her prior marriage.<ref name = Stanford/>

Template:As of, Fowler lives in Fulham, London.<ref name = Rayner/>

Bibliography

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

External links

• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Template:Hansard-contribs
• "Europe should appoint Aids envoy, peer says" - a Guardian article by Michael White, dated 21 February 2003

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