Tim Boswell
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Timothy Eric Boswell, Baron Boswell of Aynho Template:Postnominals (2 December 1942 – 30 August 2025) was a British politician who was the Conservative MP for Daventry from 1987 until he stood down at the 2010 general election, after which he was appointed to the House of Lords as a life peer.<ref name="Boswell_London_Gazette_Lords">Template:London Gazette</ref><ref name="Boswell_Parliament_UK">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Boswell_Whos_Who">Template:Cite book</ref>
Background
The son of a farmer, Tim Boswell was educated at Marlborough College and New College, Oxford, where he obtained a degree in Classics and a diploma in agricultural economics.<ref name="Boswell_Whos_Who"/>
Boswell was married to Helen Delahay Boswell, née Rees, for 50 years until her death in 2019.<ref name="Boswell_Whos_Who"/><ref name="Gazette_Helen_Boswell">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Legacy_Helen_Boswell">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> They had three daughters together including the former Conservative Member of Parliament Victoria Prentis.
Boswell died on 30 August 2025, at the age of 82.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Political career
Conservative Party
Boswell joined the Conservative Research Department in 1966, becoming head of the economics section in 1974. He stood for Parliament at the February 1974 general election in Rugby but lost by 6,154 votes to Labour's William Price.
He was elected as the Treasurer of the Daventry Conservative Association in 1976 and subsequently its Chairman from 1979 to 1983. He became a political advisor to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Michael Jopling for two years from 1984.
House of Commons
Boswell was chosen to contest the Daventry constituency after the sitting Conservative MP Reg Prentice announced his retirement. He was elected as the Conservative MP for Daventry at the 1987 general election with a majority of 19,690 and held the safe seat comfortably until his retirement from the House of Commons.
Tim Boswell's Westminster career began unsurprisingly as a Member of the Agriculture Select committee in 1987. He became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury Peter Lilley in 1989. Tim Boswell entered John Major's government in 1990 as an Assistant Government Whip, following the 1992 general election he was promoted within the Whip's Office and became a Lord Commissioner to the Treasury.
In December 1992, Tim Boswell was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Education and moved in the same position at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food until the Major government fell at the 1997 general election.
In opposition Boswell was a spokesman on the Treasury in the immediate aftermath of the 1997 election defeat and became a spokesman on Trade and Industry under William Hague, before speaking on Education and Employment in 1999 until after the 2001 general election. He became the spokesman for Work and Pensions under the leadership of Iain Duncan Smith, moving briefly to speak on Constitutional Affairs in 2003 under Michael Howard and back to Work and Pensions in 2004, where he remained following the 2005 general election.
On 31 March 2006, Boswell announced his intention not to contest the subsequent general election, provided it did not take place unexpectedly soon. The Daventry seat was split in two at the 2010 general election, with the northern portion becoming part of a new Daventry constituency and the southern part becoming part of a South Northamptonshire constituency.
In May 2009, he was listed by The Telegraph as one of the "Saints" (MPs who spent less money) in the expenses scandal.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
After his retirement from the House of Commons the seat remained Conservative under Chris Heaton-Harris.
House of Lords
Boswell was raised to the House of Lords as a Conservative Life peer being created Baron Boswell of Aynho, of Aynho in the County of Northamptonshire on 8 July 2010.<ref name="Boswell_London_Gazette_Lords"/> In May 2012, he resigned the Conservative whip after being made Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees in the House. He also became Chairman of the European Union Committee.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He retired from the Lords on 24 July 2025.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Honours
On 10 March 2016, Boswell was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Northamptonshire in 2010.<ref>Deputy Lieutenant Commissions</ref>
References
External links
- Template:Usurped
- Template:Hansard-contribs
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Tim Boswell MP
- Profile on Conservative Party website
- Daventry Conservatives
- TheyWorkForYou.com - Tim Boswell MP
- The Public Whip - Tim Boswell MP voting record
- BBC News - Tim Boswell profile 15 February 2005
Template:S-start Template:S-par Template:Succession box Template:S-end
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- 1942 births
- 2025 deaths
- Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
- UK MPs 1987–1992
- UK MPs 1992–1997
- UK MPs 1997–2001
- UK MPs 2001–2005
- UK MPs 2005–2010
- People educated at Marlborough College
- Alumni of New College, Oxford
- Conservative Party (UK) life peers
- Deputy lieutenants of Northamptonshire
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- Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London
- People from Aynho
- Peers retired under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014