View source for Francis Pym

{{Short description|British politician (1922–2008)}}
{{for|the 19th-century MP|Francis Pym (1756–1833)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name             = The Lord Pym
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MC|PC|DL}}
| image            = Francis Pym (cropped).jpg
| alt              = Pym, 60, in a photograph
| caption          = Pym in 1982
| office           = [[Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs]]
| primeminister    = [[Margaret Thatcher]]
| term_start       = 6 April 1982
| term_end         = 11 June 1983
| predecessor      = [[The Lord Carrington]]
| successor        = [[Geoffrey Howe]]
| office1          = [[Lord President of the Council]]
| primeminister1   = Margaret Thatcher
| term_start1      = 14 September 1981
| term_end1        = 5 April 1982
| predecessor1     = [[Christopher Soames|The Lord Soames]]
| successor1       = [[John Biffen]]
| office2          = [[Leader of the House of Commons]]
| primeminister2   = Margaret Thatcher
| term_start2      = 5 January 1981
| term_end2        = 5 April 1982
| predecessor2     = [[Norman St John-Stevas]]
| successor2       = John Biffen
| office3          = [[Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]]
| primeminister3   = Margaret Thatcher
| term_start3      = 5 January 1981
| term_end3        = 14 September 1981
| predecessor3     = Norman St John-Stevas
| successor3       = [[Janet Young, Baroness Young|The Baroness Young]]
| office4          = [[Paymaster General]]
| primeminister4   = Margaret Thatcher
| term_start4      = 5 January 1981
| term_end4        = 14 September 1981
| predecessor4     = [[Angus Maude]]
| successor4       = [[Cecil Parkinson]]
| office5          = [[Secretary of State for Defence]]
| primeminister5   = Margaret Thatcher
| term_start5      = 4 May 1979
| term_end5        = 5 January 1981
| predecessor5     = [[Fred Mulley]]
| successor5       = [[John Nott]]
| office6          = [[Secretary of State for Northern Ireland]]
| primeminister6   = [[Edward Heath]]
| term_start6      = 2 December 1973
| term_end6        = 4 March 1974
| predecessor6     = [[William Whitelaw]]
| successor6       = [[Merlyn Rees]]
| office7          = {{enum|[[Chief Whip of the House of Commons]]|[[Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury]]}}
| primeminister7   = Edward Heath
| term_start7      = 19 June 1970
| term_end7        = 2 December 1973
| predecessor7     = [[Bob Mellish]]
| successor7       = [[Humphrey Atkins]]
{{Collapsed infobox section begin |[[Shadow Cabinet]] posts
 |titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes
| office           = [[Shadow Foreign Secretary]]
| leader           = Margaret Thatcher
| term_start       = 6 November 1978
| term_end         = 4 May 1979
| predecessor      = [[John Davies (British businessman)|John Davies]]
| successor        = [[Peter Shore]]
| office1          = [[Shadow Leader of the House of Commons]]
| leader1          = Margaret Thatcher
| term_start1      = 19 November 1976
| term_end1        = 6 November 1978
| predecessor1     = [[John Peyton, Baron Peyton of Yeovil|John Peyton]]
| successor1       = Norman St John-Stevas
| office2          = [[Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food]]
| term_start2      = 15 January 1976
| term_end2        = 19 November 1976
| leader2          = Edward Heath
| predecessor2     = [[Joseph Godber]]
| successor2       = [[Michael Jopling]]
| term_start3      = 11 March 1974
| term_end3        = April 1975
| leader3          = {{ubl|Edward Heath|Margaret Thatcher}}
| predecessor3     = [[Norman Buchan]]
| successor3       = [[Michael Jopling]]
| office4          = [[Shadow Secretary of State for Northern&nbsp;Ireland]]
| term_start4      = 4 March 1974
| term_end4        = 19 June 1974
| leader4          = Edward Heath
| predecessor4     = Merlyn Rees
| successor4       = [[Ian Gilmour]]
| office5          = [[Conservative Chief Whip|Opposition Deputy Chief Whip]] of the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]]
| term_start5      = 22 February 1967
| term_end5        = 19 June 1970
| leader5          = Edward Heath
| predecessor5     = [[Brian Batsford]]
| successor5       = [[Walter Harrison (politician)|Walter Harrison]]

{{Collapsed infobox section end}}}}
{{Collapsed infobox section begin |cont=y |last=y |Parliamentary offices
 |titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes
| office           = Member of the [[House of Lords]]
| status           = [[Lord Temporal]]
| term_label       = [[Life peer]]age
| term_start       = 9 October 1987
| term_end         = 7 March 2008
| parliament1      = United Kingdom
| constituency_MP1 = South East Cambridgeshire
| term_start1      = 9 June 1983
| term_end1        = 18 May 1987
| predecessor1     = ''New constituency''
| successor1       = [[Jim Paice]]
| constituency_MP2 = Cambridgeshire
| term_start2      = 17 March 1961
| term_end2        = 13 May 1983
| predecessor2     = [[Gerald Howard]]
| successor2       = ''Constituency abolished''
{{Collapsed infobox section end}}}}
| birth_name       = Francis Leslie Pym
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1922|2|13|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Abergavenny]], Wales
| death_date       = {{death date and age|2008|3|7|1922|2|13|df=y}}
| death_place      = [[Sandy, Bedfordshire]], England
| party            = [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]
| spouse           = {{marriage|Valerie Daglish|1949}}
| children         = 4
| parents          = [[Leslie Pym]] (father)
| education        = [[Eton College]]
| alma_mater       = [[Magdalene College, Cambridge]]
}}
'''Francis Leslie Pym, Baron Pym''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|MC|PC|DL}} (13 February 1922 – 7 March 2008) was a British [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] politician who served in various [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|Cabinet]] positions in the 1970s and 1980s, including [[Foreign Secretary (United Kingdom)|Foreign]], [[Secretary of State for Defence|Defence]] and [[Northern Ireland Secretary]], and [[Leader of the House of Commons]]. He was [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Cambridgeshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Cambridgeshire]] ([[South East Cambridgeshire]] after 1983) from 1961 to 1987. Pym was made a [[life peer]] in 1987.

== Early life ==
Pym was born at [[Penpergwm Lodge]], near [[Abergavenny]] in [[Monmouthshire (historic)|Monmouthshire]].{{sfn|Theakston|2004|page=141}} His father, [[Leslie Pym]], was also an MP, while his grandfather, the Rt Revd [[Walter Pym (bishop)|Walter Pym]], was [[Diocese of Mumbai (Church of North India)|Bishop of Bombay]]. He was not a direct descendant of the 17th-century parliamentarian [[John Pym]] as has been commonly held (see Pym's own published family history), but a [[collateral descendant]].<ref name=theguardian />

He was educated at [[Eton College|Eton]], before going on to [[Magdalene College, Cambridge]]. For much of the Second World War, Pym served in [[North African campaign|North Africa]] and [[Italian campaign (World War II)|Italy]] as a [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] and [[regimental adjutant]] in the [[9th Lancers]]. He was [[mentioned in despatches]] twice, awarded the [[Military Cross]],<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=37386 |date=13 December 1945 |page=6074  |supp=y}}</ref> and ended his military service as a [[Major (United Kingdom)|major]]. Pym was a managing director and landowner before he went into politics.{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}}

== Political career ==
Pym entered politics as a member of [[Herefordshire County Council]] in 1958.<ref name=iAnnounce /> He contested [[Rhondda West (UK Parliament constituency)|Rhondda West]] without success in 1959 and entered Parliament in 1961 at [[1961 Cambridgeshire by-election|a by-election]] as MP for [[Cambridgeshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Cambridgeshire]]. He held the seat until 1983, and thereafter was MP for [[South East Cambridgeshire]] until 1987. He was an [[opposition whip]] from 1964 and served under [[Edward Heath]] as [[Government Chief Whip]] (1970–1973), playing a critical role during the passage of the European Community Bill (1972), which ensured British entry into Europe. He subsequently joined the Heath Cabinet as Northern Ireland Secretary (1973–1974), and also served as a Cabinet minister in the first Thatcher Government as [[Secretary of State for Defence|Defence Secretary]] (1979–1981), [[Leader of the House of Commons]] and [[Lord President of the Council]] (1981–1982). He became foreign secretary during the [[Falklands War]] in 1982 following [[Lord Carrington]]'s resignation, but was removed by Thatcher the following year after her second election victory.

Pym was a leading member of the "[[wets]]", Conservative MPs sceptical of [[Thatcherism]]. During the [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983 general election]] campaign he said on the BBC's ''[[Question Time (TV programme)|Question Time]]'' that "Landslides don't on the whole produce successful governments".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/uk_politics/04/thatchers_government/html/pym.stm|publisher=BBC News |title=Thatcher's Class of '79 |access-date=3 December 2019}}</ref> This was publicly repudiated by Thatcher and he was sacked after the election. Shortly afterwards, he launched a [[pressure group]] called Conservative Centre Forward to argue for more [[centrist]], [[One-nation conservatism|one-nation]] policies but with Thatcher at the height of her powers, it was unsuccessful. He stood down at the [[1987 United Kingdom general election|1987 election]] and was created a [[life peer]] as [[Baron Pym]] (of [[Sandy, Bedfordshire|Sandy]] in the [[County of Bedford]]shire) on 9 October 1987.<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y |issue=51091 |date=14 October 1987 |page=12695}}</ref>

He was the author of {{citeref|Pym|1984|''The Politics of Consent''|style=plain}}, published in 1984 after he left the government. The book is a guide to the Wets' opposition to Thatcher's leadership style and politics.{{Citation needed|date=September 2020}}

He was portrayed by [[Jeremy Child]] in the 2002 BBC production of [[Ian Curteis]]'s ''[[The Falklands Play]]'', by [[Julian Wadham]] in the 2011 film ''[[The Iron Lady (film)|The Iron Lady]]'' and by [[Guy Siner]] in the [[The Crown (season 4)|fourth series]] of ''[[The Crown (TV series)|The Crown]]''.

== Personal life ==
Pym died in Sandy, [[Bedfordshire]], on 7 March 2008 after a prolonged illness, aged 86.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7283708.stm|title=Former foreign secretary Pym dies|date=7 March 2008|publisher=BBC News |access-date=3 December 2019}}</ref>
He was survived by his wife, Valerie (1929–2017),<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thetimes-uk/obituary.aspx?n=valerie-fortune-pym-daglish&pid=184370371& |title=Valerie Fortune (Daglish) PYM |website=[[Legacy.com]] |access-date=3 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308081539/http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thetimes-uk/obituary.aspx?n=valerie-fortune-pym-daglish&pid=184370371& |archive-date=8 March 2019 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> whom he married on 25 June 1949,<ref name=ODNB/> and their four children.<ref name=theguardian>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/mar/07/3|title=Obituary: Francis Pym|first=Andrew|last=Roth|author-link=Andrew Roth|date=7 March 2008|work=The Guardian |access-date=3 December 2019}}</ref>

== Arms ==
{{Infobox COA wide
|escutcheon = Quarterly, 1st and 4th Sable on a fesse engrailed between three owls Or a trefoil slipped Vert between two cross crosslets of the first all within a bordure of the second (Pym); 2nd Vert on a cross engrailed Ermine a lion rampant reguardant Sable in the dexter canton a mullet Or (Kingsley); 3rd Sable three salmon haurient per pale Argent and Or (Orde).
|crest = Upon a mount Vert a hind's head erased Or gorged with a collar nebuly Azure and holding in the mouth a trefoil slipped Vert.
|supporters = Dexter, rampant upon a sandy mount with tussocks of grass Proper a warhorse in trian aspect Sable mane tail and hooves Or on its head a chanfron and on the neck a crinet both Argent gorged with a double chain pendent therefrom a portcullis Gold; sinister, rampant upon a like mount a bull in trian aspect Sable armed and unguled Or also gorged with a double chain and pendent therefrom a portcullis Gold.
|motto = Ubi Seritur Ibi Floreat<ref>{{cite book |title = Burke's Peerage |title-link = Burke's Peerage |year = 2000 }}{{incomplete short citation|date=September 2020}}</ref>}}

== References ==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name=iAnnounce>{{Cite web
  | title        = Francis Pym: Obituary
  | work         = ThisIsAnnouncements
  | date         = 7 March 2008
  | url          = http://www.thisisannouncements.co.uk/5854562
  | archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110920002112/http://www.thisisannouncements.co.uk/5854562
  | archive-date = 20 September 2011
  }}</ref>
<ref name=ODNB>{{cite ODNB
  | id          = 100102
  | title       = Pym, Francis Leslie, Baron Pym (1922–2008), politician
  | first       = Douglas
  | last        = Hurd
  | author-link = Douglas Hurd
  | date        = 5 January 2012
  }}</ref>
}}

== Bibliography ==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book
  | first     = Geoff
  | last      = Horn
  | title     = The Battle for British Entry into the European Community: Whips and Anti-Marketeers
  | publisher = Springer Nature
  | year      = 2025
  | isbn      = 978-3-031-97106-8
  | url       = https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-97107-5
  }} 
* {{cite book
  | first     = Francis
  | last      = Pym
  | title     = The Politics of Consent
  | publisher = Hamish Hamilton
  | year      = 1984
  | isbn      = 978-0-241-11351-6
  }}
* {{cite book
  | first     = Kevin
  | last      = Theakston
  | title     = British Foreign Secretaries Since 1974
  | url       = {{Google Books URL|id=f-qQAgAAQBAJ}}
  | url-access= limited
  | year      = 2004
  | publisher = Routledge
  | isbn      = 1-135-76637-1
  }}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Hansard-contribs | mr-francis-pym | Francis Pym }}
* {{NPG name}}
*[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/mar/07/3 Obituary, ''The Guardian'', 7 March 2008]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080326214216/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3506470.ece Obituary, ''The Times'', 8 March 2008]
*[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/lord-pym-leading-wet-in-thatchers-first-cabinet-who-became-foreign-secretary-during-the-falklands-war-793176.html Obituary, ''The Independent'', 8 March 2008]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080610070229/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1580963/Lord-Pym.html  Obituary, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 8 March 2008]

{{Navboxes
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|title=Offices and distinctions
|list1=
{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Gerald Howard]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament for [[Cambridgeshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Cambridgeshire]]|years=[[1961 Cambridgeshire by-election|1961]]–[[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983]]}}
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{{s-new|constituency}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament for [[South East Cambridgeshire]]|years=[[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983]]–[[1987 United Kingdom general election|1987]]}}
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{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Brian Batsford]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Chief Whip of the Conservative Party|Conservative Deputy Chief Whip]] in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]]|years=1967–1970}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Humphrey Atkins]]}}
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{{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pym, Francis}}
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