William Waldegrave

William Waldegrave     (politician, deep state operative)
Born	William Arthur Waldegrave 15 August 1946 London, United Kingdom
Nationality	UK
Alma mater	Corpus Christi College (Oxford), Harvard University
Children	4
Spouse	Caroline Burrows
Member of	The Other Club
Party	Conservative Party (UK)
Creator of the hugely unpopular UK poll tax. Chairman of the Rhodes Trust. 4 Bilderbergs. Involved in exporting weapons to Iraq, the denied this in "untrue letters" to MPs. Associate of spooky Victor Rothschild.  Provost of Eton In office 2009 - Present  Chancellor of the University of Reading  In office 2016 - Present  Chairman of the Rhodes Trust  In office 2002 - 2011  Chief Secretary to the Treasury  In office 5 July 1995 - 2 May 1997 Preceded by Jonathan Aitken Succeeded by Alistair Darling  UK/Minister of Agriculture Fisheries and Food In office 20 July 1994 - 5 July 1995  Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster  In office 10 April 1992 - 20 July 1994 Preceded by Chris Patten  Secretary of State for Health  In office 2 November 1990 - 10 April 1992 Preceded by Kenneth Clarke  UK/Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs In office 26 July 1988 - 2 November 1990 Preceded by David Mellor  UK/Minister of State for Housing In office 13 June 1987 - 26 July 1988  Member of Parliament for Bristol West In office 3 May 1979 - 1 May 1997

William Arthur Waldegrave, Baron Waldegrave of North Hill, is a British Conservative politician who served in the Cabinet from 1990 until 1997, where he was on of the instigators of the hugely unpopular poll tax.

Waldegrave served as a Trustee (1992–2011) and Chair (2002–2011) of the Rhodes Trust, during which time he also helped to create and served as a Trustee of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation.

As a Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, he was involved in easing policy on arms exports to Iraq - the UK part of a larger Western armament effort. He denied this in 38 untrue letters to Members of Parliament stating that the policy was unchanged.

Waldegrave attended Bilderberg Group meetings four times: 1987, 1988, 1990 and 1995. He was a panelist for the discussion of Germany at the 1990 Bilderberg.

Early life

Bearing the title The Honourable from birth as a younger son of an Earl, William Waldegrave was the youngest (by six years) of the seven children of Mary Hermione Grenfell and the 12th Earl Waldegrave, his elder brother being the present Earl. One of his sisters is Lady Susan Hussey, who became Baroness Hussey of North Bradley upon her husband's elevation to the House of Lords. His father's title was created five generations earlier for diplomat and ambassador James Waldegrave, 1st Earl Waldegrave, whose grandfather was James II and VII.

Education

Waldegrave was educated at Eton College, where he won the Newcastle Scholarship in 1965, and at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he served for a term as president of the Oxford Union. Oxford was followed by Harvard University in the United States, on a Kennedy Scholarship. In 1971, he was elected a Prize Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and is now a Distinguished Fellow.

Early career

In 1971, Waldegrave was working at the Conservative Research Department; that March he was appointed to the Central Policy Review Staff (CPRS, also referred to as the 'Think-Tank'). "He was from the beginning one of the most active 'philosophers' of the CPRS, and the proponent of strong views about its proper roles and functions". He was one of the few openly political members of the staff and was used by Victor Rothschild, head of the CPRS, as a link with both the Conservative party (then in government) and the outside, non-Civil Service world. He left in December 1973.

Waldegrave's 2015 memoir, A Different Kind of Weather, discusses his high youthful political ambition, his political and to some extent personal life, and growing acceptance that he would not achieve his ultimate ambition. It also provides an account of the Heath, Thatcher and—to a lesser extent—Major governments, including his role in the development of the 'community charge' or poll tax. It includes a chapter entitled 'The Poll Tax – all my own work'.

Parliamentary career

Arms exports to Iraq

He was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol West in 1979. He was regarded as a member of the "wet" or moderate tendency of the Conservative Party, and despite this progressed well from the backbenches in Margaret Thatcher's government.

He became a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Education and Science in 1981 before moving to the Department of the Environment in 1983. He remained at Environment, becoming a Minister of State in 1985, until he became a Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1988. In this post he was involved in setting policy on arms exports to Iraq; the initial draft of the Scott Report found that he had agreed in February 1989 to relax the policy, but had sent out 38 untrue letters to Members of Parliament stating that the policy was unchanged. However, Sir Richard Scott exonerated Waldegrave of "duplicitous intent" in wrongly describing the Government's policy.

Plundering of the NHS and poll tax

He was promoted to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Health in November 1990, just days before Thatcher's resignation, and remained a member of the Cabinet throughout John Major's time as Prime Minister. He became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the Cabinet Office with responsibility for public services and science in 1992, Secretary of State of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in 1994 and Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 1995.

In an article about the plundering of the NHS in the UK, Medialens observe (April 2012):

... Lord Waldegrave, who was Secretary of State for Health from 1990-1992. He is an adviser to UBS Investment Bank whose healthcare division has earned the firm over $1 billion since 2005. He has a poor voting record in the House - less than 8 per cent of votes in his time there - but he did manage to vote on the Health and Social Care Bill. He is Director of Biotech Growth Trust plc which is managed by Orbimed, the world's largest healthcare-dedicated investment firm, with approximately $5 billion in assets under management."

After losing his Commons seat to Valerie Davey in the 1997 general election, he entered the House of Lords being created a life peer as Baron Waldegrave of North Hill, of Chewton Mendip in the County of Somerset, on 28 July 1999.

Private sector

Lord Waldegrave was a Director of Adam & Company, a member of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, from 2017 to 2018. He has been a Director of Coutts & Company, also a member of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, since 2012. He is currently non-executive director of GW Pharmaceuticals, which is involved in the cannabis business.

Waldegrave served as a Trustee (1992–2011) and Chair (2002–2011) of the Rhodes Trust, during which time he also helped to create and served as a Trustee of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation. His portrait hangs at Rhodes House, Oxford.

He is now a life peer in the House of Lords. Since 8 February 2009, Lord Waldegrave has been the Provost of Eton College. Additionally, he was inaugurated as Chancellor of the University of Reading on 9 December 2016.

He was the Chairman of Trustees of the National Museum of Science and Industry from 2002 to 2010.

Personal life

He is married to Caroline Burrows, cookery writer and managing director of Leith's School of Food and Wine. They have four children, Katherine, Elizabeth, James and Harriet.

Waldegrave is a trustee of Cumberland Lodge, an educational charity. He is an active member of the Board of Managers for the Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University.

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/1987	24 April 1987	26 April 1987	Italy Cernobbio	35th Bilderberg, in Italy, 106 participants
Bilderberg/1988	3 June 1988	5 June 1988	Austria Interalpen-Hotel Telfs-Buchen	The 36th meeting, 114 participants
Bilderberg/1990	10 May 1990	13 May 1990	New York US Glen Cove	38th Bilderberg meeting, 119 guests
Bilderberg/1995	8 June 1995	11 June 1995	Greece Nafsika Astir Palace Hotel Vouliagmeni	The 43rd Bilderberg. Held at the Burgenstock Hotel in Burgenstock, Switzerland.

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