Tristan Garel-Jones facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Right Honourable The Lord Garel-Jones PC
Minister of State for Europe
In office 14 July 1990 – 27 May 1993
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	Francis Maude
Succeeded by	David Heathcoat-Amory
Deputy Chief Whip Treasurer of the Household
In office 25 July 1989 – 14 July 1990
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	David Hunt
Succeeded by	Alastair Goodlad
Comptroller of the Household
In office 26 July 1988 – 25 July 1989
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Robert Boscawen
Succeeded by	Alastair Goodlad
Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
In office 16 October 1986 – 26 July 1988
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Robert Boscawen
Succeeded by	Michael Neubert
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
In office 22 October 1997 – 24 March 2020 Life Peerage
Member of Parliament for Watford
In office 3 May 1979 – 8 April 1997
Preceded by	Raphael Tuck
Succeeded by	Claire Ward
Personal details
Born	William Armand Thomas Tristan Garel-Jones (1941-02-28)28 February 1941 Gorseinon, Wales
Died	24 March 2020 (aged 79) Candeleda, Spain
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Children	5

William Armand Thomas Tristan Garel-Jones, Baron Garel-Jones, PC (28 February 1941 – 23 March 2020) was a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Watford from 1979 to 1997, before being made a life peer in 1997.

Following his election to Parliament, Garel-Jones served in various whip positions and also as a junior minister at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Early life

Born in Gorseinon, Wales, the son of Bernard Garel-Jones and Meriel (née Williams), he and his family moved first to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands prior to settling in Madrid, Spain, when he was seven years old. Garel-Jones was educated at the King's School, Canterbury. His parents established successful language schools in Spain during this time. He moved back to the United Kingdom and worked as a merchant banker prior to embarking on a career in politics.

Parliamentary career

Garel-Jones first contested Caernarvon in February 1974, but was defeated by the future leader of Plaid Cymru, Dafydd Wigley. He was elected for Watford at the 1979 General Election.

Whips Office

Viewed as an effective whip who successfully delivered parliamentary votes in favour of Thatcher's legislation, Garel-Jones was nonetheless seen as a mixture of Machiavelli and Ivan the Terrible by the Thatcherite right-wing.

Garel-Jones is said to have been the inspiration for the fictional scheming Whip Francis Urquhart in the novel House of Cards and subsequent BBC TV drama adaptation.

Europe

Garel-Jones was a leading pro-European, and remained so, despite the Conservative party moving to a more Eurosceptic position by the end of the Thatcher era. This created suspicion among right-wing Thatcherites, who thought of him as one of the "wets". However, he voted for Margaret Thatcher in the first round of the leadership challenge by Michael Heseltine, but reserved the right to vote against her if it went to a second round. He subsequently voted for Douglas Hurd.

After he stepped down from the House of Commons in 1997, he was given a life peerage as Baron Garel-Jones, of Watford in the County of Hertfordshire.

Other interests

Garel-Jones was a well-known Hispanophile. A dedicated defender of bullfighting, he worked as a bullfighting critic. He was also a supporter of Humanists UK, and a vice chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group. He was an honorary associate of the National Secular Society.

Personal life

In 1966, Garel-Jones married Catalina Garrigues Carnicer, niece of the Spanish bullfighting critic Antonio Díaz-Cañabate [es]. They had four sons and a daughter. His death in Candeleda, Spain, where he lived, was announced on 24 March 2020.

See also

In Spanish: Tristan Garel-Jones para niños