Norman St John-Stevas, Baron St John of Fawsley
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Norman Anthony Francis St John-Stevas, Baron St John of Fawsley, PC, FRSL (born 18 May 1929), is a British Conservative politician, author, constitutional expert and barrister. His surname was compounded from his father's (Stevas) and mother's (St John-O'Connor) surnames.

Education

He was educated at Ratcliffe College, Leicester, then read law at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, graduating with first class honours. While at Cambridge, he was President of the Cambridge Union (1950) and won the Whitlock Prize.

He also studied at Christ Church, Oxford where he gained a BCL. While there, he was Secretary of the Oxford Union. He gained his PhD from London and a JSD from Yale. He also studied briefly for the Roman Catholic priesthood at the Venerable English College in Rome.

He was called to the Bar of the Middle Temple in 1952.

Academic career

St John-Stevas was appointed as a Lecturer at Southampton University (1952-1953) and King's College London (1953-1956). He then tutored in Jurisprudence at Christ Church College (1953-1955) and Merton College, Oxford (1955-1957). In 1959 he joined The Economist and became its Legal and Political Correspondent.

Politician

Having first run as a candidate for a seat in 1951 St John-Stevas was elected as Member of Parliament for Chelmsford, Essex in the 1964 general election, which he held until resigning at the 1987 general election.

In the later stages of Edward Heath's government he was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Education and Science under Margaret Thatcher and Minister for the Arts (1973-1974).

After the defeat of Heath's government he served as a Member of the Shadow Cabinet from 1974 to 1979, being Shadow Spokesman on Education between 1975 and 1978, and Shadow Leader of the House of Commons between 1978 and 1979.

On the return of the Conservative Party to office after the 1979 general election, he was appointed as Minister for the Arts for a second time from 1979 to 1981 and was simultaneously Leader of the House of Commons and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

It was while he occupied the post of Leader of the House that he is largely credited with the creation of the House of Commons' select committees. These enable backbench MPs to hold ministers to account and are still a force to be reckoned with.

In early 1981, he was the first of the Tory 'wets' to be dismissed from the Cabinet by the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, whom he had previously nicknamed 'TINA' for her "there is no alternative" rhetoric. For many years he was a member of the Bow Group.

He stood down from the House of Commons at the General Election of 1987. He was subsequently elevated to the House of Lords as a life peer with the title Baron St John of Fawsley of Preston Capes in the County of Northamptonshire.

Later career

He was Chairman of the Royal Fine Art Commission from 1985 to 1999 and Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge from 1991 to 1996.

He is a Patron of the Society of King Charles the Martyr, and Grand Bailiff for England and Wales of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St Lazarus.

Bibliography:

By Norman St John Stevas

• Before the Sunset Fades: An Autobiography, Harper Collins (2009)- Forthcoming autobiography
• The Two Cities, Farrar Straus & Giroux (1984)
• Pope John-Paul II: His Travels and Mission, Faber & Faber, London (1982)
• Agonising Choice: Birth Control, Religion and Law, Eyre & Spottiswoode, London (1971)
• Bagehot's Historical Essays, New York University Press (1966)
• Law and Morals, Hawthorn Books, New York (1964)
• The Right to Life, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (1963)
• Life, Death And The Law, Indiana University Press, (1961)
• Walter Bagehot A study of his life & thought together with a selection from his political writings, Indiana University Press(1959)

Edited by Norman St John Stevas

• Bagehot, Walter, St John Stevas, Norman (Editor): The Collected Works of Walter Bagehot: Volumes 1- 15, The Economist/ Harvard University Press (1965-1986)

References

Offices held

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