Richard Spring, Baron Risby

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable

| name = The Lord Risby

| honorific-suffix =

| image = Official portrait of Lord Risby crop 2.jpg

| caption =

| constituency_MP2 = West Suffolk

| parliament2 =

| term_start2 = 1 May 1997

| term_end2 = 12 April 2010

| majority2 =

| predecessor2 = new constituency

| successor2 = Matt Hancock

| constituency_MP3 = Bury St Edmunds

| parliament3 =

| term_start3 = 9 April 1992

| term_end3 = 8 April 1997

| majority3 =

| predecessor3 = Eldon Griffiths

| successor3 = David Ruffley

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1946|09|24}}

| birth_place = Cape Town, Union of South Africa

| death_date =

| death_place =

| nationality = British

| spouse = Jane Henniker-Major (divorced)

| party = Conservative

| relations =

| children =

| residence =

| alma_mater = University of Cape Town, Magdalene College, Cambridge

| occupation = Politician

| profession =

| signature =

| website =

| footnotes =

}}

Richard John Grenville Spring, Baron Risby (born 24 September 1946) is a former Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bury St Edmunds from 1992 to 1997, and for West Suffolk from 1997 to 2010. He joined the House of Lords in 2010.

Biography

Spring was born into the prominent Spring family, in 1946 in Cape Town, South Africa where he attended Rondebosch and Cape Town University. He subsequently studied at Magdalene College, Cambridge. He married Hon. Jane Henniker-Major, daughter of John Henniker-Major, 8th Baron Henniker, in 1979. They divorced, having had two children.

Career

=Finance=

Lord Risby has more than 20 years' experience in the financial sector. Following his graduation from Cambridge University, Spring started his career in the City. He joined Merrill Lynch{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/person/4933/richard-spring | location=London | work=The Guardian | title=Richard Spring: Electoral history and profile}} in 1971 and was appointed as vice-president in 1976, a position which he held until 1986.[http://www.debretts.com/people-of-today/profile/25502/Richard-John-Grenville-Spring-RISBY "Richard John Grenville Spring RISBY"], Debretts. Accessed 10 May 2016. He has furthermore worked with E F Hutton, Lehman Brothers and Furman Selz.[http://minexcopetroleum.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/9/files/2014/05/Lord-Risby-Appointment-Press-Release-20.08.13.pdf "Minexco Petroleum Inc: Appointment of Non-Executive Chairman"] [pdf]. 20 August 2013. Accessed 19 May 2016.

=Parliament=

Spring contested Ashton-under-Lyne at the 1983 general election. He was first elected as an MP at the 1992 General Election, representing Bury St Edmunds. Spring served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Sir Patrick Mayhew as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1994–95).

Spring resigned from this position in 1995, after News of the World published a story detailing a sex encounter he had allegedly been involved in."Tory MP, The Tycoon and the Sunday School Teacher", News of the World, 9 April 1995{{Cite web | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/three-in-a-bed-session-mp-was-victim-of-set-up-1615827.html |title = Three-in-a-bed session MP was victim of 'set-up'| website=Independent.co.uk |date = 16 April 1995}}{{Cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/background/pastelec/resign.shtml | title=BBC Politics 97}}{{cite book |first=Piers |last=Morgan |title=The Insider: The Private Diaries of a Scandalous Decade |page=73 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oKXJxdjenHIC&q=%22Tory+MP+called+Richard+Spring%22 |publisher=Random House |year=2012|isbn=9781446491683 }} The publication of the story was attacked as an example of paid entrapment, and on the grounds that it served no public interest. News of the World columnist Woodrow Wyatt, writing in The Times, stated that "[t]hat anyone is entitled to privacy in their homes, in their cups or in their beds is a wholly alien concept to the News of the World. The News of the World has as good as asked for a privacy law. The Government and Opposition should no longer hesitate to produce it".{{cite book |first=Emily |last=Herbert |title=Piers Morgan: The Biography |page=56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ICfDBwAAQBAJ&q=%22entrapment+is+an+ugly+word%22 |publisher=John Blake |year=2012 |isbn=978-1843589402}} Even the News of the World's proprietor, Rupert Murdoch, privately criticised the story as "over the top".Morgan (2012), p. 74

Spring's resignation was seen as a blow to John Major's Back to Basics campaign.{{cite book |title=Schooling Sexualities |first1=Debbie |last1=Epstein |first2=Richard |last2=Johnson |publisher=Open University Press |location=Buckhingham |pages=75–77 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4nJEBgAAQBAJ&q=%22It+is+true+that+there+was+little%22 |year=1998 |isbn=0335230997}}

Spring subsequently served as PPS to Tim Eggar as Minister for Trade and Industry (1995–96) and to Nicholas Soames and James Arbuthnot as Ministers of State at the Ministry of Defence (1996–97).{{cite web |url=http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/richard-spring/25323 |title=Lord Risby |accessdate=2013-01-17 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130103020920/http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/richard-spring/25323 |archivedate=3 January 2013 |df=dmy-all }}

In 1997, Spring was elected as MP for West Suffolk. Between 1997 and 2000 he was Opposition spokesman for Culture, Media and Sport.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/representatives/profiles/25323.stm], Democracy Live - Richard Spring. Accessed August 1, 2016. He was Opposition Spokesman for Foreign Affairs between 2000 and 2004 and Shadow Minister for the Treasury between 2004 and 2005.{{cite web |url=http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/richard-spring/25323 |title=Lord Risby |accessdate=2013-01-17 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130103020920/http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/richard-spring/25323 |archivedate=3 January 2013 |df=dmy-all }} On 23 November 2009, Spring announced that he would stand down at the 2010 general election.{{cite news | url=http://www.newmarketjournal.co.uk/news/Newmarket-MP-Richard-Spring-to.5848384.jp | title=Newmarket MP Richard Spring to stand down | publisher=Newmarket Journal |date=23 November 2009}}

He served as a Governor of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy from 2000 to 2009.[https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/02693163/filing-history/MzAwNzA1MTg1N2FkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf&download=0 "Termination of appointment of Richard Spring as a director"]

Between 2005 and 2010 he was a vice-chairman of the Conservative Party and vice-chairman of Conservative Business Relations as well. In 2005 he was appointed co-chairman of Conservative City Circle and in 2007 he founded Conservative City Future, of which he is Patron with Sir John Major.{{Cite web|url=https://en.wordpress.com/typo/?subdomain=city-future|title=WordPress.com|language=en|access-date=2019-11-12}}

He was also Director of the British Syrian Society between 2003 and 2011, and featured on a 2012 Dispatches program on the Assad regime.{{Cite web | url=http://www.channel4.com/news/syria-who-are-the-assads |title = Syria: Who are the Assads?}}

On 24 December 2010, Spring was created a life peer as Baron Risby of Haverhill in the County of Suffolk.{{London Gazette |issue=59656 |date=30 December 2010 |page=24903}} Lord Risby sits as a Conservative in the House of Lords.{{Cite web | url=http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/latest-news/2010/11/peerages-honours-and-appointments-2-57256 | title=Latest peerages announced}}

From 2011 to 2015, Risby was the vice-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for East Asian Business. In November 2012, Lord Risby was announced as one of nine prime ministerial trade envoys, with responsibility for Algeria and, in 2019, Lebanon.{{cite web|url=http://www.ukti.gov.uk/uktihome/media/item/403560.html |title=New Trade Envoys and Business Investment to Boost Trade Links |accessdate=19 December 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130330093557/http://www.ukti.gov.uk/uktihome/media/item/403560.html |archivedate=30 March 2013 }}{{Cite web|url=https://members.parliament.uk/member/139/registeredinterests|title=Register of Interests for Lord Risby - MPs and Lords - UK Parliament|website=members.parliament.uk|language=en|access-date=2020-02-03}}

Lord Risby was on the EU External Affairs Committee in the Lords between 2015 and 2018. In 2020 to 2022 he was a member of the International Agreements Committee.{{Cite web | url=http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/lord-risby/139 | title=Lord Risby}}

=Other interests=

In 1994, he chaired a parliamentary enquiry into the taxation of horseracing.{{Cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1995/nov/01/betting-tax-horse-racing|title=Betting Tax (Horse Racing) (Hansard, 1 November 1995)|website=api.parliament.uk|access-date=2020-02-03}}

Risby is co-chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Ukraine.[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/register/ukraine.htm "Register Of All-Party Groups (as at 30 July 2015)"], Parliament UK. Accessed 29 July 2016. In his capacity as the then Chairman of the British Ukrainian Society, he co-chaired the Scenarios for Ukraine programme for the World Economic Forum in Davos.[http://pinchukfund.org/en/projects/20/news/9228/ "The 9th Davos Ukrainian Lunch “Ukraine: East or West – The Wrong Dilemma?” will take place in Davos on January 25"], Victor Pinchuck Foundation, 22 January 2013. Accessed 29 July 2016. Since May 2022 he has been on the Russian Government black list.{{Cite web |title=Заявление МИД России об ответных персональных санкциях в отношении членов Палаты лордов Парламента Великобритании - Министерство иностранных дел Российской Федерации |url=https://www.mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/1814588/ |access-date=2022-09-28 |website=www.mid.ru}}

In November 2023, Risby initiated a parliamentary debate to persuade the UK Government to declare the Ukrainian Holodomor as genocide.[https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/c02413da-ca50-4195-9f17-490257f455a0?fbclid=IwAR2oKFpzSJ1DwvIJf5z1N_FYWAYpzUgpug7wOLDAL4j3Cy_mtERle7gC0dE "Parliament Live TV, House of Lords, 23 November 2023"]

Risby has been a director of several businesses and organisations, including Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd and Minexco Petroleum Inc, and was the president of the Association for Decentralised Energy.{{Cite web | url=http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/lord-risby/139 | title=Lord Risby}} He is also the Deputy Chairman of the Small Business Bureau.{{Cite web | url=http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/lord-risby/139 | title=Lord Risby}} In 2016, he was made a Government appointed director the Horserace Betting Levy Board.[http://www.hblb.org.uk/page/15 "Board Members"], Horserace Betting Levy Board. Accessed 29 July 2016.

He is a Patron of the London Magazine and of the Open Road charity, and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Council on Geostrategy.{{Cite web|url=https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/38121/spread/7|title=Subscribers Only|website=reader.exacteditions.com|access-date=2019-11-12}}{{Cite web | url=http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/lord-risby/139/register-of-interests | title=Lord Risby}}

In 2007, he was nominated for a British Computer Society award for accessibility.[http://www.bcs.org/content/ConWebDoc/15718 "British Computer Society Awards Best MP Websites"], British Computer Society. Accessed 15 July 2016. In 2009, he was awarded the Parliamentary Award for Road Safety in recognition of his community campaigning.[http://www.brake.org.uk/about-our-campaigns?id=267 "Parliamentarian awards"], Brake – the Road Safety Charity. Accessed 15 July 2016.

References

External links

{{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20070619102641/http://www.epolitix.com/EN/MPWebsites/Richard+Spring/ ePolitix.com – Richard Spring MP]}}
[http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-4933,00.html Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Richard Spring MP]
[http://www.conservativebusinessrelations.com/contact_area.asp?ref=2 Conservative Business Relations]
[https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/richard_spring/west_suffolk TheyWorkForYou.com – Richard Spring MP]
[http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?mpn=Richard_Spring&mpc=West+Suffolk The Public Whip – Richard Spring MP] voting record
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/556.stm BBC News – Richard Spring] – Profile
{{Hansard-contribs | mr-richard-spring | Richard Spring }}

{{succession box

| title = Member of Parliament for Bury St Edmunds

| years = 1992 – 1997

| before = Sir Eldon Griffiths

| after = David Ruffley

}}

{{s-ttl

| title = Member of Parliament for West Suffolk

| years = 1997 – 2010

}}