Tim Boswell

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable

| name = The Lord Boswell of Aynho

| honorific-suffix = DL FSA

| image = Official portrait of Lord Boswell of Aynho crop 2.jpg

| caption = Official portrait, 2019

| office = Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

| primeminister = John Major

| term_start = 5 July 1995

| term_end = 1 May 1997

| predecessor = The Earl Howe

| successor = The Lord Donoughue

| office1 = Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education

| primeminister1 = John Major

| term_start1 = 19 December 1992

| term_end1 = 6 July 1995

| predecessor1 = Nigel Forman

| successor1 = Robin Squire

| office2 = Lord Commissioner of the Treasury

| primeminister2 = John Major

| term_start2 = 14 April 1992

| term_end2 = 11 December 1992

| predecessor2 = Sydney Chapman

| successor2 = Timothy Kirkhope

|office3 = Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal

|term_start3 = 8 July 2010
Life Peerage

|term_end3 =

| office4 = Member of Parliament
for Daventry

| parliament4 =

| term_start4 = 11 June 1987

| term_end4 = 12 April 2010

| majority4 =

| predecessor4 = Reg Prentice

| successor4 = Chris Heaton-Harris

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1942|12|2|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Brentwood, Essex, England

| death_date =

| death_place =

| nationality = English

| spouse = Helen Delahay Rees

| party = Conservative

| relations =

| children = 3, including Victoria Prentis

| residence =

| education = Marlborough College

| alma_mater = New College, Oxford

| occupation =

| profession = Farmer and politician

| signature =

| website =

| footnotes =

}}

Timothy Eric Boswell, Baron Boswell of Aynho {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DL}} (born 2 December 1942) is a British politician who was the Conservative MP for Daventry from 1987 until he stood down at the 2010 general election, after which he was appointed to the House of Lords as a life peer.{{London Gazette |issue=59487 |date=13 July 2010 |page=13285}}{{Cite web | url=http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/lord-boswell-of-aynho/352 |title = Lord Boswell of Aynho |website=Parliament.uk |accessdate=14 November 2019}}{{cite book |title=Boswell of Aynho |url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-8174 |publisher=Who's Who |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U8174 |isbn=978-0-19-954088-4 |accessdate=14 November 2019}}

Personal life

The son of a farmer, Tim Boswell was educated at Marlborough College and New College, Oxford, where he obtained a degree in Classics and a diploma in agricultural economics.

Boswell was married to Helen Delahay Boswell, née Rees, for 50 years until her death in 2019.{{cite web |title=Helen Boswell - Deceased Estates |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/3398899 |website=The Gazette (Official Public Record) |accessdate=14 November 2019}}{{cite web |title=Helen Boswell Obituary |url=https://www.legacy.com/amp/obituaries/thetimes-uk/193460817 |website=Legacy.com |accessdate=14 November 2019 |date=23 July 2019}} They had three daughters together including the former Conservative Member of Parliament Victoria Prentis.

Political career

=Conservative Party=

He joined the Conservative Research Department in 1966, becoming head of the economics section in 1974. He stood for Parliament at the February 1974 general election in Rugby but lost by 6,154 votes to Labour's William Price.

He was elected as the Treasurer of the Daventry Conservative Association in 1976 and subsequently its Chairman from 1979 to 1983. He became a political advisor to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Michael Jopling for two years from 1984.

=House of Commons=

Boswell was chosen to contest the Daventry constituency after the sitting Conservative MP Reg Prentice announced his retirement. He was elected as the Conservative MP for Daventry at the 1987 general election with a majority of 19,690 and held the safe seat comfortably until his retirement from the House of Commons.

Tim Boswell's Westminster career began unsurprisingly as a Member of the Agriculture Select committee in 1987. He became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury Peter Lilley in 1989. Tim Boswell entered John Major's government in 1990 as an Assistant Government Whip, following the 1992 general election he was promoted within the Whip's Office and became a Lord Commissioner to the Treasury.

In December 1992, Tim Boswell was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Education and moved in the same position at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food until the Major government fell at the 1997 general election.

In opposition Boswell was a spokesman on the Treasury in the immediate aftermath of the 1997 election defeat and became a spokesman on Trade and Industry under William Hague, before speaking on Education and Employment in 1999 until after the 2001 general election. He became the spokesman for Work and Pensions under the leadership of Iain Duncan Smith, moving briefly to speak on Constitutional Affairs in 2003 under Michael Howard and back to Work and Pensions in 2004, where he remained following the 2005 general election.

On 31 March 2006, Boswell announced his intention not to contest the subsequent general election, provided it did not take place unexpectedly soon. The Daventry seat was split in two at the 2010 general election, with the northern portion becoming part of a new Daventry constituency and the southern part becoming part of a South Northamptonshire constituency.

In May 2009, he was listed by The Telegraph as one of the "Saints" in the expenses scandal.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5350793/MPs-expenses-The-saints-Part-iii.html?image=9|title=MPs' Expenses: the saints|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|accessdate=1 July 2009|location=London|date=19 May 2009}}

After his retirement from the House of Commons the seat remained Conservative under Chris Heaton-Harris.

=House of Lords=

He was raised to the House of Lords as a Conservative Life peer being created Baron Boswell of Aynho, of Aynho in the County of Northamptonshire on 8 July 2010. In May 2012, he resigned the Conservative whip after being made Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees in the House. He also became Chairman of the European Union Committee.{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/25724|title=Lord Boswell of Aynho biography|accessdate=12 May 2012|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302182756/http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/25724|archivedate=2 March 2012}}{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/hleu|title=Lords European Union Committee homepage|accessdate=12 May 2012}}

Honours

On 10 March 2016, Boswell was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA).{{cite web|title=10 Mar Ballot Results|url=https://www.sal.org.uk/news/2016/03/10-mar-ballot-results/|website=Society of Antiquaries of London|accessdate=16 April 2016|date=10 March 2016}} He was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Northamptonshire in 2010.[https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/L-59617-1255143 Deputy Lieutenant Commissions]

{{Infobox COA wide

|image = File:Coronet of a British Baron.svg File:Boswell of Aynho Escutcheon.png

|escutcheon = Or on a fess Gules between three owls affronty Azure each perched on a sprig of oak fesswise Vert three garbs Or banded Azure.

|crest = In front of a demi South Devon bull Proper unguled and resting its dexter hoof on a seax point downwards Or a cornucopia Azure replenished with apricots Or.

|supporters = On either side a South Devon Bull Proper armed and unguled Or.

|motto = Cresco Dum Disco (I Grow As I Learn){{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage |date=2019}}}}

References

External links

{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930185640/http://www.epolitix.com/EN/MPWebsites/Tim+Boswell/ ePolitix.com - Tim Boswell MP]}}
{{Hansard-contribs | mr-tim-boswell | Tim Boswell }}
[http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-515,00.html Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Tim Boswell MP]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20100409065917/http://www.conservatives.com/People/Members_of_Parliament/Boswell_Tim.aspx Profile] on Conservative Party website
[http://www.daventryconservatives.com Daventry Conservatives]
[https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/tim_boswell/daventry TheyWorkForYou.com - Tim Boswell MP]
[http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?mpn=Tim_Boswell&mpc=Daventry The Public Whip - Tim Boswell MP] voting record
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/130.stm BBC News - Tim Boswell] profile 15 February 2005

{{succession box

| title = Member of Parliament for Daventry

| years = 1987–2010

| before = Reg Prentice

| after = Chris Heaton-Harris

}}