Content:

1. Michael Ancram: British Nobleman and Politician
2. Member of Parliament
3. Shadow Cabinet and Unsuccessful Leadership Bid
4. Later Years
5. Personal Life
6. - Sarah Margaret Kerr (13 June 1976 – 13 June 1976)
7. - Laila Rose Hurd (born 17 May 2012)

Michael Ancram: British Nobleman and Politician

Early Life and Education

Michael Ancram was born on July 7, 1945, in London. He is the eldest son and second child of Peter Kerr, 12th Marquess of Lothian (1922-2004), and his wife, Anthea Mariella Tommasa Newland (1922-2007). He was educated at Ampleforth College, a Roman Catholic independent school in North Yorkshire, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History from Christ Church, Oxford, in 1966, later converted to an MA. While at Oxford, he was a member of the Bullingdon Club. He subsequently earned an LLB with Honors from the University of Edinburgh in 1968. In 1970, he was called to the Bar and practiced as a barrister.

Member of Parliament

Michael Ancram unsuccessfully contested West Lothian in the 1970 general election. He was first elected to Parliament in the February 1974 general election, when he fought and won the Berwick and East Lothian seat, but lost it in the October election of that year. Following his loss, he resumed his legal practice.

Michael Ancram re-entered Parliament at the 1979 election as Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh South, defeating future Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He served on the House of Commons Energy Committee from 1979 to 1983 and was Chairman of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party from 1980 to 1983. From 1983 to 1987, he was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland, with responsibility for Home Affairs, Housing, Local Government, Housing Reform, and the Environment. He again lost his seat in the 1987 general election, being one of several prominent Conservatives who were defeated in Scotland in that contest.

Having lost his seat in 1987, Ancram returned to Parliament in the 1992 general election, representing Devizes. He was a member of the Public Accounts Committee and Chairman of the Select Committee on Constitutional Affairs from 1992 until May 1993, when he was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. In January 1994, he was promoted to Minister of State in the Northern Ireland Office and in January 1996, he was sworn in as a Privy Counsellor.

Shadow Cabinet and Unsuccessful Leadership Bid

Following the Conservatives' defeat at the 1997 election, Michael Ancram served in the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs from June 1997 to June 1998. He then held the post of Conservative Party Chairman from December 1998 to September 2001. In 2001, he stood against Iain Duncan Smith, Michael Portillo, Kenneth Clarke, and David Davis in the party's leadership election. In the first ballot of Conservative MPs, he and David Davis came last, resulting in a re-run in which Michael Ancram came last again. He was eliminated, with Davis also withdrawing. Both endorsed Iain Duncan Smith, who went on to win, defeating Clarke in the final ballot of party members. Duncan Smith made Ancram Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party and Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in September 2001. He remained in this post after Michael Howard took over in 2003.

In a reshuffle following the 2005 election, Michael Ancram was moved to the post of Shadow Secretary of State for Defense, but remained Deputy Leader. He resigned from the Shadow Cabinet in December 2005 after David Cameron was elected leader of the Conservative Party. In January 2006, he was appointed to the Intelligence and Security Committee, replacing James Arbuthnot.

Later Years

Michael Ancram was a founder signatory in 2005 of the Henry Jackson Society principles, supporting an interventionist approach to spreading liberal democracy worldwide, including, where necessary, by military intervention. On 21 April 2006, he became one of the first senior Conservative MPs to call for British troops to withdraw from Iraq, stating that it was effectively in a state of civil war and that "It is time for us to get out of Iraq with dignity and honor whilst we still can."

In 2006, Michael Ancram established the Global Strategic Forum, a bipartisan foreign affairs think-tank based in London.

From 2008 to 2013, Earl Ancram was Chairman of the Foreign Policy Forum of Le Cercle.

Ancram is a founding member of the UK Parliament's All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, established in October 2009.

On 11 August 2009, Michael Ancram announced that he would stand down as MP for Devizes at the 2010 general election due to heart problems. He stood down when Parliament was dissolved on 12 April 2010; his successor as Conservative MP for Devizes was Claire Perry.

Personal Life

On 7 June 1975, Michael Ancram married Lady Jane Fitzalan-Howard (born 24 January 1945), the fourth daughter of Bernard Marmaduke Fitzalan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk, who on 7 April 2017 became the 16th Lady Herries of Terregles. Both are prominent Roman Catholics. She is a patron of the Right to Life charity and a patroness of the Royal Caledonian Ball. The couple have three daughters and two grandchildren:

- Sarah Margaret Kerr (13 June 1976 – 13 June 1976)

- Lady Clare Teresa Kerr (born 25 January 1979), married the Hon. Nick Hurd, son of former cabinet minister Douglas Hurd, Lord Hurd of Westwell in August 2010. Lady Clare is heir presumptive to her mother's peerage. They have two children:

- Laila Rose Hurd (born 17 May 2012)

- Caspar Jamie Hurd (born 30 September 2014)

- Lady Mary Kerr (born 28 May 1981). She married Zachary Adler on 28 May 2016.

Ancram's younger sister, Lady Cecil Cameron (born 1948), is the wife of Donald Cameron of Lochiel (born 1946), Chief of Clan Cameron. Another sister, the former Lady Clare Kerr (born 1951), is now the Dowager Duchess of Grafton and mother of the 12th Duke of Grafton.

Michael Ancram is a keen country music fan and has often played the acoustic guitar at Conservative Party conferences. He is a Knight of the Order of St. John and the Order of St. Lazarus; he also became a freeman of the city of Gibraltar in 2010.

He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale in 1990. In 1996, he was appointed a Queen's Counsel (QC).

A member of the House of Lords since 2010, he and the Marquess of Cholmondeley (who is currently on leave of absence) are the only Marquesses in the House of Lords. Ancram is Hereditary Chief of the Scottish Clan Kerr.

Politics