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George Edward Peter Thorneycroft, Baron Thorneycroft CH, PC (26 July 1909 – 4 June 1994), was a British Conservative Party politician. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1957 and 1958. ==Life and politics== Thorneycroft was educated at Eton and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He was commissioned into the Royal Artillery as a second lieutenant on 29 August 1929, but resigned his commission on 1 July 1931. In 1933 he was called to the bar for the Inner Temple. He entered Parliament in a 1938 by-election as Member of Parliament (MP) for the borough of Stafford. He was re-commissioned into the Royal Artillery in his previous rank on 30 August 1939. During the Second World War he served with the Royal Artillery and the general staff. Along with other members of the Tory Reform Committee, Thorneycroft pressed his party to support the Beveridge Report. He served in the Conservative caretaker government of 1945 as Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of War Transport. In the 1945 general election, he lost his seat to his Labour opponent, Stephen Swingler, but returned in a by-election for Monmouth a few months later. Throughout the late 1940s Thorneycroft worked assiduously to refurbish the Conservative Party after its disastrous defeat in the 1945 general election. His opposition to the Anglo-American loan in the Commons earned him a reputation as a parliamentary debater, and when the Conservatives returned to power after the general election of 1951 Thorneycroft was named President of the Board of Trade. He was instrumental in persuading the government in 1954 to abandon the party's support for protectionism and accept the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.〔Robert Shepard, "Theorneycroft, (George Edward) Peter", in ''The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century British Politics'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 642〕 Thorneycroft's support for Harold Macmillan in Macmillan's successful 1957 leadership contest for the premiership led to his appointment as Chancellor of the Exchequer, one of the most senior positions in the government. He resigned in 1958, along with two junior Treasury Ministers, Enoch Powell and Nigel Birch, in objection to increased government expenditure. Macmillan, himself a former Chancellor, made a famous and much-quoted remark to the effect that the resignations were merely "little local difficulties". In reality, Macmillan was deeply concerned about the possible effects of Thorneycroft's resignation, but chose to hide his worries from public view. Thorneycroft returned to the Cabinet in 1960 and held a number of posts in government and then in opposition under Macmillan and Alec Douglas-Home. Ted Heath, who became leader of the party in 1965, had been Chief Whip when Thorneycroft resigned in 1958 and had seen the resignation as a betrayal. Thorneycroft lost his seat at the 1966 general election and received a life peerage, taking a seat in the House of Lords, having been created Baron Thorneycroft, of Dunston in the County of Stafford on 4 December 1967. He was Shadow Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1965. Thorneycroft was a strong supporter of Margaret Thatcher's monetarist policies, and she made him Chairman of the Conservative Party in 1975. He held this position until 1981. He was notable as an amateur watercolourist and held exhibitions. Winston Churchill when told of Thorneycroft's interest said, "Every minister must have his vice. Painting shall be yours".〔 Lord Thorneycroft was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) on 31 December 1979. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Peter Thorneycroft, Baron Thorneycroft」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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