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Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell, PC (born March 8, 1930), is a British politician in the Conservative Party, and a patron of the Tory Reform Group.
Eldest son of Baron Hurd, he was born in Marlborough, Wiltshire, and attended Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge where he was President of the Cambridge Union Society. In 1952 he joined the diplomatic service and in 1966 became a member of the Conservative Party. He was secretary to Edward Heath, and was then elected to Parliament in 1974. He entered government during the Thatcher administration, and was propelled by a series of resignations into the position of Home Secretary in 1985 and then Foreign Secretary in 1989.
After Thatcher withdrew from the 1990 Conservative Party leadership elections, he was nominated as leader, but was beaten by John Major. He continued to serve in Major's cabinet, until his retirement as a minister in 1995. He did not stand for Parliament in the 1997 general elections.
He was created Baron Hurd of Westwell, of Westwell in the County of Oxfordshire, in 1997, and remains active, supporting the pro-European wing of the Conservative party, notably Kenneth Clarke, and often criticising the leadership.
During his 23 years in parliament he represented the constituencies of Mid-Oxfordshire (Feb. 1974 - 1983), and Witney (1983 - 1997).
Douglas Hurd is also well known as a novelist of political thrillers including The Arrow War (1967), Truth Game (1972), Vote To Kill (1975), An End To Promises (1979), Image in the Water, and Palace of Enchantments (1985, with Stephen Lamport).
A "Douglas Hurd" is Cockney rhyming slang for a "Turd" in the United Kingdom, named after the minister.
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