John Ganzoni, 2nd Baron Belstead

The Right Honourable The Lord Belstead PC
Paymaster General
In office 28 November 1990 – 11 April 1992
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	Richard Ryder
Succeeded by	John Cope
Leader of the House of Lords
In office 10 January 1988 – 28 November 1990
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	The Viscount Whitelaw
Succeeded by	The Lord Waddington
Lord Privy Seal
In office 10 January 1988 – 28 November 1990
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	The Lord Wakeham
Succeeded by	The Lord Waddington
Personal details
Born	30 September 1932
Died	3 December 2005 (aged 73)
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford

John Julian Ganzoni, 2nd Baron Belstead, PC (30 September 1932 – 3 December 2005) was a British Conservative politician and peer who served as Leader of the House of Lords under Margaret Thatcher from 1988-90.

Background and education

Ganzoni was the only son of Sir John Ganzoni, a barrister and Conservative MP for Ipswich who was created Baron Belstead in 1938, and his wife Gwendolen Gertrude Turner, daughter of Arthur Turner, of Ipswich. He went to Eton before reading history at Christ Church, Oxford.^[1]

Political career

Belstead showed little interest in politics at first, and waited six years after succeeding to the peerage on his father's death in 1958 before making his maiden speech. In 1970 Edward Heath appointed him to become Parliamentary Under-Secretary to Margaret Thatcher at the Department of Education and Science, he was moved in the same rank to the Northern Ireland Office three years later. When Margaret Thatcher led the Tories back to power in 1979, she sent him to the Home Office. He was then made Minister at the Foreign Office when Lord Carrington and his team resigned after the Falklands invasion.

He next moved to the Ministry of Fisheries and Food, and went back to the Education Department again before becoming Deputy Leader to William Whitelaw as Leader of the House of Lords. He succeeded Whitelaw in that post in 1988. After losing his Cabinet seat in 1990 he became Paymaster-General and Northern Ireland Minister under John Major, retiring from the Government to become Chairman of the Parole Board in 1992.

In 1983, he was sworn of the Privy Council. After the House of Lords Act 1999 removed the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords, he was created a life peer (an honour given to all former Leaders of the House of Lords) as Baron Ganzoni, of Ipswich in the County of Suffolk. He also gave his name to the new "Belstead Centre" at Woodbridge School.

Personal life

Lord Belstead never married. He died in December 2005, aged 73, when both the hereditary peerage and the baronetcy became extinct.^[1]

He was an active Freemason and president of the Board of General Purposes for the United Grand Lodge of England.^[2]

Coat of arms

Arms of John Ganzoni, 2nd Baron Belstead

Notes Coat of arms of the Ganzoni family Coronet A coronet of a Baron Crest A Demi Lion Or supporting a Gentian Plant as in the Arms Escutcheon Per fess Azure and Argent a Gentian Plant flowered and eradicated proper between in chief a Mullet and an Increscent both Or Supporters On either side a Seahorse proper gorged with a Collar pendent therefrom a Portcullis chained Or Motto Fidelitas Vincit (Fidelity overcomes)

References

1. John Julian Ganzoni, 2nd Baron Belstead, thepeerage.com; accessed 29 May 2016.
2. Conservatives at heart of freemasonry, independent.co.uk; accessed 29 May 2016.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by John Ganbzoni, 2nd Baron Belstead
• Guardian obituary
• Announcement of his taking the oath under his new title at the House of Lords House of Lords minutes of proceedings, 23 November 1999
• Announcement of his death at the House of Lords House of Lords minutes of proceedings, 5 December 2005