The Earl of Courtown
Biography
The Earl of Courtown was appointed Deputy Chief Whip (Captain of The Queen’s Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard) on 23 September 2022. He previously held the same role between July 2016 and July 2019.
Education
He was educated at Eton College, the Berkshire College of Agriculture and at the Royal Agricultural College.
Political career
The Earl of Courtown first entered the House of Lords in July 1979 and was elected as an excepted hereditary Peer following the reforms of 1999. Before joining the government he served as a Conservative Party Whip and was a member of the Digital Skills Committee. He served as a Government Whip and Lord in Waiting from May 2015 until July 2016.
Career outside politics
Alongside his Parliamentary duties the Earl of Courtown has worked as a land agent in Gloucester and Shrewsbury.
Personal life
The Earl of Courtown is married with a son and 2 daughters.
Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (Lords Deputy Chief Whip)
Lords Whips have the same constitutional position as departmental ministers. Their role in the House of Lords is different from that of Whips in the Commons, which is predominantly party management.
A Lords Whip has an active role at the despatch box promoting and defending departmental policy which involves:
- answering questions
- responding to debates
- taking through primary and secondary legislation
If the department concerned does not have a departmental minister in the House of Lords, all of that department’s business will fall to a Whip.