Obituary: Michael Ancram, 1945-2024

Born on 7 July 1945, the 13th Marquess of Lothian (previously better known as Michael Ancram) was educated by the Benedictines at Ampleforth, before going on to Christ Church, Oxford, to read History. After further study at Edinburgh he was called to the Scottish bar; half a century of public service followed, during which Ancram won (and then lost) two Conservative seats in Scotland before becoming MP for Devizes in Wiltshire.

His courtesy title of Earl of Ancram enabled him to sit in the House of Commons, and a change of legislation meant that when his father died in 2004 he did not have to choose between sitting in the House of Lords and disclaiming his titles. Ancram only entered the upper chamber when he retired as an MP in 2010, and then as a life peer as Lord Kerr of Monteviot.

The Lothians converted to Catholicism in the wake of the Oxford Movement (the 7th Marchioness was instructed by John Henry Newman and received into the Church by Henry Edward Manning). Ancram’s Irish-Italian mother, Antonella – famous on the London social circuit for her striking black eye-patch – was particularly devout.

In 2001 Ancram might have become the first Catholic to lead the Conservative Party, had it not suffered a comprehensive thrashing at the polls after a campaign that had effectively turned that year’s general election into a vote on whether or not the United Kingdom should join the euro. Ancram was not necessarily unpopular – even then he was a veteran and well-respected parliamentarian, and viewed by some as a compromise candidate – but as party chairman he inevitably shared the blame for defeat with William Hague.

Iain Duncan Smith, Hague’s eventual successor, claimed the distinction instead; recognising Ancram’s gifts he appointed him deputy leader and Shadow Foreign Secretary. Ancram was nevertheless the first Catholic to become a Scottish Conservative MP; perhaps his greatest political distinction, however, was the distinguished but relatively unsung part that he played in the Northern Irish peace process.

Between 1993 and 1997 Ancram served as minister for political development in Northern Ireland and as the impetus for a settlement began to increase his tact and diplomacy played a crucial part in keeping different parties at the negotiating table. He became the first minister of the Crown in over two decades to meet face-to-face with Republican leaders, entered into discussions with Sinn Féin about IRA disarmament and later shook hands publicly with Gerry Adams.

It was not Ancram’s first brush with the IRA; in 1984 he narrowly avoided being killed in the bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton during that year’s Conservative Party Conference. He had been in bed when the device went off and was trapped in the building by fallen masonry; by the time he was rescued it had become clear that a number of his friends were among the dead.

Although he was widely known for his geniality, Ancram’s approach to the task in Northern Ireland was robust. He was frank about the fact that there would need to be compromise on both sides in the context of executive cross-border bodies, and that there would be no amnesty for Loyalist members of paramilitary organisations.

He was also quite clear that terrorists would not be allowed to bully their way into the discussions, saying that “we will only commence dialogue on the basis of a permanent and credible cessation of violence”. He insisted, echoing the views of John Major, that Adams and Martin McGuinness should not be included until the IRA had begun to disarm.

Early progress foundered because of a stalemate over the decommissioning of weapons. For Ancram it was not a matter of winning or losing the issue; instead, he explained that the British government was “looking for the start of a credible and verifiable process”. To his anger and frustration, any hope of an imminent resolution was wrecked when the IRA bombed London’s Isle of Dogs in February 1996.

Thereafter Ancram struggled to keep the Unionist parties at the negotiating table; Ian Paisley refused to take any more part in proceedings and took his Democratic Unionists with him. It was another two years before a Labour government under Tony Blair managed to bring about the 1998 Good Friday Agreement – but it built on the work of its Conservative predecessor, in which Ancram had played a significant role.

The Daily Telegraph called Ancram “a most unstuffy grandee”, while the crossbench peer Peter Hennessey thought that “he gave noblesse oblige a good name”. Widely liked across the political spectrum, away from Parliament in his younger years Ancram was an international competitive skier. He was also an accomplished fisherman, acoustic guitarist and folk singer; he regularly performed onstage at Conservative Party events and for charities.

In 1975 Ancram married Lady Jane Fitzalan-Howard, a daughter of the 16th Duke of Norfolk and aunt of the present Earl Marshal; they had three daughters together. He died after a short illness on 1 October and has been succeeded in his hereditary titles by his brother, Ralph. The present Marquess’s youngest son, Lord Hugh Kerr, was until recently a member of the Catholic Herald editorial team.

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