David Howell

David Howell, Lord Howell of Guildford, was first elected as an MP in 1966. He was Margaret   Thatcher’s first Secretary of State forEnergy and later became Secretary of State for Transport. He was chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee from 1987 to 1997   and later  first  chair of the new International Affairs and Defence Committee in the Lords. From 2010 to 2012 he was Minister for the Commonwealth and is a former President of the Royal Commonwealth Society.  He is the only Minister  to have served in the Heath, Thatcher and Cameron Administrations. He is the author of six books and a Privy Counsellor since 1979. He holds the Japanese Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure from the Emperor of Japan