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Lord Waldegrave of North Hill, politician and Provost of Eton College
Restoring trust in politics
Politicians stand low in the public's esteem. Does this matter? Is it new? What sort of people go into politics today? Are they different from those in the past? Can we separate respect for the democratic process from contempt for those who participate in it? A former politician discusses the state of health of our democracy.
Politician and Provost of Eton College
William Waldegrave is the Provost of Eton College and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. He served as a Conservative Member of the British Parliament from 1979 to 1997 (representing the Bristol West constituency), including sixteen years as a Minister, of which seven were as Minister of Agriculture, Chief Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of State for Health, and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster with responsibility for the Civil Service Reform and Science. From 1998-2008 he worked in the City, first at Deutsche Kleinwort Benson and then UBS.
He is the Director of a number of companies. Educated at Oxford University and Harvard, before entering Parliament he worked in the Cabinet Office in Whitehall as Political Secretary to Prime Minister Edward Heath and for GEC Ltd. He is Chairman of the Rhodes Trust, Chairman of the National Museum of Science and Industry, and a Trustee of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation (South Africa).