House of Commons Lord Cranborne was selected as the Conservative Party candidate for
South Dorset in 1976, where his family owned land, despite there being on the shortlist several former members of parliament who had lost their seats in the two 1974 elections. At the 1978 Conservative Party conference he spoke in opposition to British sanctions against
Rhodesia. He won the South Dorset seat at the
1979 general election, becoming the seventh consecutive generation of his family to sit in the
House of Commons. In his maiden speech, he urged
Ian Smith, prime minister of Rhodesia, to stand aside in favour of
Abel Muzorewa. Cranborne gained a general reputation as a
right-winger, especially on matters affecting the
Church of England, but confounded this reputation when he co-wrote a pamphlet in 1981 which said that the fight against unemployment ought to be given more priority than the fight against inflation. He took an interest in
Northern Ireland, and, when
Jim Prior announced his policy of 'Rolling Devolution', resigned an unpaid job as assistant to
Douglas Hurd. Lord Cranborne became known in the early 1980s as an
anti-communist, as a supporter of
Afghan refugees (from the Soviet invasion of that country) in Pakistan, and for sending food parcels to
Poland. Until the early years of the 21st century, a charity shop was run on his
Hatfield House estate solely to raise money for these causes, including funds for Polish orphanages. He was involved in efforts to fund the Afghan resistance. His strong opposition to any involvement by the
Republic of Ireland in Northern Ireland led him to oppose the
Anglo-Irish Agreement and contributed to his decision to retire from the House of Commons in 1987.
House of Lords After the
1992 general election,
John Major used a
writ of acceleration to call Lord Cranborne up to the
House of Lords in one of his father's junior titles. Thus, Lord Cranborne was summoned to
Parliament as
Baron Cecil, of
Essendon in the County of
Rutland (his father's most junior dignity), although he continued to be known by his courtesy style of Viscount Cranborne. This is the most recent time a writ of acceleration has been issued, and due to the provisions of the
House of Lords Act 1999, abolishing the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords, any future use of the writ of acceleration is highly unlikely. He served for two years as a junior defence minister before being appointed as
Lord Privy Seal and
Leader of the House of Lords in 1994. Lord Cranborne was appointed by the Queen as
Privy Counsellor (PC) on 21 July 1994. Funding for opposition parties in the House of Lords, known as
Cranborne Money, began during his leadership. When Major resigned as
Leader of the Conservative Party in an attempt to test his authority as leader in July 1995, Lord Cranborne led his re-election campaign. He was recognised as one of the few members of the Cabinet who were personally loyal to Major, but continued to lead the Conservative Peers after
Labour won the
1997 general election. When the new Prime Minister
Tony Blair proposed the removal of the hereditary element in the House of Lords, Lord Cranborne negotiated a pact with the
Labour government to retain a small number of hereditary peers (later set at 92) for what was intended to be an interim period. For the sake of form this amendment was formally proposed by
Lord Weatherill, Convenor of the Cross-Bench Peers. However, Lord Cranborne gave his party's approval without consulting the party leader,
William Hague, who knew nothing and was embarrassed when Blair told him of it in the House of Commons during
Prime Minister's Questions. Hague then sacked Lord Cranborne, who accepted his error, saying that he had "rushed in, like an ill-trained spaniel". All former Leaders of the House of Lords who were hereditary peers accepted life peerages to keep them in the upper house in 1999. Lord Cranborne, who had received the title
Baron Gascoyne-Cecil, of
Essendon in the
County of Rutland, remained active on the backbenches until the House of Lords adopted new rules for declaration of financial interests which he believed were too onerous. He took "Leave of Absence" on 1 November 2001. He was therefore out of the House of Lords when he succeeded his father as the
7th Marquess of Salisbury on 11 July 2003. In January 2010, Lord Salisbury and
Owen Paterson, the Shadow
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, hosted secret talks at
Hatfield House, involving the
DUP, the
UUP and the
Conservative Party. These talks prompted speculation that the Conservatives were attempting to create a pan-unionist front to limit
Sinn Féin and the
Social Democratic and Labour Party at the
2010 general election. In September 2012, Lord Salisbury, in his role as Chairman of the Thames Diamond Jubilee Foundation, was knighted by
Queen Elizabeth II and became a
Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO). He retired from the House of Lords on 8 June 2017, the date of the
snap general election. He was appointed a
Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter (KG) on 27 February 2019. ==Other interests==