Hurd, Douglas (Richard) (1930– )

British Conservative politician, home secretary 1985–89 and foreign secretary 1989–95. A moderate ‘Heathite’ Conservative, he was passed over for the cabinet during Margaret Thatcher's first term as prime minister, but was appointed Northern Ireland secretary in 1984. In November 1990 he was an unsuccessful candidate in the Tory leadership contest following Margaret Thatcher's unexpected resignation.

Born in Marlborough, Wiltshire, Hurd was educated at Eton and Cambridge Universities. In 1966, after a 14-year career in the diplomatic service, he began a political career in the Conservative Party research department and became private secretary to Edward Heath in 1968. Hurd entered the House of Commons in 1974, representing Witney in Oxfordshire from 1983. A junior minister at the foreign office during Margaret Thatcher's first term (1979–83), he entered the cabinet as Northern Ireland secretary in 1984, and in 1985 he became home secretary. He became foreign secretary in the 1989 cabinet reshuffle, and retained his post in prime minister John Major's new cabinet, formed after the 1992 general election. On retiring from Parliament in 1997, he was created a life peer.