# John MacGregor, Baron MacGregor of Pulham Market

John Roddick Russell MacGregor, Baron MacGregor of Pulham Market, OBE, PC, FKC (born 14 February 1937), is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Norfolk from 1974 to 2001. He served in the Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury (1985–87), Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1987–89), Secretary of State for Education and Science (1989–90), Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council (1990–92), and Secretary of State for Transport (1992–94). He was made a life peer in 2001.

## Early life

MacGregor was educated at Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh, then at the University of St Andrews (MA economics and history, 1959) and at King's College London (LLB, 1962). Prior to the 1979 general election he worked for Hill Samuel, a merchant bank.

## Member of Parliament

MacGregor became an MP at the February 1974 General Election, and served as a Tory whip from 1977 to 1981, when he became a junior minister at the Department of Trade and Industry, moving to MAFF in 1983.

### In government

MacGregor entered the Cabinet on 2 September 1985 as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and was made Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in 1987 – during the BSE crisis. He was promoted to Secretary of State for Education and Science in July 1989. In the small reshuffle following the resignation of Sir Geoffrey Howe, he was made Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council just days before Thatcher's own resignation. He continued in this position from 1990 to 1992, although William Keegan writes that he was a contender for the position of Chancellor when John Major came to power.
MacGregor was appointed Secretary of State for Transport in 1992, remaining in the post until July 1994 when was dismissed from the cabinet. His time as Transport Secretary saw him given responsibility for the privatisation of British Rail and the decision to privatise the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL). He was made a life peer as Baron MacGregor of Pulham Market, of Pulham Market in the County of Norfolk on 5 July 2001. He sat in the House of Lords until his retirement on 26 July 2019.

## Honours

MacGregor was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1971 New Year Honours for political services.
Coat of arms of John MacGregor, Baron MacGregor of Pulham Market :
* CrestA boar rampant Azure armed langued and crined Or bearing a lyre Or stringed Argent.
* EscutcheonArgent a sword in bend Azure hilted and pommelled Or surmounted by an oak tree eradicated and fructed Proper its trunk enfiled with five antique crowns of the third on a chief per pale Vert and Gules two portcullises chains pendent of the third.
* SupportersA stag Gules bearing a magician's wand Sable tipped Argent and having about its neck a chain from which is pendent a money purse Or sinister a winged lion guardant Or also bearing a magicians's wand Sable tipped Argent and having about its neck a chain from which is pendent a close book Gules.
* MottoTo Thyself Aye True

## Personal interests

MacGregor is an accomplished magician and member of the Magic Circle. His passion for magic started when he was given a conjuring set at the age of 11. He gave regular performances on British television, including guest spots on The Best of Magic and an annual children's charity programme on Anglia Television.