In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- 8 March 1930
- Birthplace
- Marlborough, Wiltshire, England
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Nationality
- Not independently established
- Known for
- Diplomacy, the Home Office and foreign affairs.
- Full name
- Douglas Richard Hurd
Why this life matters
His public record helps readers distinguish the defence of a policy, its legal authority and the later decisions about financing it.
Timeline
Key moments
Diplomatic service
Held posts in China, at the UN and in Europe.
Parliament
Entered the Commons for Mid-Oxon.
The Lords
Served as a life peer before retirement.
Diplomacy before electoral politics
Hurd studied at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, before joining the Diplomatic Service in 1952. Posts included Beijing, the UK mission to the United Nations and Rome. He also worked in the Foreign Office as a private secretary.
He joined the Conservative Research Department in 1966, later working for Edward Heath in opposition and government. A transition between official and party work preceded his election for Mid-Oxon in 1974; from 1983 he represented Witney.
Successive Cabinet responsibilities
Junior posts in foreign affairs and the Home Office led to the Northern Ireland secretaryship in 1984. His year there coincided with negotiations preceding the Anglo-Irish Agreement, rather than its eventual signing under his successor.
He became Home Secretary in 1985 and Foreign Secretary in 1989. The different portfolios require different records: experience in one department does not establish the results of a policy in another.
Foreign policy under challenge
In a July 1993 Commons exchange on Bosnia, Hurd defended negotiations and economic pressure. MPs challenged a policy that had not stopped the fighting and pressed for stronger action. He acknowledged that the existing approach had not ended the conflict while disputing the alternatives put to him.
Pergau raised a different challenge. The retrospective Institute for Government report describes an accounting officer’s objection to the Malaysian dam proposal and the political decision to honour an earlier undertaking. Hurd’s December 1994 statement announced that he would not appeal the court decision and proposed financing outside the 1980 aid statute. A defence of national interest did not resolve every question about legal authority.
Leaving frontline office and writing
Hurd unsuccessfully contested the Conservative leadership in 1990 and left frontline government in 1995. He left the Commons in 1997, entered the Lords that year and retired from it in 2016.
Writing accompanied his public career: the reference account names Andrew Osmond as a collaborator on thrillers, while his publisher lists further fiction. These works form part of the career, but a publisher’s description is not a reading of the books themselves. The related record study concentrates instead on the claims that can be checked in the Pergau documents.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Douglas Hurd
- Who is Douglas Hurd?
- Douglas Hurd is a former cabinet minister and writer. His public record helps readers distinguish the defence of a policy, its legal authority and the later decisions about financing it.
- What is Douglas Hurd best known for?
- Douglas Hurd is best known for diplomacy, the Home Office and foreign affairs..
- When and where was Douglas Hurd born?
- Douglas Hurd was born on 8 March 1930 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England.
Keep exploring
Lives connected to this story
- Edward Heath
Read the career of the leader for whom Hurd worked.
- John Major
Follow the prime minister’s wider governing record.
- Mahathir Mohamad
Read the Malaysian prime minister’s separate career.
Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
These references support the biography and offer further reading. Official records, first-person accounts and independent reporting provide different perspectives; image records document attribution and licensing.
- 1. Encyclopedia.com, including Richard A. Smith / Oxford Companion to British HistoryDouglas Hurd: selected reference biographies
- 2. Churchill Archives Centre, CambridgeBDOHP catalogue: Hurd, DOHP 90
- 3. Brendan Lynn / CAIN, Ulster University, 2003Douglas Richard Hurd: brief biography
- 4. UK ParliamentLord Hurd of Westwell: parliamentary career
- 5. UK Parliament, Historic HansardDouglas Hurd: historical member record
- 6. Bloomsbury PublishingDouglas Hurd: author biography
- 7. UK Parliament, Historic HansardBosnia: questions of 14 July 1993
- 8. Jonny Medland / Institute for Government, 25 October 2012The politics and economics of Britain’s foreign aid: Pergau event report
- 9. Douglas Hurd and MPs / UK ParliamentPergau Dam: statement and responses, 13 December 1994
