Thorneycroft Had Brilliant Career

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28480, 9 January 1958, Page 9

Thorneycroft Had Brilliant Career

(Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON,’ January 6.

Mr Thorneycroft, aged 48, who has resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer, first captured the attention of Conservative Party leaders as an ordinary member of Parliament after the last war by a series of personal “crusades” aimed at forming Conservative doctrine.

He entered the political limelight in 1951 when he was appointed president of the Board of Trade. He was educated at Eton and the Royal Military College, Woolwich.

While soldiering he studied for the Bar. Within three years, of leaving the Army he was called to the Bar in the Inner Temple and was soon practising successfully in BirminghamHe entered politics in 1938 when ha was elected Conservative MJ.

for Stafford. Since 1945 he has represented Monmouth. Mr Thomeycroft has been twice married. He first married Miss Sheila Wells Page, a County hockey player. They had one son.

The marriage was dissolved in 1949, and the same year he married Countess Carla Robertl, daughter of Count Malagola Cappi. of Ravenna. Italy. They have a five-year-old daughter, Victoria. Mrs Thorneycroft, a former fashion editor, is considered one of the best-dressed women in Italy. Mr Derick Heathcoat Amory, the new chancellor, is a 58-year-old veteran Cabinet Minister who has distinguished himself as a shrewd and witty speaker.

He has been Minister of Agriculture. Fisheries and Food since 1954. From 1951-53 he was Minister of Pensions and during 195354 he was Minister of State at the Board of Trade. He was educated at Eton and gxford and was a textile menu-

facturer and banker before entering Parliament in 1945. As Minister of Agriculture he has shown a grasp of the higher economics of the industry. His successor in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr John Hare, is the 47-year-old Eton-educated son of the fourth Earl of ListoweL

Mr Christopher Soames, 87. who takes Mr Hare’s place as Secretary of State for War. becomes the second of Sir Winton Churchill’s sons-in-law in defence posts. Mr Soames is married to Sir Winston Churchill's youngest daughter. The Minister of Defence. Mr Duncan Sandys. is also a son-in-law of Britain's war leader.