Patrick Cormack

Patrick Thomas Cormack, Baron Cormack, (18 May 1939 – 25 February 2024) was a British politician, historian, journalist and author.

He was educated locally at the St James's Choir School and the Havelock School, before attending the University of Hull, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1961.

Cormack was a teacher at his former school, St James's Choir School, in 1961.

Cormack contested the safe Labour parliamentary seat of Bolsover at the 1964 general election, where he lost to the sitting MP Harold Neal, who won with a majority of 23,103 votes.

At the 1966 general election, Cormack contested his hometown seat of Grimsby, but again was defeated, this time by the secretary of state for education and science, Anthony Crosland, who had a majority of 8,126.

Cormack became a training and education officer with Ross Ltd in 1966.

In 1967, he was appointed an assistant house master at the Wrekin College in Wellington, Shropshire, for two years, after which he became the head of history at Brewood Grammar School in 1969.

He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 40 years, from 1970 to 2010.

Cormack was a member of the Conservative Party and was seen as a one-nation conservative.

Before entering Parliament, Cormack was a teacher.

He was elected for Cannock at the 1970 general election.

Prior to 1970, Cormack was a member of the Bow Group and the Conservative Monday Club, resigning from both at the end of 1971.

At the 1970 general election, Cormack stood for the seat of Cannock, and this time was elected, narrowly defeating the incumbent Labour MP Jennie Lee.

Cormack won with a majority of 1,529.

From 1970 to 1973, Cormack served as a parliamentary private secretary at the Department of Health and Social Security.

Following boundary changes he was elected for South West Staffordshire in 1974, renamed South Staffordshire in 1983.

He moved constituencies at the February 1974 general election, leaving the marginal seat of Cannock and instead contesting the adjacent newly drawn seat of South West Staffordshire, which he won comfortably with a majority of 9,758.

Cormack became chairman of the editorial board of The House magazine in 1976, and editor of the magazine in 1979.

Cormack was a member of the Education Select Committee for the duration of the 1979-83 Parliament.

An opponent to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's monetarist economic policies, in November 1981, with national unemployment approaching 3,000,000 (compared to 1,500,000 two years previously), Cormack urged Thatcher to change her government's policies if Britain was to avoid economic disaster.

In the 1983 general election, Cormack was elected to the renamed seat of South Staffordshire, covering a similar area to the former South West Staffordshire seat.

In 1997, after 27 years as an MP on the backbenches, he was promoted by the then leader of the Opposition, William Hague, to become the opposition's Deputy Leader of the House of Commons.

Cormack resigned from this position in early 2000, standing later that year for the position of Speaker of the House of Commons (following the retirement of Betty Boothroyd).

However, he was unsuccessful in his bid for the speakership, with the House instead choosing Labour MP Michael Martin for the role.

He was elected chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee in 2005.

He was also twice a candidate for the Speakership of the House of Commons.

Cormack became life president of The House magazine in 2005.

During the 2005–10 parliament, Cormack was the chairman of the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee.

The vote in South Staffordshire was postponed at the 2005 general election due to the death of the Liberal Democrat candidate Jo Harrison.

When the election did take place on 23 June 2005, Cormack won comfortably.

In February 2007, it was announced that Cormack had failed to win the re-adoption of his constituency party for the next general election.

This vote was later declared invalid, for the number of votes recorded exceeded the number of people present at the meeting.

In July 2007, the South Staffordshire Conservatives' executive council voted on the matter, but it resulted in a tie.

Consequently, a vote of all local party members was held to decide whether Cormack should remain the party's candidate at the following general election.

In the vote, held on 14 September, Cormack was readopted as the Conservative candidate, receiving the backing of over 75% of participating party members.

Cormack expressed his gratitude and called the victory a "great relief".

Subsequently, on 1 December 2009, Cormack announced his intention to stand down at the 2010 general election.

Although having a reputation as a serious parliamentarian, on occasions he was known for asking light hearted questions in the House of Commons, once simply asking Prime Minister Gordon Brown at PMQ's what he wanted for Christmas.

After standing down from the House of Commons in 2010, he served as an active life peer in the House of Lords.

Cormack was born to Thomas Charles and Kathleen Mary Cormack in Grimsby just before the outbreak of the Second World War.