The Rt Hon. the Lord Howell of Guildford
Former Minister of State (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) in charge of International Energy Policy, UK
David Howell – UK Parliament official portraits 2017
Lord Howell of Guildford
Former Minister of State (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) in charge of International Energy Policy, UK
Born in 1936, David Howell has served the UK for 50 years both as an MP and as a Member of the House of Lords, the ONLY Minister to have served in Ted Heath’s, Margaret Thatcher’s and David Cameron’s governments.
Along with his other varied positions, such as, Chairman of the Windsor Energy Group & President of the Royal Commonwealth Society, Lord Howell embraces technological innovation and has a clear, in-depth understanding of developments in energy, and of matters concerning the Commonwealth.
His writingdraws on vast experience in both business and government that gives him unique insight and wisdom in our perpetually changing world.
Lord Howell is a former Secretary of State for Energy and was more recently Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with special responsibilities for the Commonwealth and for international energy issues.
Between 2002 and 2010 he was Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party in the Lords and Chief Opposition Spokesman in the House of Lords on Foreign Affairs.
He was formerly Secretary of State both for Energy and for Transport in Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet and was for ten years Chairman of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee (1987-1997).
He served as a Member of Parliament for Guildford from 1966 to 1997, is a Privy Counsellor, and was created a peer in 1997.
In an earlier Conservative Government, he also served as Minister of State in Northern Ireland, Parliamentary Secretary for the Civil Service, and Minister of State for Energy.
Lord Howell has been a journalist, banker – Advisory Director of UBS, and is consultant to several companies and funds in both the UK, Japan and the Middle East. He is a regular columnist for The Japan Times and past contributor to the International Herald Tribune and the Wall Street Journal.
He is the author of numerous pamphlets and several books on energy, politics, innovation and the internet – including A New Style of Government(CPC 1970), Freedom and Capital (Basil Blackwell 1981),Blind Victory(Hamish Hamilton 1986), Easternisation (pamphlet published by Demos 1995),The Edge of Now(Macmillan 2001), Out of the Energy Labyrinth (2008), and Old Links and New Ties (IB Tauris 2013) – subtitle: Power and Persuasion in an Age of Networks, Empires in Collision – subtitle: The Green Versus Black Struggle For Our Energy Future (Gilgamesh 2016) . In February 2018 he published The Commonwealth Transformed, and his next publication,The Mother of all Networks will be available shortly.
In 2001 he was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure by the Emperor of Japan, for services to Japan–UK relations.
He is aformer President of the Energy Industries Council; Adviser to the British Chambers of Commerce and chaired the widely-read House of Lords Select Committee 2013-4 Report on Soft Power and British Overseas Influence.
He is currently Chairman of the House of Lords International Relations Committee.