Peter Alexander Rupert Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, KG, GCMG, CH, MC, PC, JP, DL (born June 6, 1919), was British Foreign Secretary (1979–1982) and Secretary-General of NATO (1984–1988).
His family surname and life peerage are both spelt Carington (single "r"), whilst the hereditary peerage is Baron Carrington (double "r").
Educated at Eton and RMA Sandhurst, he served as a major in the Grenadier Guards in the Second World War.
He had an unbroken run of consecutive government positions for over 30 years, serving as Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry for Agriculture and Food from November 1951, then for the Ministry of Defence from October 1954 to October 1956. He was High Commissioner to Australia from then until October 1959, First Lord of the Admiralty until October 1963, then Leader of the House of Lords for a year until October 1964, when the Conservatives fell from power, becoming Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords until 1970 and again from 1974 until 1979.
He served as Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1972 to 1974.
He was Defence Secretary, and then, for a month from January to February 1974, Secretary of State for Energy. In 1979 he was made Foreign Secretary as part of the first Cabinet of Margaret Thatcher. He chaired the Lancaster House conference in 1979, a wrapup of Zimbabwe's revolutionary war attended by Ian Smith, Abel Muzorewa, Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo, Herbert Chitepo, Josiah Tongogara that paved the way for second elections in February, 1980. He was Foreign Secretary in 1982 when the Falkland Islands were invaded by Argentina, over which he resigned.
He was Secretary-General of NATO from 1983 to 1988. He was made Chancellor of the University of Reading in 1992, and has served as chairman of several companies, including Christie's, and as a director of many others, including Barclays Bank and Schweppes.
He was made a life peer in 1999 so that he could continue to sit in the House of Lords. His life peerage title is Baron Carington of Upton (with one "r").
There is also significant evidence that he is the current Chairman of the secretive Bilderberg group.
On 25 April, 1942, he married Iona McClean .
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— | width="40%" style="text-align: center;" |Minister without Portfolio
1963–1964 | width="30%" |Succeeded by:
—
|- style="text-align: center;" | width="30%" |Preceded by:
The Viscount Hailsham | width="40%" style="text-align: center;" |Leader of the House of Lords
1963–1964 | width="30%" |Succeeded by:
The Earl of Longford
|- style="text-align: center;" | width="30%" |Preceded by:
Denis Healey | width="40%" style="text-align: center;" |Secretary of State for Defence
1970–1974 | width="30%" |Succeeded by:
Ian Gilmour
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New Office | width="40%" style="text-align: center;" |Secretary of State for Energy
1974 | width="30%" |Succeeded by:
Eric Varley
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David Owen | width="40%" style="text-align: center;" |Foreign Secretary
1979–1982 | width="30%" |Succeeded by:
Francis Pym
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Last updated: 05-17-2005 04:24:28
