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Geoffrey Howe was born in 1926 at Port Talbot in WalesFor alternate meanings, see Wales (disambiguation Wales ( Welsh: Cymru pronounced /"k@mrI/ SAMPA, km IPA, 'Kumree' approximate pronunciation) is one of the four nations comprising the United Kingdom (the other three being England, Scotland and Northern Ir. He was educated at Winchester CollegeWinchester College is a public school situated in the city of Winchester in Hampshire, in the south of England. In fact it is the original public school, with others, such as Eton College, being modelled on it. Its website states that the school has "the and Trinity Hall, CambridgeTrinity Hall is the fifth oldest college of the University of Cambridge, founded in 1350 by Bishop Bateman of Norwich; the college was intended to teach canon law to students to replace priests lost to the Black Death plague of the 1340s. Historically, Tr, where he read Law. He was called to the Bar in 1952 and was made a QCQueen's Counsel ( postnominal QC , during the reign of a male Sovereign known as King's Counsel KC , are barristers appointed by patent to be one of "Her Majesty's Counsel learned in the law". They do not constitute a separate order or degree of lawyers. in 1965. He represented Bebington in the British House of CommonsThe House of Commons is a component of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also includes the Sovereign and the House of Lords. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 659 members, who are known as "Members of Parliamen from 1964 to 1966, Reigate from 1970 to 1974, and Surrey East from 1974 to 1992. In 1970Events January events January 1 Construction begins on Arcosanti, by Paolo Soleri, in Mayer, Arizona, located 65, miles north of Phoenix, Arizona. January 1 Unix epoch at 00:00:00 UTC. January 12 Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian civil war. January he was knighted and appointed Solicitor GeneralThe Solicitor General is a cabinet position in several countries, dealing with legal affairs. In the United States the Solicitor General is that person who represents or advises a government when it is party to a suit, generally in front of its supreme co in Edward HeathThe Right Honourable Sir Edward Richard George Heath KG, MBE (born July 9, 1916) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. His spell in office represented a transition between the tr's government, and in 1972 became a Minister of State at the Department of Trade and Industry with a seat in the cabinet, a post he held until Labour took power in March 1974.

In opposition between 1974 and 1979, he rose to the rank of Shadow Chancellor. Labour Chancellor Denis Healey famously described being attacked by Howe as "like being savaged by a dead sheep". After the Conservative victory in the 1979 general election, he became Chancellor of the Exchequer.

After the 1983 general election Thatcher made him Foreign Secretary. Howe's position was made difficult by significant differences between his views and those of his Prime Minister, especially on relations between the UK and the European Commmunity. In July 1989 John Major replaced him as Foreign Secretary, and he became Leader of the House of Commons, Lord President of the Council and Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Despite the title of Deputy Prime Minister this was generally seen as a demotion, especially after Thatcher's Press Secretary Bernard Ingham briefed the press to explain that "Deputy Prime Minister" did not imply Howe would be called on to form a government if Thatcher were run over by a bus. This remark is widely felt to have crippled Howe politically.

In 1990, with a challenge to Thatcher's leadership in the offing, Howe resigned his posts on November 1. In his resignation speech on November 13, he offered a cricket metaphor for British negotiations with Europe: "It is rather like sending your opening batsmen to the crease, only to find ... that their bats have been broken before the game by the team captain". He called on others to "consider their own response to the tragic conflict of loyalties with which I have myself wrestled for perhaps too long". This attack on Thatcher is widely seen as an important factor in her failure to see off the leadership challenge of Michael Heseltine and her subsequent resignation.

Howe retired from the Commons in 1992 and was made a life peer as Baron Howe of Aberavon, of Tandridge in the County of Surrey. His wife Elspeth Howe, a former Chair of the Broadcasting Standards Commission, was made a life peer in 2001 as Baroness Howe of Idlicote. As a result of her husband having received a knighthood and later a peerage, and herself subsequently being made a peer in her own right, she has been referred to as "Lady Lady Lady Howe".