2 March 2010
A packed Amey Theatre was thrilled to hear Lord Hurd, CH, CBE, PC, DL, give a joint Edmund and Roysse Societies lecture. Boys, parents and visitors gathered to hear a wonderful talk.
For 23 years Douglas Hurd was a Conservative MP for Mid-Oxfordshire, which became Witney. In the 1980s and 90s he held high office in the cabinets of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary.On retirement in 1997 he was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Hurd of Westwell.
He spoke about his recently-published book, Choose Your Weapons, an account of eleven former Foreign Secretaries. Afterwards he signed copies of the book, which was available for purchase.
Lord Hurd's learned lecture and his answers to questions revealed why he is so highly regarded as a wise statesman. He spoke confidently and with great authority on the rights and wrongs of British foreign policy, and included his forthright views on the wrongness of the Iraq war.
Lord Hurd may well have inspired some future OA Foreign Secretaries!
