William Waldegrave
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William Arthur Waldegrave, Baron Waldegrave of North Hill, PC (born August 15, 1946), educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford and now a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford is a British Conservative politician who served in the Cabinet from 1990 until 1997. He is now a life peer.
He was elected to the House of Commons as MP for Bristol West in 1979. He was regarded as a member of the "wet" or moderate tendency of the Conservative Party, and despite this progressed well from the backbenches in Margaret Thatcher's government: He became a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Education and Science in 1981 before moving to the Department of the Environment in 1983. He remained at Environment, becoming a Minister of State in 1985, until 1988 when he became a Minister of State at the Foreign Office.
He was promoted to the cabinet as Secretary of State for Health in November 1990, just days before Thatcher's resignation, and remained at the cabinet table throughout John Major's time as Prime Minister. He became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the Cabinet Office with responsibility for science in 1992, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in 1994 and Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 1995.
After losing his Commons seat to Valerie Davey in Labour's 1997 landslide, he entered the House of Lords as a life peer in 1999.
Lord Waldegrave is the younger son of the 12th Earl Waldegrave, and a brother of the present Earl. He is married to Caroline Waldegrave, cookery writer and managing director of Leith's School of Food and Wine.
| Preceded by: Kenneth Clarke | Secretary of State for Health 1990–1992 | Succeeded by: Virginia Bottomley |
| Preceded by: Chris Patten | Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1992–1994 | Succeeded by: David Hunt |
| Preceded by: Gillian Shephard | Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 1994–1995 | Succeeded by: Douglas Hogg |