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Robert Dixon-Smith, Baron Dixon-Smith

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Robert William Dixon-Smith, Baron Dixon-Smith, DL (born 30 September 1934), is a British farmer and Conservative Party politician. Lord Dixon-Smith is a former Shadow Minister at the Department for Communities and Local Government.[1]

The Right Honourable
The Lord Dixon-Smith
DL
Official 2018 parliamentary portrait
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
11 October 1993 – 7 November 2023
Life Peerage
Member of Essex County Council
for Braintree East
Coggeshall (1965–1981)
In office
1965 – 6 May 1993
Succeeded byElwyn Bishop
Personal details
Born (1934-09-30) 30 September 1934 (age 90)
Political partyConservative
Spouse
Georgina Cook
​
(m. 1960)​
Children2
EducationOundle School

Early life and career

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The son of Dixon and Alice Winifred Smith, Dixon-Smith was educated at Oundle School, at the St. Johnsbury Academy in Vermont, and Writtle Agricultural College in Essex. He served in the King's Dragoon Guards in the years 1956 and 1957, serving as a Second Lieutenant.

From 1967 to 1994, Dixon-Smith was Governor of the Writtle Agricultural College, from 1973 to 1985 chair. In 1993 and 1994, he was Chair of Anglia Polytechnic University governors, governor from 1973 to 2000 of what was originally Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology (now Anglia Ruskin University).

Dixon-Smith was elected to the Essex County Council in 1965, being vice chairman from 1983 to 1986, and chairman from 1986 to 1989 before losing his seat to Labour in 1993. He was briefly Shadow Minister for Environment. In 1994, he was made an Honorary Doctor at Anglia Ruskin University.[2]

Life peer

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On 11 October 1993, he was created a life peer as Baron Dixon-Smith, of Bocking in the County of Essex.[3] In December 1998, he was appointed the Conservatives' local government spokesman in the House of Lords by party leader William Hague.[4]

Use of controversial idiom

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In July 2008, he was forced to apologise to the chamber after using the racist idiom, "nigger in the woodpile", during a House of Lords debate.[1][5] Dixon-Smith said the phrase had "slipped out without my thinking", and that "It was common parlance when I was younger". He added, "I apologise, I left my brains behind".[6]

Personal life

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Lord Dixon-Smith has been married to Georgina Janet Cook, since 1960. They have one son and one daughter.

Arms

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Coat of arms of Robert Dixon-Smith, Baron Dixon-Smith
Crest
A garb Or to the sinister and to the dexter resting its tail thereon a dolphin urinant Vert fins and tail also Gold.
Escutcheon
Argent a lion sejant erect Azure gorged with a baron's coronet Proper holding in the dexter forepaw a seax Proper hilt pommel and quillons Or and resting the sinister forepaw on a garb also Gold.[7]
Supporters
Two lions sejant erect Azure ermined Or each resting the exterior forepaw upon a garb also Gold.
Motto
Spes Aspera Levat

References

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  1. ^ a b Peer's apology over racist phrase BBC News, 9 July 2008
  2. ^ "Lord Lord Dixon-Smith - ARU". aru.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  3. ^ "No. 53458". The London Gazette. 15 October 1993. p. 16615.
  4. ^ "Hague unveils new Lords team". BBC News. 8 December 1998. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  5. ^ "Lords shocked at Tory peer's racist language during debate". YouTube. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  6. ^ Lucy Cockcroft (9 July 2008). "David Cameron urged to sack Tory peer after 'nigger in the woodpile' remark – David Cameron is facing calls to sack a Conservative peer who described concerns over government housing legislation as "the nigger in the woodpile" during a House of Lords debate". The Daily Telegraph.
  7. ^ Debrett's Peerage. 2015. p. 362.
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Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by Gentlemen
Baron Dixon-Smith 		Followed by
 

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