Lord William Waldegrave – Following your own path: why resilience and luck matter
Episode 80, May 28, 2021, 09:00 AM
"Try to be resilient. Luck is a huge part of life and where things go wrong or right, it is often not down to you." Those are the words of our guest, Lord Waldegrave of North Hill. As the MP for Bristol West, Lord Waldegrave served 16 uninterrupted years in both the Thatcher and Major governments, including seven years in the Cabinet from 1990-97. His memoir, 'A Different Kind Of Weather' was described by the Sunday Times as "the diary of a somebody in all its italicised glory". Taking a sideways look at his own ambition, Lord Waldegrave reflects on the addictive nature of politics and the need to follow your own path. And it is that ambition and the path it led him down that we reflect on in this interview.
Lord William Waldegrave of North Hill is the Provost of Eton College, a post he has held since 2009. He is a Distinguished Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford and an Honorary Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Lord Waldegrave served as a Conservative Member of Parliament from 1979 to 1997 (representing the Bristol West constituency) including 16 years service as a Minister, of which seven years were as a Cabinet Minister. Educated at Oxford University and Harvard (a Kennedy Scholar), before entering Parliament he worked in the Cabinet Office in Whitehall; as Political Secretary to Prime Minister Edward Heath; and for GEC Ltd. From 1998-2008 he worked in the City, first at Deutsche Kleinwort Benson and then UBS. Lord Waldegrave was appointed Chairman of Coutts in January 2014 and is the Director of a number of companies. He is Chairman of the Royal Mint Advisory Committee, former Chairman of the Rhodes Trust, a Founder Trustee of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation, a former Trustee and Chairman of the National Museum of Science and Industry and a Trustee of Cumberland Lodge.