John Ganzoni, 2nd Baron Belstead

The Right Honourable The Lord Belstead PC
Paymaster General
In office 28 November 1990 – 11 April 1992
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	Richard Ryder
Succeeded by	John Cope
Minister of State for Northern Ireland
In office 28 November 1990 – 14 April 1992
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	John Cope
Succeeded by	Robert Atkins
Leader of the House of Lords Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal
In office 10 January 1988 – 28 November 1990
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	The Viscount Whitelaw (Leader of Lords) John Wakeham (Lord Privy Seal)
Succeeded by	The Lord Waddington
Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
In office June 1983 – January 1988
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	The Earl Ferrers
Succeeded by	The Earl Ferrers
Minister of State for Environment
In office 13 June 1987 – 10 January 1988
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	William Waldegrave
Succeeded by	The Earl of Caithness
Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
In office 13 June 1983 – 13 June 1987
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Alick Buchanan-Smith
Succeeded by	John Gummer
Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
In office 5 April 1982 – 13 June 1983
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Richard Luce
Succeeded by	Richard Luce
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Home Affairs
In office 7 May 1979 – 5 April 1982
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Shirley Summerskill
Succeeded by	The Lord Elton
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office 5 June 1973 – 4 March 1974
Prime Minister	Edward Heath
Preceded by	The Lord Windlesham (Minister of State)
Succeeded by	The Lord Donaldson of Kingsbridge
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Science
In office 24 June 1970 – 5 June 1973
Prime Minister	Edward Heath
Preceded by	Joan Lestor
Succeeded by	Timothy Raison
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
as a hereditary peer 18 December 1958 – 11 November 1999
Preceded by	The 1st Baron Belstead
Succeeded by	Seat abolished
as a life peer 17 November 1999 – 3 December 2005
Personal details
Born	(1932-09-30)30 September 1932
Died	3 December 2005(2005-12-03) (aged 73)
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford

John Julian Ganzoni, 2nd Baron Belstead, Baron Ganzoni, PC (30 September 1932 – 3 December 2005) was a British Conservative politician and peer who served as Leader of the House of Lords under Margaret Thatcher from 1988 to 1990.

Background and education

Ganzoni was the only son of Sir John Ganzoni, a barrister and Conservative MP for Ipswich who was created Baron Belstead in 1938, and his wife Gwendolen Gertrude Turner, daughter of Arthur Turner, of Ipswich. He went to Eton before reading History at Christ Church, Oxford.

Political career

Belstead showed little interest in politics at first, and waited six years after succeeding to the peerage on his father's death in 1958 before making his maiden speech. In 1970, Edward Heath appointed him to become Parliamentary Under-Secretary to Margaret Thatcher at the Department of Education and Science; he was moved in the same rank to the Northern Ireland Office three years later.

When Margaret Thatcher led the Tories back to power in 1979, she sent him to the Home Office. He was then made Minister at the Foreign Office when Lord Carrington and his team resigned after the Falklands invasion. In 1980, he was interviewed by the BBC's Panorama current affairs program about Britain's preparations for a nuclear attack.

He next moved to the Ministry of Fisheries and Food, and went back to the Education Department again before becoming Deputy Leader to William Whitelaw as Leader of the House of Lords. He succeeded Whitelaw in that post in 1988, taking the sinecure post of Lord Privy Seal at the same time.

After losing his Cabinet seat, which he had gained when he became Lord Privy Seal, in 1990 he became Paymaster General and Northern Ireland Minister under John Major, retiring from the Government to become Chairman of the Parole Board in 1992.

In the 1983 New Year Honours, he was sworn of the Privy Council. After the House of Lords Act 1999 removed the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords, he was created a life peer (an honour given to all former Leaders of the House of Lords) as Baron Ganzoni, of Ipswich in the County of Suffolk on 17 November 1999. He also gave his name to the new "Belstead Centre" at Woodbridge School.

Personal life

Lord Belstead never married. He died in December 2005, aged 73, when both the hereditary peerage and the baronetcy became extinct. He is buried in the churchyard of St Mary's, Great Bealings, Suffolk.

He was an active Freemason and president of the Board of General Purposes for the United Grand Lodge of England. He was appointed to be a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Suffolk on 2 April 1979.

Coat of arms

Coat of arms of John Ganzoni, 2nd Baron Belstead

Notes Coat of arms of the Ganzoni family Coronet A coronet of a Baron Crest A Demi Lion Or supporting a Gentian Plant as in the Arms Escutcheon Per fess Azure and Argent a Gentian Plant flowered and eradicated proper between in chief a Mullet and an Increscent both Or Supporters On either side a Seahorse proper gorged with a Collar pendent therefrom a Portcullis chained Or Motto Fidelitas Vincit (Fidelity overcomes)

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by John Ganzoni, 2nd Baron Belstead
• Obituary, Guardian.co.uk. Accessed 8 January 2023.
• Announcement of his taking the oath under his new title at the House of Lords House of Lords minutes of proceedings, 23 November 1999
• Announcement of his death at the House of Lords House of Lords minutes of proceedings, 5 December 2005