Douglas Hogg
Douglas Martin Hogg, 3rd Viscount Hailsham and life peer Baron Hailsham of Kettlethorpe, is a British Conservative politician and barrister. Born on 5 February 1945 in London, he is the son of Quintin Hogg, who later became Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone. He was educated at Sunningdale School, Eton College, and Christ Church, Oxford, where he was President of the Oxford Union in 1965 and earned a History degree in 1966. He became a barrister in 1968 and took silk as a Queen’s Counsel in 1990.
Hogg entered Parliament in 1979 as the Conservative MP for Grantham, a seat he held until 1997 when the boundary changes abolished it. He then served as MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham from 1997 to 2010. He held several government posts: Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Home Affairs (1986–1989), Minister of State for Industry (1989–1990), Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (1990–1995), and Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1995–1997). In 1997 he briefly served as Shadow Minister for Agriculture.
As agriculture minister he faced criticism during the BSE crisis. He left government in 1997 and continued as a backbench MP until retiring from the House of Commons in 2010.
In 2001, after his father’s death, he inherited the viscountcy, becoming Viscount Hailsham. In 2015 he was created a life peer as Baron Hailsham of Kettlethorpe, enabling him to sit in the House of Lords.
His wife is Hon. Sarah Boyd-Carpenter, whom he married in 1968; they have two children. His sister, Mary Hogg, is a High Court judge.
Controversy also surrounded his expenses in 2009, when the Daily Telegraph highlighted claims including money for moat cleaning at his estate. He repaid about £2,200 and said his expenses filings were in line with the rules, though the notes were not a formal claim. He did not stand for re-election in 2010.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 04:19 (CET).