Lord Belstead

Trusted Leader of the Lords

John Julian Ganzoni, farmer and politician: born Ipswich 30 September 1932; succeeded 1958 as second Baron Belstead; Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Education and Science 1970-73; Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office 1973-74, Minister of State 1990-92; Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office 1979-82; Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office 1982-83; Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 1983-87; Minister of State, Department of Education 1987-88; Deputy Leader, House of Lords 1983-87, Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal 1988-90; HM Paymaster General 1990-92; Chairman, Parole Board 1992-97; created 1999 Baron Ganzoni; died Ipswich 3 December 2005.

In many ways John Belstead exemplified all that was best about the Suffolk character: living close to the land, in his quiet, reserved and steady way he was devoted to the county, its people, traditions and aspirations. A gentleman farmer to his fingertips, proud of his pigs and later his extensive mixed farmland, he was known and respected by people of all backgrounds in the county and was an obvious choice to succeed Sir Joshua Rowley Bt as Lord-Lieutenant, a post which he fulfilled with loyalty and dignity.

However, it was not only his county but also his country he was proud to serve. He made his mark nationally in a succession of ministerial positions, culminating in Leader of the House of Lords in the last years of Margaret Thatcher's government. With a firm grasp of the needs of the country, he won the admiration and trust of all political parties as well as the confidence of civil servants.

He was born John Julian Ganzoni in Ipswich in 1932 into a political family. His father, John Childs Ganzoni - rejoicing in the nickname of "Union Jack" - was of Swiss descent and served as Conservative MP for Ipswich from 1914 to 1923 and from 1924 to 1937, before being ennobled in 1938 and taking the title Baron Belstead, a reminder of their sizable home, Stoke Park, in the Belstead area of Ipswich.

The young John was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, his father's old college, where he read History. A county tennis player in his youth and an able sailor, Belstead began his working life as a preparatory schoolmaster, a time which he very much enjoyed. He succeeded to the title on his father's death in 1958.

One of his childhood memories was of being presented, together with his older sister Jill, to the then Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, at their parents' home in Warrington Road, Ipswich. John Belstead was never really a politician in the narrow party sense but rather saw himself as a public servant putting duty first. His various ministerial appointments afforded him the opportunity to exercise his gift as a conciliator.

Cutting his political teeth helping the Conservatives fight Barbara Castle's Transport Bill of 1968, Belstead first went into government as a junior minister in 1970 in the Department of Education when Margaret Thatcher was Secretary of State. Thatcher and Willie Whitelaw were both to encourage his political career. Belstead was always loyal to the Iron Lady and admired Whitelaw's collaborative style and was often a foil to the old tank commander's fiery temper.

In his various ministerial posts in Northern Ireland, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Home Office, the Ministry of Agriculture and later as Chairman of the Parole Board, Belstead was able to sustain and develop at home and overseas a relationship of diplomatic trust and mutual understanding (and especially in Northern Ireland at a very sensitive and dangerous time) which would have been impossible had he been brash or aggressive. Perhaps a clue to his approach is to be found in a debate in the House of Lords on the rehabilitation of offenders in 1997 when he said: "The Brownie points are always for the ministers who listen . . ." He was a consummate listener.

Like many prime ministers before and since, Margaret Thatcher found the House of Lords increasingly frustrating. She considered Baroness Young inadequate as Leader of the Lords and despite his blandishments Viscount Whitelaw was no better. The job was a poisoned chalice and perhaps Lord Belstead was not thrusting enough when the cup came his way in 1988. Interestingly, he was followed, in 1990, by Lord Waddington, a Northern bruiser.

During the first stages of the reform of the Upper House in the Blair administration Belstead, in common with other previous Leaders of the Lords, was granted a life peerage in 1999, and gazetted under the name and title of Baron Ganzoni.

Carrying his responsibilities with a natural grace, John Belstead could always put people at their ease. Interested in everything and everybody, the patron of many causes and a Justice of the Peace, he was generous to a fault and there are many in Suffolk and beyond who have been helped by him and his sister Jill quietly and unobtrusively down the years.

As an interested, albeit surprisingly very superstitious, churchman, and Chairman of the Cathedral Council, his support was vital throughout the appeal to raise the money to build the tower at the cathedral in Bury St Edmunds. A man whose strength of character was as steadfast as the Suffolk Punch, he lived up to the family motto of "Fidelitas Vincit" ("Fidelity Overcomes").

He was unmarried and the barony dies with him.

Peter Townley