Biography

Geoffrey Howe was born on December 20, 1926 in Port Talbot, West Glamorgan, Wales, UK. He was married to Elspeth Howe. He died on October 9, 2015 in Warwickshire, England, UK.

His wife,born Elspeth Morton Shand, was made a life peer in her own right as Lady Howe of Idlicote in 2001. She had chaired the Broadcasting Standards Commission.

Because of Howe's apparently mild-mannered personality, Labour MP Denis Healey notoriously compared being attacked by him in the House of Commons to "being savaged by a dead sheep"; nonetheless, his high-profile resignation speech in 1990 is widely thought to have triggered the downfall of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

[during his resignation speech, referring to Mrs Thatcher's approach to European negotiations] It's rather like sending your opening batsmen to the crease, only for them to find, the moment the first balls are bowled, that their bats have been broken before the game by the team captain.