Patrick Thomas Cormack, Baron Cormack, (born 18 May 1939) is a British politician, historian, journalist and author. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 40 years, from 1970 to 2010. Cormack is a member of the Conservative Party and is seen as a one-nation conservative.
Before entering Parliament, Cormack was a teacher. He was elected for Cannock at the 1970 general election. Following boundary changes he was elected for South West Staffordshire in 1974, renamed South Staffordshire in 1983. He was elected chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee in 2005. He was also twice a candidate for the Speakership of the House of Commons. Since standing down from the House of Commons in 2010, he has served as an active life peer in the House of Lords.
Early life and career
Cormack was born to Thomas Charles and Kathleen Mary Cormack in Grimsby just before the outbreak of World War II. He was educated locally at the St James's Choir School and the Havelock School, before attending the University of Hull, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1961.
He was a teacher at his former school, St James's Choir School, in 1961. Cormack contested the safe Labour parliamentary seat of Bolsover at the 1964 general election, where he lost to the sitting MP Harold Neal, who won with a majority of 23,103 votes. At the 1966 general election, Cormack contested his hometown seat of Grimsby, but again was defeated, this time by the secretary of state for education and science, Anthony Crosland, who had a majority of 8,126. Cormack became a training and education officer with Ross Ltd in 1966. In 1967, he was appointed an assistant house master at the Wrekin College in Wellington, Shropshire for two years, after which he became the head of history at Brewood Grammar School in 1969.
Prior to 1970, Cormack was a member of the Bow Group and the Conservative Monday Club, resigning from both at the end of 1971.
Parliamentary career
At the 1970 general election, Cormack stood for the seat of Cannock, and this time was elected, narrowly defeating the incumbent Labour MP Jennie Lee. Cormack won with a majority of 1,529.
From 1970 to 1973, Cormack served as a parliamentary private secretary to the Department of Health and Social Security. He moved constituencies at the February 1974 general election, leaving the marginal seat of Cannock and instead contesting the adjacent newly drawn seat of South West Staffordshire, which he won comfortably with a majority of 9,758.
Cormack became chairman of the editorial board of The House magazine in 1976, and editor of the magazine in 1979.
Cormack was a member of the Education Select Committee for the duration of the 1979 parliament.
On 7 October 1981, with national unemployment approaching 3,000,000 (compared to 1,500,000 two years previously), Cormack urged Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to change her economic policies, namely monetarism, to tackle inflation, if Britain was to avoid economic disaster.
In 1983, his constituency changed its name to its present one, South Staffordshire, and after the 1983 general election, In 1997, after 27 years as an MP on the backbenches, he was promoted by the then leader of the Opposition, William Hague, to become the opposition's Deputy Leader of the House of Commons.
He resigned from this position in 2000 in order to stand for the position of Speaker of the House of Commons (following the retirement of Betty Boothroyd). However, he was unsuccessful in his bid for the speakership, with the House instead choosing Labour MP Michael Martin for the role. During the 2005–10 parliament, Cormack was the chairman of the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee.
Cormack became life president of The House magazine in 2005.