Malcolm Mitchell-Thomson, 3rd Baron Selsdon
Malcolm McEacharn Mitchell-Thomson, 3rd Baron Selsdon was a British peer, banker and businessman. He sat in the House of Lords from 1963 to 2021, having been elected as one of the 90 hereditary peers who retained their seats after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999.
Background
The son of Patrick William Malcolm Mitchell-Thomson, 2nd Baron Selsdon, and his first wife, Phoebette Swithinbank, Selsdon was educated at Winchester College. He served in the Royal Navy from 1956 to 1958, reaching the rank of sub-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve.Selsdon was married twice: in 1965 to Patricia Anne Smith ; and in 1995, after divorcing his first wife, to Gabrielle Williams. He had one son, Callum Malcolm McEacharn Mitchell-Thomson, 4th Baron Selsdon.
Selsdon died on 15 September 2024, at the age of 86.
Parliamentary career
Having succeeded his father as Baron Selsdon at the age of 25, he took his seat in the House of Lords on 30 July 1963. He made his maiden speech on 9 December 1970 in a debate entitled Pollution and Protection of the Environment. His next speech was in a debate on the EEC: British entry negotiations on 19 January 1971. In his third speech he seconded the Address in Reply to Her Majesty's Most Gracious Speech by Lady Macleod of Borve on 2 November 1971, an honour given him after he caught the eye of fellow Wykehamist and EEC enthusiast Lord Jellicoe, Leader of the House of Lords.Seldson was a delegate to the Council of Europe from 1972 to 1978. He chaired the Committee for Middle East Trade from 1979 to 1986 and was a member of the British Overseas Trade Board and the Eastern European Trade Council.
He was one of the 90 hereditary peers elected to remain in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999, sitting as a Conservative. His membership ended on 11 May 2021 due to non-attendance. At the time, in his 58th year of service, he was the second longest-serving member of the House of Lords after Lord Trefgarne.