Tim Razzall, Baron Razzall
Edward Timothy Razzall, Baron Razzall , is a British Liberal Democrat politician and parliamentarian.
Education and early life
Razzall is the son of Humphrey Razzall, a Liberal Party member who stood as Liberal Parliamentary Candidate for Scarborough and Whitby in the 1945 general election.Razzall was privately educated at St Paul's School, London and the University of Oxford where he was an undergraduate student at Worcester College, Oxford and representing the university at cricket in 1964.
Career
Razzall qualified as a solicitor in 1969 and worked for Frere Cholmeley, becoming a partner in 1973, and chief executive in 1990 before leaving in 1995 to set up his own corporate finance business. Frere Cholmeley Bischoff encountered financial difficulties and dissolved shortly after his departure, for which some blame was attributed to Razzall.In 1974, he was elected as a councillor for Mortlake ward in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, which he represented for 24 years. During that time, he served as chair of Richmond Council's Policy and Resources Committee for 13 years and as deputy leader 1983–1996. He was succeeded in both roles by Serge Lourie.
In 1986, he became joint-treasurer of the Liberal Party, and then treasurer of the newly merged Liberal Democrats in 1988. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1993 New Year Honours and created a life peer on 22 October 1997 as Baron Razzall, of Mortlake in the London Borough of Richmond. In July 2002, he was the best man at the marriage of Charles Kennedy to Sarah Gurling.
From 2000 to 2006, he was chair of the Liberal Democrats' Campaigns and Communications Committee. Along with Lord Rennard, he was responsible for running the Liberal Democrats' election campaigns. He stepped down from this post in May 2006, saying he wanted a change and to give his successor a chance to settle into the role before the 2010 general election.
A former House of Lords Liberal Democrat Spokesman on Trade and Industry and Treasurer of the All Party Parliamentary Intellectual Property Group in Parliament, he now serves on various parliamentary committees.