Nicholas Walter Lyell, Baron Lyell of Markyate, QC, PC (born 6 December 1938, London) is a British Conservative politician and was for much of his active political career known as Sir Nicholas Lyell.

Lyell was elected Member of Parliament for Hemel Hempstead from 1979, then Mid Bedfordshire from 1983, and moved to North East Bedfordshire at the 1997 election.

Lord Lyell is one of very few lawyers to have combined a successful career in Parliament and a major private practice.^{[citation needed]} After 20 years at the Bar he was appointed Solicitor-General from 1987 to 1992 under Margaret Thatcher, and Attorney General for England and Wales and Northern Ireland under John Major from 1992 to 1997. He stood down as an MP at the 2001 election.^[1]

On 13 May 2005 it was announced that he would be created a life peer,^[2] and on 27 June 2005 he was created Baron Lyell of Markyate, of Markyate in the County of Hertfordshire.^[3]

Lord Lyell of Markyate is a former Chairman of the Board of Governors of Stowe School, but stood down from the role at the end of the 2006-07 academic year.

[edit] References