Nigel Birch, Baron Rhyl

Who was Nigel Birch, Baron Rhyl?

Evelyn Nigel Chetwode Birch, Baron Rhyl, PC, OBE was a British Conservative politician.

The son of General Sir Noel Birch and his wife Florence Chetwode, Nigel Birch was educated at Eton. He was a partner in Cohen Laming Hoare until May 1939 when he retired to study politics. He served in World War II in the King's Royal Rifle Corps and on General Staff, being promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in 1944. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1945.

He was Conservative Member of Parliament for Flintshire from 1945–50 and for West Flintshire from 1950 until 1970. He served in government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Air from 1951–52, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Defence from 1952–54, Minister of Works from October 1954-December 1955, Secretary of State for Air from December 1955 until January 1957, and Economic Secretary to the Treasury from 1957-58.

His resignation in 1958 along with that of the Chancellor of the Exchequer Peter Thorneycroft and fellow Treasury Minister Enoch Powell, was described by Harold Macmillan as "little local difficulties".