Nicholas Ridley, Baron Ridley of Liddesdale

The Right Honourable The Lord Ridley of Liddesdale PC
1978 portrait, from the National Portrait Gallery collection
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
In office 24 July 1989 – 14 July 1990
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	The Lord Young of Graffham
Succeeded by	Peter Lilley
Secretary of State for the Environment
In office 21 May 1986 – 24 July 1989
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Kenneth Baker
Succeeded by	Chris Patten
Secretary of State for Transport
In office 16 October 1983 – 21 May 1986
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Tom King
Succeeded by	John Moore
Financial Secretary to the Treasury
In office 14 September 1981 – 16 October 1983
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Nigel Lawson
Succeeded by	John Moore
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Life peerage 28 July 1992 – 4 March 1993
Member of Parliament for Cirencester and Tewkesbury
In office 8 October 1959 – 16 March 1992
Preceded by	William Morrison
Succeeded by	Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Personal details
Born	Nicholas Ridley (1929-02-17)17 February 1929 Northumberland, England
Died	4 March 1993(1993-03-04) (aged 64) Carlisle, Cumbria, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Clayre Campbell ​ ​ (m. 1950; div. 1974)​
Children	3 (including Jane)
Parent	The 3rd Viscount Ridley (father)
Relatives	The 4th Viscount Ridley (brother) Elisabeth Lutyens (aunt) Mary Lutyens (aunt)
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford

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Organisations Conservative Party / "Dries" Bow Group Centre for Policy Studies Conservative Way Forward The Freedom Association The Heritage Foundation Institute of Economic Affairs Mont Pelerin Society No Turning Back Selsdon Group
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Nicholas Ridley, Baron Ridley of Liddesdale, PC (17 February 1929 – 4 March 1993), was a British Conservative Party politician and government minister.

As President of the Selsdon Group, a free-market lobby within the Conservative Party, he was closely aligned with Margaret Thatcher, and became one of her Ministers of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1979. Responsible for the Falkland Islands, he tried to resolve the long-running sovereignty issue with Argentina, which detected Britain's reluctance to defend the territory, and later invaded it.

As Secretary of State for Transport, Ridley performed a key function in building up coal stocks in advance of the 1984–85 miners' strike, which helped the government to defeat the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).

As Secretary of State for the Environment, Ridley opposed a low-cost housing development near his own property, earning him the title of "NIMBY" ("Not in My Back Yard"). He was also responsible for introducing the "poll tax" (formally known as the Community Charge), which was one of the main factors leading to Thatcher's resignation in 1990. He was created a life peer in 1992.