Editing Jim Prior (section)

{{Short description|British politician (1927–2016)}}
{{for multi|the Irish hurler|Jim Prior (hurler)|the Irish surgeon and writer|James Prior (surgeon)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2014}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
|name             = The Lord Prior
|honorific-suffix = {{postnom|country=UK|size=100|PC}}
|image            = James-Michael-Leathes-Prior-Baron-Prior.jpg
|office           = [[Secretary of State for Northern Ireland]]
|term_start       = 14 September 1981
|term_end         = 27 September 1984
|predecessor      = [[Humphrey Atkins]]
|primeminister    = [[Margaret Thatcher]]
|successor        = [[Douglas Hurd]]

|office1          = [[Secretary of State for Employment]]
|predecessor1     = [[Albert Booth]]
|primeminister1   = [[Margaret Thatcher]]
|successor1       = [[Norman Tebbit]]
|term_start1      = 4 May 1979
|term_end1        = 14 September 1981

|office2          = {{ubl|[[Leader of the House of Commons]]|[[Lord President of the Council]]}}
|primeminister2   = [[Edward Heath]]
|term_start2      = 5 November 1972
|term_end2        = 4 March 1974
|predecessor2     = [[Robert Carr]]
|successor2       = [[Edward Short, Baron Glenamara|Edward Short]]
|office3          = [[Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food]]
|primeminister3   = [[Edward Heath]]
|term_start3      = 20 June 1970
|term_end3        = 5 November 1972
|predecessor3     = [[Cledwyn Hughes]]
|successor3       = [[Joseph Godber]]
|office4          = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]<br />for [[Waveney (UK Parliament constituency)|Waveney]]<br />{{nobold|([[Lowestoft (UK Parliament constituency)|Lowestoft]], 1959–1983)}}
|term_start4      = 8 October 1959
|term_end4        = 18 May 1987
|predecessor4     = [[Edward Evans (politician)|Edward Evans]]
|successor4       = [[David Porter (British politician)|David Porter]]{{Collapsed infobox section begin|[[Shadow Cabinet]] positions}}
|office5          = [[Shadow Secretary of State for Employment Rights and Protections|Shadow Secretary of State for Employment]]
|leader5          = [[Margaret Thatcher]]
|term_start5      = 29 October 1974
|term_end5        = 4 May 1979
|predecessor5     = [[Reg Prentice]]
|successor5       = [[Albert Booth]]
|office6          = [[Shadow Home Secretary]]
|leader6          = [[Edward Heath]]
|term_start6      = 11 March 1974
|term_end6        = 13 June 1974
|predecessor6     = [[Roy Jenkins]]
|successor6       = [[Keith Joseph]]{{Collapsed infobox section end}}
|birth_name       = James Michael Leathes Prior
|birth_date       = {{birth date|1927|10|11|df=y}}
|birth_place      = [[Norwich, Norfolk]], England
|death_date       = {{death date and age|2016|12|12|1927|10|11|df=y}}
|death_place      = [[Brampton, Suffolk]], England
|party            = [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]
|spouse           = {{marriage|Jane Lywood|1954|2015|end = died}}
|children         = 4 (including [[David Prior, Baron Prior of Brampton|David]])
|education        = [[Charterhouse School]]
|alma_mater       = [[Pembroke College, Cambridge]]
}}

'''James Michael Leathes Prior, Baron Prior''', {{postnom|country=UK|size=100|PC}} (11 October 1927 – 12 December 2016) was a British [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] politician. A [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] from 1959 to 1987, he represented the [[Suffolk]] constituency of [[Lowestoft (UK Parliament constituency)|Lowestoft]] until 1983 and then the renamed constituency of [[Waveney (UK Parliament constituency)|Waveney]] from 1983 to 1987, when he stood down from the House of Commons and was made a [[life peer]]. He served in two Conservative cabinets, and outside parliament was Chairman of the [[Arab British Chamber of Commerce]] from 1996 to 2004, and [[Chancellor (education)|Chancellor]] of [[Anglia Ruskin University]] from 1992 to 1999.

Under [[Edward Heath]], Prior was [[Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food]] from 1970 to 1972, then [[Leader of the House of Commons]] until Heath lost office in the wake of the [[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|February 1974 election]]. His party returned to power under [[Margaret Thatcher]] in 1979, and Prior was [[Secretary of State for Employment]] from 1979 to 1981, disagreeing with some of her views on trade unions and her monetarist economic policies generally. This made him a leader of the so-called [[Wets and dries|"wet"]] faction in the Conservative ranks. In 1981 he was moved to the less pivotal role of [[Secretary of State for Northern Ireland]], from which he stood down in 1984; he never returned to government.<ref>[[Hugo Young|Young, Hugo]], ''One of Us'' (1989), pp. 193–199</ref>