Editing Jim Prior (section)

== Early life and career ==
Prior was born in [[Norwich]], the son of solicitor Charles Bolingbroke Leathes Prior (1883–1964) and Aileen Sophia Mary (1893–1978), daughter of barrister Charles Storey Gilman.<ref>''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage'', 107th edition, vol. 3, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 3222</ref><ref name = Garnett>{{Cite ODNB |entry-url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-111592 |entry-url-access=subscription |entry=Prior, James Michael Leathes [Jim], Baron Prior |year = 2020|last1 = Garnett|first1 = Mark|isbn = 978-0-19-861412-8 |doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.111592 }}</ref> Charles Prior's uncle was head of the family of Prior of [[Adstock]] Manor, [[Bletchley]], Buckinghamshire; the family was closely related to the [[Lake baronets#Lake baronets, of Edmonton (1711)|Lake baronets]], the [[Stuart-Menteth baronets]], the [[Blackett of Wylam|Blackett]] family of [[Wylam]], Northumberland, and the Prideaux-Brune family of [[Prideaux Place]], Cornwall.<ref>''Burke's Landed Gentry'', 17th edition, ed. L.G. Pine, 1952, p. 2085</ref> Prior was educated at [[Orwell Park School]], then at [[Charterhouse School]] before going on to [[Pembroke College, Cambridge]], where he earned a first class honours degree in [[Estate management|Land economy]]. Also prior to entering university, he performed his two-year [[Conscription in the United Kingdom|National Service]] as an officer in the [[Royal Norfolk Regiment]] of the British Army, serving in Germany and India.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/dec/12/lord-prior-obituary|title = Lord Prior obituary|website = [[TheGuardian.com]]|date = 12 December 2016}}</ref>

He was first elected to Parliament in 1959, and was [[Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food]] from 1970 to 1972, then [[Leader of the House of Commons]] and [[Lord President of the Council]] until March 1974. He was one of several unsuccessful candidates in the [[1975 Conservative Party leadership election|Conservative Party's 1975 leadership election]], entering at the second round and gaining 19 votes to [[Margaret Thatcher]]'s 146.<ref name = Garnett/>