Nicholas Houghton

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Person.png Nicholas Houghton   PowerbaseRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
( soldier)
Nicholas Houghton.jpg
Born18 October 1954
 Otley,  West Yorkshire,  UK
Nationality UK
Alma mater •  Woodhouse Grove School
•  St Peter's College (Oxford)
•  Sandhurst
Children Tom Houghton
Spouse Margaret Glover
Member ofBanned from Russia 2015, Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies
InterestsCorbyn Independent.jpeg Jeremy Corbyn
Senior UK officer who in 2015 threatened to use any means "fair or foul" to prevent Jeremy Corbyn becoming Prime Minister. Attended Bilderberg/2017.

Employment.png UK/Military/Chief of the Defence Staff Wikipedia-icon.png

In office
18 July 2013 - 14 July 2016
Threatened coup if Jeremy Corbyn became Prime Minister

Field Marshal John Nicholas Reynolds Houghton, Baron Houghton of Richmond is a retired senior British Army officer and former Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) of the British Armed Forces who in 2015 threatened to use any means "fair or foul" to prevent Jeremy Corbyn becoming Prime Minister. He attended the 2017 Bilderberg meeting.

Early life

Houghton was born on 18 October 1954 in Otley, near Leeds, and is the son of Frank and Peggy Houghton.[1] He was educated at Woodhouse Grove School, a private school near Bradford.[2] In 1977, he graduated from St Peter's College, Oxford, having taken an in-Service degree in Modern History.[3][4]

Military career

After attending Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Houghton was commissioned into the Green Howards as a second lieutenant on 9 March 1974.[5] He was promoted to lieutenant on 9 March 1976,[6] to captain on 9 September 1980[7] and to major on 30 September 1986.[8]

He was appointed Military Assistant to the Chief of Staff British Army of the Rhine and subsequently became a member of the Directing Staff at the Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham.[9] Promoted to lieutenant colonel on 30 June 1991,[10] he became Commanding Officer of 1st Battalion The Green Howards in 1991[4] and was deployed to Northern Ireland in 1993.[11]

Houghton was made Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff at HQ Land Command in 1994 and he attended the Higher Command and Staff Course in 1997.[4] Promoted to brigadier on 31 December 1997 with seniority from 30 June 1997,[12] he became Commander of 39 Infantry Brigade in Northern Ireland in 1997 and was Director of Military Operations at the Ministry of Defence from December 1999 to July 2002.[4] He was promoted to major general on 26 July 2002[13] and was made Chief of Staff of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps that year[1] before becoming Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Operations) in 2004.[4]

Promoted to lieutenant general on 14 October 2005,[14] Houghton was deployed as Senior British Military Representative and Deputy Commanding General, Multi-National Force – Iraq in October 2005.[4] He became Chief of Joint Operations at Permanent Joint Headquarters (UK) in 2006[4] and, after being relieved of that post on 13 March 2009,[4] he was promoted to general and appointed Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff on 5 May 2009.[15]

Houghton took over as Chief of the Defence Staff on 18 July 2013.[16]

In January 2016, the government announced that Houghton would be replaced by Sir Stuart Peach as Chief of the Defence Staff in the summer of 2016.[17] Houghton handed over to Peach on 14 July 2016.[18]

On 20 November 2017, Houghton joined the House of Lords as a crossbencher.

Threats against Corbyn

In September 2015, a senior serving general (most likely Sir Nicholas Houghton[19]), warned that a Jeremy Corbyn government could face "a mutiny" from the Army if it tried to downgrade them. The unnamed general said members of the armed forces would begin directly and publicly challenging the Labour leader if he tried to scrap Trident, pull out of NATO or announce "any plans to emasculate and shrink the size of the armed forces."

He threatened that "The Army just wouldn’t stand for it. The general staff would not allow a prime minister to jeopardise the security of this country and I think people would use whatever means possible, fair or foul to prevent that. You can’t put a maverick in charge of a country’s security."[20]



 

Event Participated in

EventStartEndLocation(s)Description
Bilderberg/20171 June 20174 June 2017US
Virginia
Chantilly		The 65th Bilderberg Meeting
Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.


References

  1. ↑ a b 'Houghton, General Sir Nicholas' in Who's Who 2010, A & C Black, 2010, ISBN 978-1-4081-1414-8
  2. ↑ http://www.burkespeerage.com/FamilyHomepage.aspx?FID=6888
  3. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120716225542/http://www.spc.ox.ac.uk/text/321/notable_alumni.html
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/People/ChiefsOfStaff/ViceChiefOfTheDefenceStaffvcds.htm
  5. ↑ https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/46270/supplement/5057
  6. ↑ https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/46845/supplement/3579
  7. ↑ https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/48331/supplement/13956
  8. ↑ https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/50677/supplement/12945
  9. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20130202202012/http://www.ncl.ac.uk/events/public-lectures/item.php?defence-lecture
  10. ↑ https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/52615/supplement/11597
  11. ↑ https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/53453/supplement/16387
  12. ↑ https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/55006/supplement/101
  13. ↑ https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/56646/supplement/9095
  14. ↑ https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/57789/supplement/13419
  15. ↑ https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/59052/supplement/7596
  16. ↑ https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/sir-david-richards-become-lord-2051418
  17. ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35379580
  18. ↑ https://www.gov.uk/government/people/stuart-peach
  19. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/nov/08/rmed-forces-chief-jeremy-corbyn-defence-trident
  20. ↑ https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/british-army-could-stage-mutiny-under-corbyn-says-senior-serving-general-10509742.html
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