Raymond Asquith, 3rd Earl Of Oxford And Asquith

Raymond Benedict Bartholomew Michael Asquith, 3rd Earl of Oxford and Asquith, was born on 24 August 1952. He is a British hereditary peer and former diplomat. He was styled Viscount Asquith prior to inheriting the family titles on 16 January 2011. The earldom of Oxford and Asquith was established for his great-grandfather, H. H. Asquith, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Early Life

He is the eldest son of Julian Asquith, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith, and Anne Asquith, née Palairet. His paternal lineage includes his grandfather Raymond Asquith, a scholar and Army officer slain during the First World War. Raymond Asquith was born in Libya, where his father was stationed at the time. His father's diplomatic postings included Zanzibar, the West Indies, and the Seychelles. At the age of nine, he was sent to school in England. His education included attendance at Farleigh School and Ampleforth College. He graduated from Balliol College, Oxford, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts and subsequently a Master of Arts degree.

Career

In 1978, Raymond Asquith applied to join the Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service but was instead recruited into the Secret Intelligence Service in 1980. His diplomatic career included postings in London at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Cabinet Office. Internationally, he served as First Secretary at the British Embassy in Moscow from 1983 to 1985, and as Counsellor at the British Embassy in Kyiv from 1992 to 1997. Notably, he held the position of First Secretary (Political) and MI6 station commander in Moscow. During his tenure, he was responsible for the exfiltration of KGB officer and British agent Oleg Gordievsky, an operation that led to the expulsion of Asquith and 17 other embassy personnel, along with seven British businessmen, from the Soviet Union in September 1985. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1992 for his diplomatic services.

His family has a history of diplomatic service, including his father, Sir Dominic Asquith, who served as British Ambassador to Iraq and Egypt, and his maternal grandfather, Sir Michael Palairet.

In addition to his diplomatic career, Asquith has been involved in the private sector, currently serving as a director of Group DF, a Ukrainian holding company associated with Dmytro Firtash. Before inheriting his peerage, he managed the lobbying firm Asquith & Granovski, which catered to high-net-worth clients from post-Soviet states, including Firtash.

In October 2014, he was elected in a House of Lords by-election to succeed Lord Methuen and took his seat as a Liberal Democrat alongside the Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury, who was also part of the coalition government. In 2019, he left the Liberal Democrats and, since 2021, sits as a crossbencher.

Personal Life

In 1978, Raymond Asquith married Clare Pollen, an author and scholar. They have a total of five children: a son and four daughters. Their son, Mark Julian Asquith, born on 13 May 1979, holds the courtesy title Viscount Asquith and is the heir apparent to the family titles. Their daughters include Lady Magdalen Katharine Asquith (born 30 December 1981), Lady Frances Sophia Asquith (born 1984), Lady Celia Rose Asquith (born 1989), and Lady Isabel Anne Asquith (born 1991). The senior branch of the Asquith family has been Roman Catholic since Katharine Asquith, the mother of the 2nd Earl, converted after her husband's death. Both Lord Oxford's mother and wife are also Catholic.