Sir Tony Baldry

Sir Tony Baldry DL has been a Deputy Lieutenant for Oxfordshire since 2016. He convenes the Lieutenancy team focused on Banbury and is the Lieutenancy’s link to the town. He holds the Lieutenancy’s Church of England brief for the County.

After training in law and international development, Sir Tony became a practising barrister and MP for Banbury (1983–2015). During this time, he served in four government departments under Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major. He helped to privatise the electricity industry when serving in the Department of Energy. Sir Tony also served in the Department for the Environment, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and as Minister of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

In Parliament, in addition to chairing the Commons Select Committee on International Development, Sir Tony served as Second Church Estates Commissioner. He was the link between the House of Commons and the Church of England, and he was later appointed Chair of the Church Buildings Council. Sir Tony is still a member of General Synod of the Church of England, a governor of Ripon College Cuddesdon, the theological college, and a Lay Canon of Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford.

Sir Tony was knighted in 2012 for public and political service.

Sir Tony is now the High Steward of Banbury. He is convenor of the ‘Banbury as an Age Friendly Town’ project and a trustee of charities including the Mills Art Centre in Banbury, the Association of Festival Churches, the Pimlico Musical Foundation, and Children Heard and Seen, which supports children who are impacted by parental imprisonment.