Christopher Francis Patten was born in 1944.  He was educated at St Benedict's School, Ealing and Balliol College, Oxford, where he read Modern History and was elected a Domus Exhibitioner.  In 1965 he was awarded a Coolidge Travelling Scholarship to the USA.

Lord Patten joined the Conservative Research Department in 1966.  He was seconded to the Cabinet Office in 1970 and was appointed personal assistant and political secretary to Lord Carrington and Lord Whitelaw during their periods as Chairmen of the Conservative Party from 1972-1974.  In 1974 he was appointed the youngest ever Director of the Conservative Research Department, a post he held until 1979.

Lord Patten was elected as Member of Parliament for Bath in May 1979, a seat he held until April 1992.

Following the General Election of June 1983, Lord Patten held a series of positions: Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office (1983);  Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science (1985); Minister for Overseas Development at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (1986); and including a Cabinet seat as Secretary of State for the Environment (1989).  In addition, he was appointed to the Privy Council in 1989. In November 1990 he was appointed Chairman of the Conservative Party, famously steering the Conservative Party to victory in 1992.

Following the Conservative Party win, Lord Patten was appointed Governor of Hong Kong in April 1992, a position he held until 1997, notably overseeing the return of Hong Kong to China. Upon his return to the UK, he was appointed Chairman of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland set up under the Good Friday Peace Agreement, which reported in 1999.

From 1999 to 2004, he served as European Commissioner for External Relations, and in January 2005 he took his seat in the House of Lords.  

He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, the University of Edinburgh and Balliol College, Oxford.  He was appointed Chancellor of Newcastle University in 1999 and elected Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 2003.

Lord Patten married Lavender Thornton in 1971.  They have three daughters, Kate (born in 1973), Laura (1974) and Alice (1979).

Lord Patten’s publications include Not Quite the Diplomat: Home Truths About World Affairs (2005), East and West (1998) and The Tory Case (1983).

[Based on biographical text from Oxford University's website]

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