The Rt. Hon. John Major, Conservative Member of Parliament for Huntingdon, is the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He was appointed Prime Minister on November 28, 1990 and re-elected when the Conservative Party won the unprecedented fourth term in Office at the April 1992 General Election.

Mr. Major first became involved in politics at the age of 16, when he joined the Young Conservatives. In 1968 he won his first election in Lambeth, a district of London better known for its socialist views. He stood for Parliament twice in the 1970s before securing election to the Conservative seat of Huntingdon in 1979, the same year Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister.

Upon entering Parliament, Mr. Major held several positions in Government, beginning with the most junior, Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Home Office. However, he was not to remain in the lower levels for long. Commenting on his rapid rise through Parliament, Mr. Major once told a reporter that he had only once held a government position for more than one year: Junior Whip in 1983, Senior Whip in 1984, Parliamentary Secretary in 1985, Minister of State for Social Security and the Disabled in 1986, Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 1987. In July of 1989, he was appointed Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, a position he held for 94 days before being appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in October.

Upon becoming Prime Minister in 1990, Mr. Major followed in the footsteps of Margaret Thatcher and the legacy of her Government. He moved into 10 Downing Street facing a weakened Party, disagreements over Europe, economic recession, violence in Northern Ireland, and the likelihood of war in the Persian Gulf.

Continuing the United Kingdom's strong ties with the United States, Mr. Major gave full support to the U.S. in the Persian Gulf in 1991, and thereafter to the U.S. position on Iraq in the United Nations. The British commitment to the Gulf War was second in size only to the United States.

Mr. Major's seven years as Prime Minster were not easy. Unlike Mrs. Thatcher, he only had a slim Parliamentary majority. Nevertheless, on May 1, 1997 he handed over the strongest economy any incoming Government had inherited, with The Daily Telegraph in London observing that "John Major leaves a richer legacy than any of his predecessors."

Mr. Major initiated the Northern Ireland peace process, and while out of office has continued to work together with current Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to secure full and lasting peace in the province.

On the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, Mr. Major was appointed legal guardian to Their Royal Highnesses, Princes William and Harry. On New Year's Day 1999, he was awarded one of the United Kingdom's greatest honors; The Companion of Honor, bestowed on him by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.

Although Mr. Major continues to serve in the House of Commons as a Member of Parliament, he has taken on various business and other activities since leaving Office. He is Chairman of the European Advisory Council of the Emerson Electric Company in St. Louis and a member of the European Advisory Board of The Carlyle Group in Washington, D.C. He also serves on the International Advisory Boards of the Peres Center for Peace in Israel, the InterAction Council in Tokyo, and the Baker Institute in Houston.

Mr. Major and his wife Dame Norma (she was made a Dame of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in June 1999) have been married since 1970. They have two children, Elizabeth and James. James was married in May 1999 and Elizabeth was married in the summer of 2000.