Chess knight: Sir Jeremy Hanley
Sir Jeremy Hanley and Sir John Major
I first met Sir Jeremy Hanley, who has died at the age of 80, in Jersey in 1971. He was part of a cohort of my opponents in a chess simultaneous display over twenty boards. I went on to face him across the chessboard on several further occasions, notably in Belfast, when he was Northern Ireland Minister. The atmosphere was alarming, with armed police and sniffer dogs patrolling every inch of the venue.
Jeremy’s chess credentials came in most usefully, when I staged the 1986 Kasparov v Karpov World Championship in London. It was the first occasion on which two Soviet citizens had contested the world title outside Moscow, let alone outside the USSR.
I wanted the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, to open the match, but she had no interest in chess and seemed reluctant. Cue Jeremy’s consummate diplomatic skills, honed over the chessboard. Mrs Thatcher asked him: “Why should I want to do this?” Jeremy responded: “Because, Prime Minister, next day you will be on the front page of every newspaper throughout the Soviet Union!” Mrs T, then in the early stages of her crucial diplomatic relationship with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, replied: “How can I resist?” She duly turned up to declare the championship open, all according to our strategic plan. Jeremy thus became one of very few people who succeeded in causing the Iron Lady to U-turn.
Sir Jeremy James Hanley, KCMG (17 November 1945 – 22 May 2026), belonged to that increasingly rare species: a public man who was equally at home among politicians and among the people. Accountant, parliamentarian, Conservative party chairman, minister and man of many enthusiasms, Hanley moved through British public life with an ease which suggested that administration, for all its apparent dullness, is in reality one of the more adventurous forms of human activity.
He was educated at Rugby School, and entered the world of accountancy in 1963 as an articled clerk with Peat Marwick Mitchell & Company, now known as KPMG. The modern world has often pretended that arithmetic is opposed to imagination; yet Hanley’s career stood as a quiet contradiction of that fashionable error. He qualified as a chartered accountant in 1969, and in 1980 added the qualifications of Chartered Certified Accountant and chartered secretary. Joining the Financial Training Company as a lecturer in Law and Accountancy, he eventually rose to become the organisation’s deputy chairman, proving that those who teach a profession often understand it more thoroughly than those who merely practise it.
Politics, however, beckoned. He first contested the Lambeth Central by-election of 1978 as the Conservative candidate, and fought the seat again at the following general election. Though unsuccessful on both occasions, he displayed the persistence that is the first requirement of democratic life. At the 1983 general election he was elected Member of Parliament for Richmond and Barnes, narrowly defeating Alan Watson of the SDP–Liberal Alliance.
His first day in the House of Commons provided a scene worthy of political comedy. Finding himself seated beside Ian Paisley, Hanley introduced himself with the cheerful remark, “How do you do? I did not realise that you were on our side.” Paisley, with characteristic directness, replied, “Never confuse sitting on your side with being on your side.” It was one of those exchanges that illuminates Parliament better than a hundred constitutional textbooks.
Hanley’s advancement through government followed steadily. From 1987 to 1990 he served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Richard Luce, and briefly held the same position under Chris Patten. In 1990 he became an Under-Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office, a department in which politics is rarely simple and compromise seldom easy. Three years later he was appointed Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence.
In 1994 Prime Minister John Major brought him into the Cabinet, appointing him Chairman of the Conservative Party and Minister without Portfolio. The position placed him at the heart of party management during one of the more turbulent periods of modern Conservatism. He served until the Cabinet reshuffle of 1995, when he moved to the Foreign Office as Minister of State, remaining there until the general election of 1997.
That election marked the end of his parliamentary career. The constituency of Richmond and Barnes disappeared in a boundary reorganisation, and Hanley contested the newly created seat of Richmond Park. There he was defeated by the Liberal Democrat candidate Jenny Tonge. Such reverses are among the oldest traditions of representative government; the electorate reserves the right to surprise even its most experienced servants.
After leaving Westminster, Hanley continued to apply his energies to public and commercial affairs. He served on a number of company boards, became a director of the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce, and chaired Brain Games Ltd, the organisation responsible for staging in London the celebrated 2000 World Chess Championship match in which Garry Kasparov finally surrendered his crown to Vladimir Kramnik. There are few careers that can move naturally from the complexities of Northern Ireland to the complexities of world championship chess, yet Hanley’s did so.
Public life was only one strand of a family distinguished in other fields. He was the son of the actors Jimmy Hanley and Dinah Sheridan. His father was remembered by many for portraying the common soldier who debates the morality of war with Henry V in Laurence Olivier’s celebrated film adaptation of Shakespeare’s play. His sister, Jenny Hanley, became a familiar actress and television presenter during the 1970s. In 1983 brother and sister even appeared together in a celebrity edition of Family Fortunes, thus demonstrating that public recognition may arrive by more than one route.
In 1973 he married Verna, Viscountess Villiers, née Stott, formerly the wife of George Henry Child Villiers, Viscount Villiers. He had one son with her, together with one son from a previous marriage and a stepdaughter.
His interests extended beyond politics and business. A member of Mensa, he represented the House of Commons on the top board in the annual chess match against the House of Lords. This was perhaps entirely fitting. Parliamentary politics and chess both require foresight, patience, and the ability to remain calm while others move unexpectedly.
Recognition followed his years of service. In 1994 he was sworn of the Privy Council. In John Major’s farewell honours list of 1997 he received a knighthood. He was also a Freeman of the City of London and served as Master of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Accountants, honours that reflected his standing both in public affairs and in his profession.
Sir Jeremy Hanley died on 22 May 2026. His long career over 60 years united several worlds that are too often imagined to be separate: finance and politics, administration and personality, calculation and character. In an age inclined to regard public service with suspicion and expertise with boredom, he offered a reminder that institutions are ultimately animated by individuals, and that even the driest office may be occupied by a man of wit, loyalty, and unexpected range.
Jeremy Hanley vs. Lord Rennell
Lords – Commons Match, London, 1994
- e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nxe4
3… d6 is much more circumspect than …Nxe4.
- Qe2 d5 5. d3 Qe7 6. dxe4 Qxe5 7. exd5 Bd6 8. Qxe5+ Bxe5 9. Bb5+ Bd7 10. Bxd7+ Nxd7 11. O-O Nb6 12. Re1 f6 13. Bf4?
- f4 is much stronger than 13. Bf4, though by this stage in the deterioration of Black’s fortunes, it makes scant difference. Once white has established a dominating material superiority, the rest is just mopping up.
13… O-O 14. Bxe5 fxe5 15. Rxe5 Rae8 16. Rxe8 Rxe8 17. Nc3 Re5 18. Rd1 Nc4 19. f4 Re3 20. Kf2 Re7 21. Re1 Rxe1 22. Kxe1 Nxb2 23. Nb5 Nc4 24. Nxc7 Ne3 25. d6 Nxg2+??
The final straw: black blunders the piece and the d6-pawn is free to promote.
- Kf2 Kf7 27. Kxg2 a6?
The game was already over, but after this move, mate must follow.
- c4 a5 29. c5 a4 30. a3 h6 31. Kg3 g6 32. h4 Kf6 33. Kg4 h5+ 34. Kf3 Kf7 35. Ke4 Kf6 36. Kd5 Black resigns 1-0
Lord Kilbracken vs. Jeremy Hanley
Lords – Commons Match, London, 1994
- e4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bd3 b6 4. e5 Ne7 5. O-O Nbc6 6. Bb5 Bd7 7. d4 Ng6
Where black plays the plausible …Ng6 he has the option of the cunning tactical trick, 7… Nxe5 8. Nxe5 (8. Bxd7+ Nxd7) 8… Bxb5 9. Re1 (9. Qf3 f6) 9… f6 10. a4 Bd7 11. Nxd7 Qxd7)
- Bg5 Be7 9. Qd2 h6 10. Bxe7 Ncxe7 11. Nc3 c5 12. dxc5 bxc5 13. Bxd7+ Qxd7 14. a4
Over the course of the next four moves, the damage white self-inflicts is sufficient to effectively tilt the balance of play decisively in black’s favour.
14… O-O 15. Nb5 Rab8 16. Qa5 Nc6 17. Qc7?
It is certainly not in white’s best interests to exchange queens and he should have preferred the more salvaging 17. Qc3.
17… Qxc7 18. Nxc7 Rxb2
- Rfc1 Ngxe5 20. Nd2 Nd4 21. Kf1 Nxc2 22. Rab1 Rxb1 23. Rxb1 Rc8 24. Nb5 Rb8 25. Rc1 a6 26. Nd6 Rb2 27. Ke2 d4 28. f4 d3+ 29. Kd1 Ne3+ 30. Ke1 Nxg2+ 31. Kf2 Rxd2+ White resigns 0-1
Ray’s 206th book, “ Chess in the Year of the King ”, written in collaboration with Adam Black, and his 207th, “ Napoleon and Goethe: The Touchstone of Genius ” (which discusses their relationship with chess) can be ordered from both Amazon and Blackwell’s. His 208th, the world record for chess books, written jointly with the late chess playing artist, Barry Martin, Chess through the Looking Glass , is now also available from Amazon.
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