Ed Vaizey

I went to a lovely reception at the County Council’s offices in oxford, to say farwell to Sir Hugo Brunner who is retiring after a dozen years as the Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire.  This ancient office of the Crown, the original requirement of which was to raise an army, has adapted to the 21st century.  You would be forgiven for thinking that it is a pointless throwback to a bygone age, honorific and pointless.  Not a bit of it, at least under Sir Hugo.  As Reg Little wrote in the Oxford Times, Sir Hugo has been the glue that has held the County together.  He and his wife Mary Rose have turned out tirelessly for events all over the county.  They embody all those cliched English qualities that we worry are falling into abeyance - good humour, hard work, an overwhelming sense of duty, self-effacement, loyalty to county, country and crown.  The 200 people who made it to the event - and remember this is August - was just a small testament to the high regard in which Sir Hugo is held, and the huge amount of organisations that he has helped.  He is immortalised in a gargoyle on the side of Dorchester Abbey, just one of the projects where he made a huge difference.

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