Robert Balchin, Baron Lingfield
Robert Balchin, Lord Lingfield (born 31 July 1942) is a British educationalist, noted as an advocate for school autonomy. Lingfield serves as Pro-Chancellor of Brunel University and Chairman of the Trustees of ARNI[1]. He is also the Chairman of the League of Mercy and a Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London.[2] He previously served as the Director-General of St. John Ambulance in the 1980s.
In 2006 he was appointed as Knight Principal (Chairman of the Knights' Council) of the Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor.[3] Balchin was created a Life Peer on 17 December 2010 as Baron Lingfield.[4] Sitting on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords, Lord Lingfield's schools initiative has been deemed successful by Daily Telegraph Deputy Editor Benedict Brogan and "first and, as time passes, perhaps the most important legislative milestone achieved by the Coalition".[5]