Lord Rothschild Named by Heath to Head Key Advisory Body in Government

Nathaniel Mayer Victor Rothschild, the third Baron Rothschild, has been named by Prime Minister Edward Heath to head a new key advisory body of the British government. The 60-year-old member of the House of Lords, though a member of the famed banking family, spent much of his life as a biophysicist at Cambridge and joined the Shell Oil Company in 1959 as director of research. He has just retired from the latter post. He will be in charge of the Central Policy Review Staff, a group of about 12 men and women that will weigh all major programs proposed within the government, consider the costs and consequences and render an analysis directly to the cabinet. According to most observers, the new body will be one of the most powerful within the Conservative administration. Lord Rothschild will be paid the top civil service salary of $33,600. The Sunday Observer described him as “brilliant.” The Daily Telegraph commented that Lord Rothschild “is known for the breadth of his views. An able organizer, he questions everything and that is why Heath picked him.” Lord Rothschild’s paternal great grandfather, Lionel Nathan, was the first Jew to sit in the House of Commons. His grandfather, made a peer in 1885, was the first professing Jew in the House of Lords. The present Baron Rothschild was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. A fellow of the Royal Society, he was awarded the George Medal during World War II “for dangerous work in hazardous circumstances.” President Harry S. Truman awarded him the Legion of Merit for working out in theory and practice ways of neutralizing enemy sabotage bombs placed in ships and elsewhere.