[2] Lyell read modern history at Christ Church, Oxford, where he joined the Bullingdon club, and after National Service with the Royal Artillery trained as a lawyer.

After 20 years at the Bar he was appointed Solicitor-General from 1987 to 1992 under Margaret Thatcher, during which time he appeared in the Factortame case,[3] and Attorney General for England and Wales and Northern Ireland under John Major from 1992 to 1997.

I am extremely grateful for all the years of service Nick has put in for the Conservative Party and I wish him well in his retirement.Lyell was at the centre of the Matrix Churchill affair, the controversy to sell arms to Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

In 1996, the Scott Report directly criticised Lyell as Attorney General for trying to obtain a "gagging order" to prevent the disclosure of secret documents concerning machine tool and material supply to Baghdad.

He joined in 1974 but suffered enormous losses in the bad years 1989 – 1992 as a result of the Piper Alpha oil rig disaster in 1988 and the tsunami of claims from asbestos-related Mesothelioma personal injury.