He has served in Cabinet on three occasions: as Secretary of State for Transport from 1995 to 1997; as the Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal from 2010 to 2012;[1] and as Conservative Chief Whip from 2012 to 2014.

Young was educated at St. Aubyns Preparatory School in Rottingdean, Eton College, and Christ Church, Oxford, where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics, graduating in 1963 (and later proceeding to MA).

[9] Young was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Lambeth from 1968 to 1971 together with his wife and also the future British Prime Minister John Major.

[15][16] When the Conservative Party won the 1979 general election, he was appointed Parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department of Health and Social Security.

[18] Shortly before leaving office in 1990, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher brought Young back into government as a whip (Comptroller of the Household) as part of her attempts to reunite the party.

[19][20] In 1992 when asked during parliamentary discussions of the Armley Asbestos Disaster for financial assistance in surveying local housing in the Armley area for residual asbestos, Young responded that the government would not provide financial assistance to the home owners or the council to pay for decontamination as this "would not be a justifiable use of public funds".

Fourteen MPs put their names forward to succeed the retiring Betty Boothroyd, and many observers considered Young to be the favourite.

Young stood again for the position of Speaker of the House of Commons in 2009, finishing second in the ballot of MPs to fellow Conservative MP John Bercow.

He became Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal on 12 May 2010 after the Conservative Party formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats following the 2010 general election.

Young left government in the reshuffle of September 2012, and David Cameron recommended his appointment as a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour.

[25][26] However, his return to the backbenches was short-lived, as following Andrew Mitchell's resignation as Chief Whip the following month, Cameron chose Young to replace him.

[28][29] In October 2012 it was reported that Young supported a new group of Conservative MPs established to reconnect the Tories with working class voters.

The Blue Collar Conservatism group aims to develop policies to attract "aspirational" voters on average incomes whose support is "vital" to winning a Commons majority.

[32] Young was a vocal critic of tower block housing, saying in 1974: "Nearly all local authorities have now stopped building this type of accommodation, as it is generally recognized they provide an inadequate environment for those who have to live in them.

The committee's terms of reference were "To consider the extent, nature and causes of the problems of families where there is violence between the partners or where children suffer non-accidental injury: and to make recommendations.

[38] In 1982 Young and his children appeared on a British Rail poster alongside Jimmy Savile to promote new measures to allow people to take their bicycles on trains more easily.

[40] On 29 August 2019, Young resigned as a whip in the House of Lords in protest at Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision to suspend parliament.

[43] Lord Young supports the west London football club Queens Park Rangers (QPR)[44] and has served as a churchwarden and a member of a diocesan synod in the Church of England.