Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, CH, QC, PC, Kt (20 December 1926 – 9 October 2015), known from 1970 to 1992 as Sir Geoffrey Howe, was a British Conservativepolitician.

Howe was Margaret Thatcher‘s longest-serving Cabinet minister, successively holding the posts of Chancellor of the Exchequer,Foreign Secretary, and finally Leader of the House of Commons, Deputy Prime Minister and Lord President of the Council. His resignation on 1 November 1990 is widely considered by the British Press to have precipitated Thatcher’s own resignation three weeks later.

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Lord Howe of Aberavon – better known as Sir Geoffrey Howe – was the man whose devastating resignation speech was the catalyst which ultimately destroyed Margaret Thatcher.
In just 18 almost unbearable minutes, MPs gasped with amazement and Mrs Thatcher herself sat white with fury and trembling, as the colleague who had served with her in the Cabinet throughout her premiership delivered a clinically cold but savage denunciation of her attitude to Europe.
It was one of the most dramatic and intense moments in the House of Commons of the 20th century. His speech was all the more terrible since it emanated from probably the least vociferous senior figure at Westminster.
Geoffrey Howe, who had been abruptly dismissed as Foreign Secretary in 1989 and who resigned from the unreal post of Deputy Prime Minister the following year, became increasingly exasperated at her so-called “foghorn diplomacy” towards Europe.
Some believed there was an element of revenge in his public savaging of a woman who, in the eyes of many people, had meted out a shabby deal to a colleague after years of loyal, devoted, skilful and uncomplaining service to her.