Sir Clement Raphael Freud (born April 24, 1924) is a British writer, broadcaster and politician.

Freud was born in Berlin, the son of Jewish parents Ernst Ludwig Freud, an architect, and Lucie nee Brasch. He is the grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and brother of artist Lucian Freud. He fled to England with his family. Sir Clement married his wife June Flewett (Jill) in 1950, with whom he has five children including broadcaster Emma Freud. He attended St Paul's School. During the Second World War he was an aide to Field Marshal Montgomery.

Clement Freud was Liberal Member of Parliament for the Isle of Ely (later North East Cambridgeshire) from 1973 to 1987. On his election, he was hailed as the first Jewish Liberal MP for decades. His departure from Parliament was marked by a knighthood.

During his time as a Member of Parliament, he visited China with a delegation of other MPs including Winston S Churchill, a grandson of the wartime leader of the same name. Freud noticed that the Communist Chinese hosts regularly gave Churchill larger, or higher status, accommodation than him. Tactfully he enquired why and was told it was because of the status of Churchill's namesake. Freud observed that this was the first time ever that he had been 'out-grandfathered'.

He was already a celebrity before he went into politics, and was a well-known face from dog food adverts, in which he co-starred with a bloodhound called Henry (though played by a number of dogs) which shared his trademark "hangdog" expression. Freud performed a small monologue for the Wings album Band on the Run, and appears on the album's cover. He is now best known as a panellist on the radio programme Just a Minute, where his deadpan delivery is popular with audiences. In 2002, he was elected Rector of the University of St Andrews, beating feminist and academic Germaine Greer and local challenger Barry Joss.

His son Matthew Freud, co-owner of the Press Gazette with Piers Morgan, is married to Rupert Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth Murdoch. His daughter Emma Freud is married to Richard Curtis, scriptwriter of Blackadder and Four Weddings and a Funeral. His nieces are Bella Freud and Esther Freud.

External links

• Clement Freud talking about Just a Minute (RealPlayer video)

1924 births | Living people | Anglicans | Members of the United Kingdom Parliament from English constituencies | Freud family | Refugees | UK Liberal Party politicians | Old Paulines | Just a Minute panellists | Dictionary Corner