Governor of Bermuda, replacing Sir Desmond Langley.

Lord Waddington, 62, was Conservative Leader in the House of Lords before last week's British general election. He is expected to take up the appointment in late summer.

"It will be a lovely experience and my wife and I are looking forward to it,'' the Queen's Counsel said in an interview from London yesterday.

"I have a lot to learn about Bermuda and I need to get a good briefing,'' he said, adding he thought he would probably take up the post in September, although no date has been set. It is not known when Sir Desmond will leave the Island.

As Governor, Lord Waddington, whose family owns several textile manufacturing companies, will earn almost $120,000 in his first year in office.

The life peer was made leader of the House of Lords in late 1990 when Mr. John Major became Prime Minister. He served as Home Secretary for 13 months before then and was chief whip from 1987 to 1989.

The appointment as Governor came after he resigned as Leader of the House of Lords to give Mr. Major a free hand in shuffling his Cabinet.

Asked why he had submitted his resignation, he said: "I am 62 and one realises that at that age, a Prime Minister, having won an election, will want to bring new blood into the Cabinet.

"I realised it was quite likely that I would be asked to stand down and I fully appreciated John Major's reasons for doing that.'' He and his wife Gillian have three sons and two daughters and live in London and near Blackburn, Lancashire.

An Oxford-educated barrister, Lord Waddington was made a Queen's Counsel in 1972, four years after first being elected to Parliament. He held his seat until 1974 and returned to Parliament in 1979, holding his seat until he was elevated to the Lords.

Before being chief whip, he was Britain's immigration minister from 1983 to 1987 and a junior employment minister under one of Mrs. Thatcher's key supporters, Mr. Norman Tebbit.

He is the first politician to be appointed as Governor since Sir Edwin Leather, who retired in 1977. He is the highest profile figure to become Governor since Sir Peter Ramsbotham, the former British Ambassador to Washington, succeeded Sir Edwin.

According to British Press reports, he is seen as a traditional conservative who was loyal to former Prime Minister Mrs. Margaret Thatcher and reportedly wept when informed of her resignation in 1990.

He is a well known backer of the death penalty and this could lead to some constitutional difficulties because of Bermuda's stand on hanging.

Foreign Secretary Mr. Douglas Hurd last year urged Bermuda to abolish the death penalty in order to come in line with Britain. Sir Desmond faced criticism after commuting the death sentences of convicted murderers Troy Shorter and Leroy Dunlop.

While the House of Assembly and the population of Bermuda have recently reaffirmed the death penalty, Lord Waddington could face British pressure to commute a death sentence, should such a request reach his desk during his term. There is no-one currently on death row.

As a junior employment minister he steered the 1982 Employment Act, which restricted the powers of trade unions, through the House of Commons.

In 1990 he put the Criminal Justice Act through Parliament. It modified sentencing procedures by the courts, paving the way for more community service orders and reduced criminal sentences for repeat petty offenders.

The bill has been cited by Progressive Labour Party MPs as a model for Bermuda and similar orders have been proposed in the national drugs strategy. At the same time, he backed heavier sentences for violent offenders.

He was also Home Secretary when the Strangeways prison riots broke out, raising questions about the British penal system.

Despite his reputation for toughness, a 1990 commentary in the liberal British newspaper The Guardian on his role as Home Secretary suggests he will be an even-handed Governor.

"...he handled the wide and accident-prone Home Office portfolio with businesslike efficiency and scant ideology,'' it said. "The public knew little about him beyond his support for capital punishment, but he kept this view in check...

"Mr. Waddington was one of the ministers who wept most profusely when Mrs.

Thatcher announced her resignation to the Cabinet last week. His tears will not have been for his own political career or for Thatcherism, which was a more radical creed than his won traditional right wing conservatism. They were the personal emotion of a natural loyalist.'' Lord Waddington said he was unlikely to speak in the House of Lords while he was Governor.

He said he did not want to comment on policy questions such as the death penalty, adding: "I just want to say I think I am a very lucky man.'' Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan yesterday welcomed the appointment, saying that while he did not know Lord Waddington personally, he was aware of his distinguished career in public life.

"The Premier said that he his looking forward to meeting Lord Waddington in due course and establishing with him the same kind of cordial working relationship he enjoys with the present Governor, Sir Desmond Langley,'' a statement said.

And while Lord Waddington's special interests in -- according to his Who's Who entry -- legal matters, the textile industry and Lancashire -- are unlikely to be fully satisfied in Bermuda, his sole recreation, sailing, is likely to be fully indulged.