Patrick Stopford, 9th Earl of Courtown

James Patrick Montagu Burgoyne Winthrop Stopford, 9th Earl of Courtown, Baron Stopford of Saltersford (also known as Patrick Courtown; born 19 March 1954), styled Viscount Stopford between 1957 and 1975, is an Irish peer and politician. He was one of the 92 hereditary peers elected to remain in the House of Lords after the House of Lords Act 1999 and continued to sit for the Conservatives. In May 2026, it was announced that he was to be given one of 26 new life peerages, returning him to the House of Lords after the coming into force of the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act 2026. He is currently the longest serving member of lords.

The elder son of James Stopford, 8th Earl of Courtown and Patricia Winthrop, he has a brother named Jeremy, and three sisters: Elizabeth, Mary and Felicity. In 1995, he was appointed a lord-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth II, and a government whip. He was a government spokesman for the Home Office, Department of Transport and the Scottish Office. In 2013 he was appointed a Conservative party whip. Following the 2015 election, he joined the government, again as a lord-in-waiting and as a government whip. He was promoted to deputy chief whip and captain of the yeomen of the guard in the May ministry in July 2016. In that role, he took part in the Royal Procession at the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla.

The Courtown ancestral home, Courtown House, was demolished in the 1960s, but the Earl visited its location in 2010, with members of his family, and unveiled a plaque in memory of his father at the local church.

The Earl's heir apparent is his son, James.