Baron Astor of Hever of the ninety elected hereditary peers who remain in the House of Lords after the passing of the "House of Lords Act" of 1999, and he sits on the Conservative benches. As a male-line descendant of the first Viscount Astor, Lord Astor of Hever is also in remainder to this peerage and its subsidiary title Baron Astor, of Hever Castle in the County of Kent. The Hon. John Astor, third son of the first Baron, served as a Conservative Member of Parliament from 1964 to 1974. The heir apparent is the present holder's son, the Hon. Charles Gavin John Astor
Guy Hever son. In August 2009, Rina Hever also met with Israel's Foreign Ministry director general Yossi Gal. The mother, who in the past sought the ministry's aid in finding her son yet was only accorded limited cooperation, requested that the government seriously broach the matter with the Syrians via an intermediary. In the end of July 2009, Israel launched a quiet diplomatic campaign in an attempt to ascertain the whereabouts of Hever. Israel passed a message along to Syria via Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in which Jerusalem communicated its desire to obtain any information that Syria may possess on Hever.