Michael Grylls

Sir William Michael John Grylls, known as Michael Grylls, (21 February, 1934—7 February, 2001) was a British Conservative politician.

Grylls was educated at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and at the Universities of Paris and Madrid. He became a wine and tobacco importer and served as a councillor on St. Pancras Borough Council and was elected to the Greater London Council for the Cities of London and Westminster 1967-70.

He is the father of British adventurer Bear Grylls, who is most recognised as the host of Man vs. Wild.

At the 1964 general election, Grylls was an unsuccessful candidate in the Fulham constituency, and at the 1966 election he was defeated again in Fulham. At the 1970 general election, he was returned to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Chertsey. His seat was abolished in boundary changes for February 1974 general election, but he was returned to Parliament for the new Surrey North West constituency, which he represented until his retirement at the 1997 election.

As he was preparing, however, to retire from the House of Commons in 1997, Grylls found himself among those criticised by the inquiry into the "cash-for-questions" scandal which had engulfed the Conservatives in the run-up to the general election.

For some years he had acted as a consultant to the lobbying company run by Ian Greer. In his report into Mr Greer's activities, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Sir Gordon Downey, stated that Grylls had "seriously misled" the select committee on members' interests in 1990. He had done this by understating the number of payments he had received for introducing clients to ministers. Grylls's conduct, said Sir Gordon, had fallen "below the standards the House is entitled to expect of its members".

Sources

• Times Guide to the House of Commons, Times Newspapers Limited, 1992 edition.
• Michael Grylls obituary, The Guardian.