Michael Grylls

Sir William Michael John Grylls, known as Michael Grylls, (21 February 1934 – 7 February 2001) was a British Conservative politician. He was implicated in the cash-for-questions affair, a political scandal of the 1990s. He was the father of adventurer Bear Grylls.

Education and early career

Grylls, the son of an army officer, was educated at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. His eyesight was not good enough for the Navy, so he joined the Royal Marines, and saw active service, leaving in 1955, and studying Spanish at the University of Madrid.

He turned his hand to business, setting up a wine importing firm called the Costa Brava Company. His description of some of his products as "Spanish champagne" provoked the ire of both the makers of genuine champagne and its London importers; he was unsuccessfully prosecuted for trading under a false description, but they won a civil writ against him for "passing off", i.e. misrepresenting his goods by using someone else's trademark.

From 1959 he served as a councillor on St. Pancras Borough Council, and was elected to the Greater London Council for the Cities of London and Westminster from 1967-70.

Family

Grylls married Sally Ford, the daughter of Patricia Ford, Lady Fisher, briefly an Ulster Unionist MP, and cricketer Neville Montagu Ford. Sally is the stepdaughter of Conservative MP Nigel Fisher and the stepsister of Labour MP Mark Fisher. The Grylls had one daughter and one son, the adventurer Edward Michael "Bear" Grylls, who is most recognised as the host of Born Survivor (Man vs. Wild in the U.S.).

Career as Member of Parliament

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

Andrew Roth, author of Parliamentary Profiles, in assessing Grylls's ideology, accused him of "opportunistic deviations", for example favouring little state interference with business, but supporting public funds for British Aerospace, which was a large employer in his constituency.

He was knighted in 1992.

Cash for questions

Main article: Cash-for-questions affair

The Guardian, which exposed the Cash-for-questions affair in 1996, summed Grylls up as "most senior and voracious Tory MP run by the lobbyist Ian Greer". For some years he had acted as a consultant to the lobbying company run by Greer at the heart of the inquiry. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Sir Gordon Downey, stated that Grylls had "seriously misled" the select committee on members' interests in 1990 (replaced in 1995 by the Standards and Privileges Committee) by understating the number of payments he had received for introducing clients to ministers and Grylls's conduct, said Sir Gordon, had fallen "below the standards the House is entitled to expect of its members". "Sir Michael received payments from Mr Greer (though not in cash) which were neither introduction commissions nor fees associated with the Unitary Tax Campaign. It is not possible to conclude that these payments originated from Mr Al Fayed, although Sir Michael actively participated in the Greer lobbying operation. Sir Michael deliberately misled the Select Committee on Members' Interests in 1990 by seriously understating the number of commission payments he had received; and by omitting to inform them of other fees received from Mr Greer. Sir Michael persistently failed to declare his interests in dealings with Ministers and officials over the House of Fraser. Sir Michael's action in taking a commission payment for introducing a constituent to Mr Greer was unacceptable. There is insufficient evidence to show that Sir Michael solicited business for Mr Greer in expectation of commission payments."

Other

Grylls was a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron until his death in 2001; his widow remains an honorary member.

Sources

• Times Guide to the House of Commons, Times Newspapers Limited, 1992 edition.