Michael Spicer, Baron Spicer

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William Michael Hardy Spicer, Baron Spicer Kt (* 22. January 1943 in Bath , † 29. May 2019 ) was a British journalist , author of spy novels and politicians of the Conservative Party , who for 36 years member of the House of Commons and since 2010 as Life Peer Member of the House of Lords .

Life

Journalist and Member of the House of Commons

Spicer, son of the late Brigadier General L. Hardy Spicer, visited the Gaunt House Preparatory School and the Wellington College in Berkshire and then graduated in economics at Emmanuel College of Cambridge University . After graduation he worked as a journalist and financial journalist for the newspaper Daily Mail , The Sunday Times , and most recently assistant to the publisher of The Statist .

In the general election on March 31, 1966 , he ran for the Conservative Party in the Eastington constituency at the age of 23 , but suffered a defeat and missed entry into the House of Commons. After he was director of the Research Center for Conservative Systems between 1968 and 1970, he ran again in the elections of June 18, 1970 for the Conservative Tories unsuccessfully in the constituency of Eastington for a seat in the House of Commons. From 1970 to 1980 he was Managing Director of Economic Models Ltd.

In the general election of February 28, 1974 , Spicer was elected for the first time as a member of the House of Commons and initially represented the constituency of Worcestershire South and then, since the elections of May 1, 1997, the constituency of Worcestershire West . In the general election on May 6, 2010 , he decided not to run again after having served in parliament for over 36 years.

Junior minister and backbencher

After the Tories won the general election on May 3, 1979 , Spicer took over his first government office in the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister for Trade and Consumer Affairs, Sally Oppenheim , until 1981 . Afterwards he was first vice-chairman and then between 1983 and 1984 deputy chairman of the Conservative Party.

In 1984 he returned to the government and was Parliamentary Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Transport until 1987 and, as such, Minister of Aviation from 1985 to 1987. After a government reshuffle, he was Parliamentary Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Energy between 1987 and 1990 and then for a short time in 1990 Minister of State for Housing and Planning.

After John Major took office as Thatcher's successor as Prime Minister, he was no longer called to the government, but took on several functions in the House of Commons and other institutions. He was President of the Electricity Producers Association from 1991 and Governor of Wellington College from 1992 to 1995.

Chairman of the 1922 Committee and member of the House of Lords

He also served as Chairman of the Parliamentary Science and Technology Bureau for some time in 1992 and later Chairman of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee between 1996 and 1999. Spicer, who was raised to the nobility in 1996 as a Knight Bachelor and henceforth had the suffix "Sir", was a member of the House of Commons committee for finance from 1997 to 2001 and also chaired a subcommittee of this committee from 1998 to 2001.

After he was already a member of the Executive Committee from 1997 to 1998, he was chairman of the so-called 1922 Committee of the Conservative Party between 2001 and 2010 , an internal party organization of the backbenchers of the Conservative Tories. He was also a member of the Conservative Party's board of directors from 2001 to 2010 and chaired the party's finance and auditing committee between 2007 and 2010.

After leaving the House of Commons, Spicer was raised to a life peer by a letters patent dated July 8, 2010 with the title Baron Spicer , of Cropthorne in the County of Worcestershire, and thereby became a member of the House of Lords . Since 2012, Lord Spicer has chaired the Honorary Committee on Parliamentary and Political Services.

Publications

In addition to several specialist books, Spicer also wrote four books between 1989 and 1993 about the fictional female agent Jane Hildreth, the so-called Cotswold Mysteries .

  • Final Act (1983)
  • Prime Minister, Spy (1986)
  • Cotswold Manners (1989)
  • Cotswold Murders (1991)
  • Cotswold Mistress (1992)
  • A Treaty Too Far - A New Policy for Europe (1992)
  • Cotswolds Moles (1993)
  • The Challenge of the East and the Rebirth of the West (1996)
  • The Spicer Diaries , Autobiography (2012)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/lord-michael-spicer-former-chairman-of-conservative-1922-committee-dies-aged-76-a4154466.html
  2. ↑ Jane Hildreth (Spy Guys and Gals)
  3. ↑ Cotswold Moles (Kirkus Reviews)
personal data
SURNAME Spicer, Michael, Baron Spicer
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Spicer, William Michael Hardy, Baron Spicer (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British politician, Member of the House of Commons, journalist and book author
DATE OF BIRTH January 22, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Bath
DATE OF DEATH 29 May 2019