George Gardiner (politician)
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George Gardiner | |
---|---|
Member of Parliament for Reigate | |
In office 28 February 1974 – 8 April 1997 | |
Preceded by | Geoffrey Howe |
Succeeded by | Crispin Blunt |
Personal details | |
Born | George Arthur Gardiner 3 March 1935 Conservative (before March 1997; after June 1997) |
Other political affiliations | Referendum (1997) |
Spouses | |
Children | 3 |
Education | Balliol College, Oxford (BA) |
Profession | Journalist |
Sir George Arthur Gardiner (3 March 1935 – 16 November 2002) was a British
Political scientists David Butler and Dennis Kavanagh described Gardiner as "a staunch right-wing Thatcherite".[1]
Early life and career
Born at Bush Bungalow in
He joined the Conservative Party in 1950; at Oxford University he organised a petition in support of Anthony Eden's Suez policy. Gardiner became secretary of the University Conservative Association in 1957. During an election for the post of president of the association, he printed scores of forged ballot papers for a postal vote backing his own candidacy. His deception was discovered and he had to withdraw.[citation needed]
He worked as a journalist after he left university. He was political correspondent for the
He stood unsuccessfully as Conservative candidate for
Like Powell, in later life Gardiner was well known for his vehemently Eurosceptic views, but earlier he had supported Britain's entry into the European Community (EC). He was a founder member of the Conservative Group for Europe, and had argued in A Europe for the Regions (1971) that the regions would benefit from entry into the EC.[4]
Parliamentary career
On 22 January 1973, the local Conservative Party in Reigate accepted Gardiner as their prospective parliamentary candidate, and he was elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Reigate, a safe seat, on 28 February 1974. He served as MP for the constituency for the next 23 years.
Although a right-wing Conservative, Gardiner was a
Gardiner was always proudest of the role he played in the election of Margaret Thatcher as Conservative Party leader.[4] Along with Thatcher, Norman Tebbit and Airey Neave, he formed what was dubbed by the Tribune newspaper 'The Gang of Four' in her leadership race.
In 1975, Gardiner wrote a biography of Thatcher, named From Childhood to Leadership. However, despite his long, enthusiastic and loyal support, Thatcher never offered Gardiner a ministerial or front bench position during her years as party leader or as Prime Minister.
From the 1979 general election, the first of four terms of Conservative government, Gardiner was vociferous in urging the government to go faster on trade union reform and rebuked the government when it climbed down over pit closures after threats of industrial action from the National Union of Mineworkers. In March 1985, he urged the government to abolish wage councils, which took some time to implement, as in some industries, wage councils formed the backbone of trade union negotiations, and it occurred only in September 1993.
He shared an office in the 1980s at Westminster with Neil Hamilton, the then Tory MP for Tatton.
Gardiner became a leading member of the Monday Club. In 1984, he was a member of the Club's National Executive Council and was also Chairman of the Privatisation Policy Committee, which produced, in September 1984, a policy paper entitled Killing the Dinosaur of State Ownership.
He was on the editorial board that prepared the Club's October 1985 Conservative Party Conference issue of their newspaper, Right Ahead and contributed an article: 'Why Margaret – Still?' in support of Margaret Thatcher. Gardiner continued writing for the Club, and in the October 1989 edition of Right Ahead, he contributed the leading front-page article entitled 'Murders that should lie on the conscience of MPs', calling for the return of capital punishment.
When in November 1990,
Attempting to preserve the party's Thatcherite philosophy undiluted, Gardiner was instrumental in setting up the Conservative Way Forward group, with the express aim of providing a focal point for supporting those seen as ideologically sympathetic to Thatcherism in the government: including Michael Portillo and John Redwood. Some[who?] credit the organisation with success in ensuring a shift to the right in the new prospective parliamentary candidates being selected within the party after 1992.
In February 1994, Gardiner was given short shrift by Major after it was disclosed by the press that a delegation of MPs he led intended to tell Major that he must promote key right-wing ministers as a condition of their continued support. In July 1994, Gardiner left the
In the July 1995 leadership election contest, Gardiner voted for John Redwood as party leader. After Redwood was defeated, Gardiner told Major to bring him back to the cabinet, which Major refused to do.[citation needed]
Gardiner resigned from the Conservative Party after being deselected by his local party association. He had survived a deselection attempt on 28 June 1996, but an article six months later in the
After unsuccessfully challenging the decision in the courts, on 8 March 1997, Gardiner joined the Referendum Party and was its candidate in the 1997 general election. He was, for two weeks, the only person ever to have sat as a Referendum Party MP.
On 1 May 1997, Gardiner stood in Reigate as a Referendum Party candidate. He was defeated, obtaining 7% of the vote. He came fourth out of six candidates.
Later life
After William Hague became Conservative party leader in June 1997, Gardiner rejoined the Conservatives. Two years later, in 1999, he published his autobiography covering mainly his years in politics, named A Bastard's Tale, a reference to Major's remark six years earlier to Michael Brunson, but it touched upon his life before becoming an MP.
Gardiner described John Major as 'a walking disaster' and a 'Walter Mitty' with no beliefs.[citation needed]
Personal life
Gardiner married twice. His first marriage was in Bristol on 18 February 1961 to the historian Juliet Wells with whom he had two sons and a daughter.[2] This marriage broke up just before the 1979 general election. His second marriage was in London on 19 September 1980 to (Daphne) Helen Hackett. There were no children from his second marriage.
Health and death
In July 1982, Gardiner underwent a heart by-pass operation.
Gardiner died at St George's Nursing Home, Westminster, on 16 November 2002, aged 67, of
References
- ISBN 978-0-333-64776-9.
- ^ a b c Gardiner, Alexander (30 September 2017). "Why it was no picnic growing up as the son of a Tory MP". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ Roth, Andrew (18 November 2002). "Sir George Gardiner". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ a b "Obituary: Sir George Gardiner". The Daily Telegraph. 18 November 2002.
- ^ "No. 52371". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 December 1990. p. 19581.
- ^ "www.brompton.org". www.brompton.org. Archived from the original on 14 July 2007. Retrieved 5 August 2010.