Jill Knight
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
---|---|
In office 23 September 1997 – 24 March 2016 Life peerage | |
Member of Parliament for Birmingham Edgbaston | |
In office 31 March 1966 – 8 April 1997 | |
Preceded by | Edith Pitt |
Succeeded by | Gisela Stuart |
Personal details | |
Born | Joan Christabel Jill Christie 9 July 1923 Bristol, England |
Died | 6 April 2022 | (aged 98)
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse |
James Montague Knight
(m. 1947; died 1986) |
Children | 2 |
Joan Christabel Jill Knight, Baroness Knight of Collingtree,
Early life
Joan Christabel Jill Christie was born in
Upon her return to the UK, she joined the Young Conservatives in London. On 14 June 1947, she married James Montague "Monty" Knight (an optician, who had served in the war as a lieutenant in the Royal Navy), and moved to Northampton.[2]
Political career
She was elected as a councillor on
Knight was a member of the
She was on the Select Committee for the Council of Europe from 1977, the Select Committee for Home Affairs from 1980 to 1983, Lady Chairman of the Lords and Commons All-Party Child and Family Protection Group from 1978, on the Conservative Back-bench Health and Social Services Committee from 1982 and Secretary to the 1922 Committee from 1983 to 1987. Knight was President of the West Midlands Conservative Political Centre from 1980 to 1983, and Lady Chairman of the Western European Union Relations with Parliaments Committee from 1984 to 1988. She also served on the Council of Europe (1977–88), and as Chairman of the British Inter-Parliamentary Union (1994–97).
One slogan in the aftermath of the New Cross house fire, which left 13 young Black Britons dead, read: "Dame Jill Knight Set The Fire Alight!"[citation needed]; this was an apparent reference to a controversial speech by Knight which was widely interpreted as condoning or even encouraging direct action against noisy parties.[6][7]
Knight was created a Life peer as Baroness Knight of Collingtree, of Collingtree in the County of Northamptonshire in 1997[8] after standing down at that year's general election, and retired from the House of Lords on 24 March 2016, the week of the 50th anniversary of her first election to Parliament.[9] She was Vice-Chairman of the Association of Conservative Peers from 2002 to 2005.[10]
Her memoirs, About the House, were published in 1995.[11] She was interviewed in 2012 as part of The History of Parliament's oral history project.[12][13]
Section 28
Knight, along with David Wilshire, introduced the Section 28 amendment to the Local Government Act 1988, which barred local authorities, including schools, from 'promoting' homosexuality.[14] While promoting the new clause, Knight claimed children under two had access to gay and lesbian books in Lambeth, a claim which has never been substantiated.[15] She linked discussion of homosexuality in schools to the spread of AIDS, also describing homosexuality as "perverted" and "desperately dangerous".[16] She was described as a key force behind the legislation and a "dedicated – not to say fanatical – anti-gay MP".[17]
In June 2013, Knight opposed same-sex marriage legislation, arguing that Parliament cannot change the fact that "marriage is not about just love. It is about a man and a woman, themselves created to produce children, producing children. A man can no more bear a child, than a woman can produce sperm, and no law on earth can change that. This is not a homophobic view. It may be sad, it may be unequal, but it's true."[18] In the same year, she claimed it was wrong for the Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron to apologise for the legacy of Section 28, while appearing to defend herself from accusations of homophobia by claiming that gay people are "very good at antiques".[19]
In 2018, when she was interviewed by former Attitude magazine editor Matthew Todd, who confronted Knight about her role as an architect of and a main driving force behind Section 28, she said "I'm sorry if anything I did upset you. All I was trying to do was acting on what people wrote to me, said to me, what the papers said." Knight stated that her motivation had only been to maintain the welfare of children.[20]
Outside Parliament
From 1986 to 1995, Knight was Vice-President of Townswomen's Guilds. She was director of Computeach International plc from 1991 to 2006 and Heckett Multiserv from 1999 to 2006. Knight has been President of Sulgrave Manor Trust since 2012; she was its Chairman from 2007 to 2012.[10]
Honours
Knight was appointed a
Personal life and death
Knight's husband, James Montague Knight, died in 1986. The couple had two children. Her recreations were music, reading, tapestry work, theatre-going and antique-hunting.[10] Knight died on 6 April 2022, at the age of 98.[24]
Arms
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References
- ^ "Mrs Jill Knight (Hansard)". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
- ^ a b c "KNIGHT, Jill (b.1923). | History of Parliament Online". historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
- ^ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1959". Political Science Resources. Archived from the original on 8 October 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
- ^ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1964". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
- ^ Phillips (1980): p. 80
- ^ "New Cross: the blaze we cannot forget | Darcus Howe". The Guardian. 17 January 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
- ^ "BBC - Barling's London". BBC. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
- ^ "No. 54904". The London Gazette. 29 September 1997. p. 10969.
- ^ "Retired members of the House of Lords". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-954089-1. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
- ^ "About The House". Goodreads.com. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
- ^ "Oral history: KNIGHT, Jill (b.1923)". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
- ^ "Baroness Knight of Collingtree interviewed by Mike Greenwood". British Library Sound Archive. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
- ^ Nicholas Billingham (7 June 2015). "Letters: Section 28 anti-gay law was not devised in the Department of Education". The Guardian.
- ^ "The Destruction Caused by Clause 28". Glasgow Women's Library. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
- ^ "AMENDMENT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1986 (Hansard, 8 May 1987)". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
- ^ "Baroness Knight: Parliament can't help blind people see, so can't help 'artistic' gays get married". PinkNews. 3 June 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
- ^ "Baroness Knight: The gays are still good at antiques and Section 28 was right". PinkNews. 10 June 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
- ^ Salisbury, Josh (25 May 2018). "Baroness Knight: Section 28 architect says she's sorry 'if the law hurt anyone'". PinkNews.
- ^ "No. 43200". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1964. p. 17.
- ^ "No. 50154". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 June 1985. p. 7.
- ^ "KNIGHT, Jill (b. 1923)". Interview with the History of Parliament oral history project. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
- ^ "Baroness Knight of Collingtree, doughty Tory MP for Edgbaston who campaigned intensively on Section 28, abortion and Northern Ireland – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 12 April 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
- ^ Debrett's Peerage & Baronetage. 2000.
Sources
ISBNs for the books listed. . (February 2013) |
- Phillips, Melanie (1980). The Divided House. London: Jonathan Cape Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 9780283985478.
- Copping, Robert. The Monday Club - Crisis and After, Current Affairs Information Service, Ilford, Essex, May 1976, pp. 5, 9, 16–18, 21-22
- Dod's Parliamentary Companion 1973, 160th edition, Epsom: Sell's Publications Ltd
- Dod's Parliamentary Companion 1990, 171st edition, London
- Knight, Jill. About the House. Churchill Press, 1995; ISBN 0-902782-29-0
- Who's Who, London: A. & C. Black (various editions)