John Carlisle (British politician)
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John Russell Carlisle (28 August 1942 – 18 February 2019) was a Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) for the Luton West constituency and later Luton North constituency in Bedfordshire. Carlisle was Public Affairs Director of the UK Tobacco Manufacturers' Association from 1997 until 2001, even though he was a non-smoker.
Early life
The son of Andrew Russell and Edith Carlisle (maiden name Handley), he was born in
He was a senior executive (1964–78) of Sidney C. Banks Ltd.,
Political career
John Carlisle was Vice-Chairman (1973–74) and Chairman (1974–76) of the Conservative Party's Mid-Bedfordshire Constituency Association, and was elected MP for Luton West in 1979. For some time after his election he shared an office with future Prime Minister John Major.[1] In 1983 he was elected MP for Luton North. He was Chairman of the Conservative Parliamentary Committee on Sport (1981–84), Vice-Chairman of the All-Party Football Committee, Secretary of the Conservative Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee (Africa) 1982–83, and was a member of the International Executive Committee of "Freedom in Sport". He was also Treasurer of the Anglo-Gibraltar Group, 1981–82, and was Secretary (1983–87), and Chairman (1987) of the British-South Africa Group. He was elected Vice-President of the Federation of Conservative Students in 1986 and was Governor of the Sports Aid Foundation (Eastern Region), 1985–96. He was a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Agriculture 1985–88.
He was an active member of the
South Africa and apartheid
Carlisle was opposed to the Gleneagles Agreement of 1977 which discouraged sporting ties to the apartheid regime in South Africa. In 1981 he called it a "worthless treaty" and urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to readmit South Africa. Advocating the right of sportsmen to play wherever they wished, he offered his support for the 1982 English rebels tour saying that "many of us will salute the courage that has been shown by these players."[2] After the Test and County Cricket Board banned players who had featured in the tour he described it as "a sorry day for international cricket."[3] In 1983 he called on the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), as a club, to tour South Africa as a means of establishing if contemporary opinion polls approving of reviving sporting links were correct. The suggestion was rejected by MCC members.[4]
In July 1982 he urged Margaret Thatcher to bring Enoch Powell into her cabinet. But she refused, saying that Powell would never be a member of any government of hers.[5] In February 1975 and April 1979 Thatcher herself said there would be no position for Powell in any government of hers.
In one of his interventions in a 1987 House of Commons debates, he claimed that "the system of apartheid in South Africa has worked in terms of government", although he claimed not to support it.[6] Nevertheless, this defence of the South African government prompted journalist Edward Pearce to label him "the member for Bloemfontein West".[7] Of the television screening of the April 1990 tribute concert in London for the newly freed Nelson Mandela, the MP said: "The BBC have just gone bananas over this and seem to be joining those who are making Mandela out to be a Christ-like figure." Carlisle observed: "This hero worship is misplaced."[8] He had earlier described Mandela as a terrorist in 1988.[9]
Later life
Carlisle announced that he would retire from politics in September 1996, and would not stand at the following General Election in 1997.[10] He died at his home in Seal Chart, Kent, on 18 February 2019.[11]
References
- ^ John Major - The Autobiography (1999)
- ^ R.W. Apple Jr. "British Cricketers Defy Ban to Play in South Africa", New York Times, 3 March 1982
- ^ Jack Williams Cricket and Race, Oxford: Berg, 2001, p.98
- ^ Williams, p.112-13
- ^ Parliamentary Profiles A-D - Andrew Roth
- ^ "The Commonwealth and South Africa" Hansard, HC Deb, 13 November 1987, vol 122 cc676-741, 737-38
- ^ Almanac of British Politics, Robert Waller Taylor & Francis, 1996, page 554
- ^ Anthony Bevins and Michael Streeter "Nelson Mandela: From 'terrorist' to tea with the Queen", The Independent, 9 July 1996
- ^ Ross Hawkins "Mandela death: How the British political class came to love Nelson", BBC News, 6 December 2013
- ^ "John Carlisle to quit", The Independent, 10 September 1996
- ^ "CARLISLE - Deaths Announcements - Telegraph Announcements". announcements.telegraph.co.uk.; https://www.lutontoday.co.uk/news/tributes-paid-to-controversial-former-luton-mp-john-carlisle-1-8827577. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
Bibliography
- Dod's Parliamentary Companion 1992, 173rd edition, East Sussex.
- Black, A & C.,Who's Who, London. (Various editions).
- Rhodesia to Zimbabwe - An Assessment, Policy Paper by the Monday Club's Foreign Affairs Committee, Chairman: John Carlisle, MP July 1982.
- Thompson, Cllr. Peter, (Foreword by John Carlisle, MP.), The United Nations Organisation, Discussion Paper by the Monday Club's Foreign Affairs Committee, October 1988.
- The Almanac of British Politics, London, 1996 (5th edition).