Richard Alexander (British politician)

Richard Alexander
Richard Alexander
Member of Parliament; for Newark
	In office; 3 May 1979 – 1 May 1997
Preceded by	Edward Stanley Bishop
Succeeded by	Fiona Jones
Personal details
Born	29 June 1934; Aberdeen, Scotland
Died	20 April 2008 (aged 73); Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouses	; Valerie Ann Winn (m. 1966; div. 1985) ; Pat Hanson (m. 1987)
Children	2
Alma mater	University College London; Institute of Advanced Legal Studies

Richard Thain Alexander (29 June 1934 – 20 April 2008) was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Newark in Nottinghamshire until losing his seat in the landslide of the 1997 general election.

Early life

Alexander was born in

Lincoln. He went to Logie Coldstone prep school in Eastbourne and Dewsbury Grammar School and the Wheelwright School in Dewsbury, Yorkshire before studying law at University College London and then at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. He was articled in London, and then worked as a solicitor in Scunthorpe from 1960 to 1964 and then in Retford, Nottinghamshire

from 1964 to 1985.

Political career

Having joined the

Bassetlaw District Council

in 1975, and he was Mayor of Retford in 1977–78.

He was a parliamentary candidate for Lincoln in 1966 and again in 1970, but he was not chosen by the right-wing local party to fight the by-election of 1973. The seat was won by the sitting MP, Dick Taverne, each time.

At the 1979 general election, Alexander narrowly and unexpectedly beat the popular Labour MP for Newark, Edward Stanley Bishop despite the remaining presence of working mines in the constituency.

He adopted a maverick approach in the

Militant group), supported rate capping of left-wing councils, and sought the abolition of Wages Councils

which set minimum pay rates.

His majority was substantially increased at the

1984 UK miners' strike, but criticised the 31 pit closures announced by Michael Heseltine in October 1992. He was one of many Conservative MPs to lose their seats in the Labour landslide at the 1997 general election. The victor, Fiona Jones

, was convicted of falsifying her election expenses in March 1999, and Alexander was to stand at the resulting by-election, but the conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal in April 1999 with no need for a by-election.

After his time in Parliament, Alexander was subsequently elected to serve as a councillor for the Magnus ward of

Newark and Sherwood District Council.^[1]

Personal life

He married Valerie Ann Winn in 1966. They had a son and a daughter. He separated from his first wife in 1979 and they were divorced in 1985. He remarried in 1987, to Pat Hanson.

Alexander died aged 73 at Beaumond House Community Hospice, Newark-on-Trent, after a short battle with cancer.

References

^ "Magnus Councillors". www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk. 13 June 2011. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 29 May 2021.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Edward Stanley Bishop	Member of Parliament for Newark 1979–1997	Succeeded by Fiona Jones

[1] "Magnus Councillors". www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk. 13 June 2011. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 29 May 2021.

[1]