Michael Colvin
Encyclopedia
Michael Keith Beale Colvin (27 September 1932 – 24 February 2000) was a politician in the United Kingdom
. He was first elected as a Conservative Party
Member of Parliament
for Bristol North West in 1979. From 1983 onwards he was the MP for Romsey and Waterside constituency in Hampshire
, which later became the constituency of Romsey.
In 1989 he sponsored a Private Member's Bill
which became the Computer Misuse Act 1990
.
He held the seat in the 1997 general election
, but died along with his wife in a fire at their house, Tangley House, near Andover
, three years later The resulting by-election
was won by Sandra Gidley
of the Liberal Democrats.
He was educated at West Downs School
, Winchester
; Eton College
; and the Royal Military Academy
at Sandhurst. At 18 he went into the Grenadier Guards
, serving in Berlin, Suez and Cyprus, emerging as a captain. He studied at the Royal Agricultural College
at Cirencester
.
He married Nichola Cayzer, the daughter of William Cayzer, Baron Cayzer, top man in the British and Commonwealth shipping company. They had three children. Initially, he worked for four years in advertising with the agency J Walter Thompson, then for 14 years as a director of Accrep Ltd, a property investment firm. He and his wife were Lloyd's 'Names'
.
He was a friend of Charles, Prince of Wales
, but a sharp critic of Princess Diana.
He also became briefly the owner of the Cricketers' Arms in Tangley
, to save it for the village.
parish council for 12 years from 1964, to Andover rural district council for seven years from 1965, and to Hampshire county council for five years from 1970.
His first parliamentary seat was Bristol North West
, which he captured from Labour in 1979, when Margaret Thatcher
achieved power. He showed political ambivalence, urging a new centre party on the one hand, but also calling for privatisation of NHS
services. He showed his commitment to the doomed rightwing, white forces in Africa by endorsing the South-African-backed anti-SWAPO regime in Namibia
in 1981.
In 1983 he switched to the new, much safer seat of Romsey and Waterside, stretching out from the Southampton
suburbs. As a Cayzer son-in-law, he opposed the phasing out of tax allowances on new shipbuilding and urged a larger, more modern merchant marine fleet. He opposed the slicing off of BA
's routes just when it was becoming successful. He favoured easier conditions for pub licencees.
He was a leader of the post-Hungerford
and post-Dunblane
"gun lobby" and a supporter of field sports. He was also a somewhat secretive former propagandist for apartheid South Africa
and a friend of other lobbyists such as Ian Greer, Neil Hamilton
, who would later be disgraced in the cash for questions scandal, and Derek Laud
. But he was not monochromatic. He was liberal on abortion, favoured free eye and dental treatment, and would have preferred the whites he backed in southern Africa to be more reformist.
He was a defence and aviation specialist, serving on the Defence Select Committee
, which he chaired from 1995 to 1997. On Tuesday, two days before he died, he made a 25-minute speech, the longest in the Commons defence debate. His swansong deplored the forces' manpower shortage, which he attributed to the Ministry of Defence
losing battles with the Treasury.
He spoke up for the whites of southern Africa, particularly after twice visiting apartheid South Africa and Bophuthatswana
as a guest of their governments, first in 1986. He was liberal enough to support reformist Dennis Worral's 1987 election campaign. But in 1988 he criticised the BBC for broadcasting its Mandela concert tribute.
In 1989 he visited Bophuthatswana again and Angola as a guest of Unita
, backed by the CIA and South Africa. He also welcomed the visit of FW de Klerk to Britain and condemned a telecast by Peter Hain
and anything emanating from Anti-Apartheid sources. Such views led him to become in 1991 a consultant, at £10,000 a year - replacing Neil Hamilton - to Strategic Network International, a lobbyist front organised, possibly unbeknown to him, by pre-Mandela South African intelligence organisations.
Later, he became a director, with the black Tory, Derek Laud, of the Laud Ludgate lobbying organisation.
As chairman of the Council for Country Sports from 1988, Colvin stepped up his opposition to gun-control and bans on foxhunting. As captain of the Commons shooting club, he opposed the conversion of its shooting range into a creche.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. He was first elected as a Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Bristol North West in 1979. From 1983 onwards he was the MP for Romsey and Waterside constituency in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, which later became the constituency of Romsey.
In 1989 he sponsored a Private Member's Bill
Private Member's Bill
A member of parliament’s legislative motion, called a private member's bill or a member's bill in some parliaments, is a proposed law introduced by a member of a legislature. In most countries with a parliamentary system, most bills are proposed by the government, not by individual members of the...
which became the Computer Misuse Act 1990
Computer Misuse Act 1990
The Computer Misuse Act 1990 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, introduced partly in response to the decision in R v Gold & Schifreen 1 AC 1063 . Critics of the bill complained that it was introduced hastily and was poorly thought out...
.
He held the seat in the 1997 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
, but died along with his wife in a fire at their house, Tangley House, near Andover
Andover, Hampshire
Andover is a town in the English county of Hampshire. The town is on the River Anton some 18.5 miles west of the town of Basingstoke, 18.5 miles north-west of the city of Winchester and 25 miles north of the city of Southampton...
, three years later The resulting by-election
Romsey by-election, 2000
Conservative Member of Parliament Michael Colvin and his wife died in a fire at their home on 24 February 2000. This created a by-election in his constituency of Romsey in Hampshire, England....
was won by Sandra Gidley
Sandra Gidley
Sandra Julia Gidley is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom. She was the Member of Parliament for Romsey in Hampshire from 2000 to 2010, when she lost her seat to Conservative MP Caroline Nokes.-Biography:...
of the Liberal Democrats.
Life outside politics
Michael Colvin was born to Captain Ivan Beale Colvin RN and Joy Arbuthnot. He has a brother, Alistair Colvin, four years younger.He was educated at West Downs School
West Downs School
West Downs School, Romsey Road, Winchester, Hampshire, was an English independent preparatory school, which was established in 1897 and closed in 1988.-History:...
, Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
; Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
; and the Royal Military Academy
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is a British Army officer initial training centre located in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England...
at Sandhurst. At 18 he went into the Grenadier Guards
Grenadier Guards
The Grenadier Guards is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It is the most senior regiment of the Guards Division and, as such, is the most senior regiment of infantry. It is not, however, the most senior regiment of the Army, this position being attributed to the Life Guards...
, serving in Berlin, Suez and Cyprus, emerging as a captain. He studied at the Royal Agricultural College
Royal Agricultural College
The Royal Agricultural College is a higher education institution located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, UK. Established in 1845, it was the first agricultural college in the English speaking world...
at Cirencester
Cirencester
Cirencester is a market town in east Gloucestershire, England, 93 miles west northwest of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswold District. It is the home of the Royal Agricultural College, the oldest agricultural...
.
He married Nichola Cayzer, the daughter of William Cayzer, Baron Cayzer, top man in the British and Commonwealth shipping company. They had three children. Initially, he worked for four years in advertising with the agency J Walter Thompson, then for 14 years as a director of Accrep Ltd, a property investment firm. He and his wife were Lloyd's 'Names'
Lloyd's of London
Lloyd's, also known as Lloyd's of London, is a British insurance and reinsurance market. It serves as a partially mutualised marketplace where multiple financial backers, underwriters, or members, whether individuals or corporations, come together to pool and spread risk...
.
He was a friend of Charles, Prince of Wales
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
, but a sharp critic of Princess Diana.
He also became briefly the owner of the Cricketers' Arms in Tangley
Tangley
Tangley is a village in the English county of Hampshire. Tangley is situated north of the old market town of Andover and the village of Charlton, Hampshire....
, to save it for the village.
Political career
Initially, his political ambitions were satisfied in local government. He was elected to TangleyTangley
Tangley is a village in the English county of Hampshire. Tangley is situated north of the old market town of Andover and the village of Charlton, Hampshire....
parish council for 12 years from 1964, to Andover rural district council for seven years from 1965, and to Hampshire county council for five years from 1970.
His first parliamentary seat was Bristol North West
Bristol North West
Bristol North West is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It covers the northern and north-western parts of the city of Bristol, in the South West of England....
, which he captured from Labour in 1979, when Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
achieved power. He showed political ambivalence, urging a new centre party on the one hand, but also calling for privatisation of NHS
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
services. He showed his commitment to the doomed rightwing, white forces in Africa by endorsing the South-African-backed anti-SWAPO regime in Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
in 1981.
In 1983 he switched to the new, much safer seat of Romsey and Waterside, stretching out from the Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
suburbs. As a Cayzer son-in-law, he opposed the phasing out of tax allowances on new shipbuilding and urged a larger, more modern merchant marine fleet. He opposed the slicing off of BA
British Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...
's routes just when it was becoming successful. He favoured easier conditions for pub licencees.
He was a leader of the post-Hungerford
Hungerford massacre
The Hungerford massacre occurred in Hungerford, Berkshire, England, on 19 August 1987. The gunman, 27-year-old Michael Robert Ryan, armed with two semi-automatic rifles and a handgun, shot and killed sixteen people including his mother, and wounded fifteen others, then fatally shot himself...
and post-Dunblane
Dunblane massacre
The Dunblane massacre was a multiple murder-suicide which occurred at Dunblane Primary School in the Scottish town of Dunblane on 13 March 1996. Sixteen children and one adult were killed by Thomas Hamilton before he committed suicide.-Timeline of events:...
"gun lobby" and a supporter of field sports. He was also a somewhat secretive former propagandist for apartheid South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and a friend of other lobbyists such as Ian Greer, Neil Hamilton
Neil Hamilton (politician)
Mostyn Neil Hamilton is a former British barrister, teacher and Conservative MP. Since losing his seat in 1997 and leaving politics, Hamilton and his wife Christine have become media celebrities...
, who would later be disgraced in the cash for questions scandal, and Derek Laud
Derek Laud
Derek George Henry Laud is a former British political adviser and Government Relations specialist, who has advised the Bank of England, The Securities and Investments Board, British Steel and Takcare PLC...
. But he was not monochromatic. He was liberal on abortion, favoured free eye and dental treatment, and would have preferred the whites he backed in southern Africa to be more reformist.
He was a defence and aviation specialist, serving on the Defence Select Committee
Defence Select Committee
The Defence Select Committee is one of the Select Committees of the British House of Commons, having been established in 1979. It oversees the operations of the Ministry of Defence and its associated public bodies, including the armed forces.-Membership:...
, which he chaired from 1995 to 1997. On Tuesday, two days before he died, he made a 25-minute speech, the longest in the Commons defence debate. His swansong deplored the forces' manpower shortage, which he attributed to the Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
losing battles with the Treasury.
He spoke up for the whites of southern Africa, particularly after twice visiting apartheid South Africa and Bophuthatswana
Bophuthatswana
Bophuthatswana , officially the Republic of Bophuthatswana was a Bantustan – an area set aside for members of a specific ethnicity – and nominal parliamentary democracy in the northwestern region of South Africa...
as a guest of their governments, first in 1986. He was liberal enough to support reformist Dennis Worral's 1987 election campaign. But in 1988 he criticised the BBC for broadcasting its Mandela concert tribute.
In 1989 he visited Bophuthatswana again and Angola as a guest of Unita
UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought with the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola in the Angolan War for Independence and then against the MPLA in the ensuing civil war .The war was one...
, backed by the CIA and South Africa. He also welcomed the visit of FW de Klerk to Britain and condemned a telecast by Peter Hain
Peter Hain
Peter Gerald Hain is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for the Welsh constituency of Neath since 1991, and has served in the Cabinets of both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, firstly as Leader of the House of Commons under Blair and both Secretary of State for...
and anything emanating from Anti-Apartheid sources. Such views led him to become in 1991 a consultant, at £10,000 a year - replacing Neil Hamilton - to Strategic Network International, a lobbyist front organised, possibly unbeknown to him, by pre-Mandela South African intelligence organisations.
Later, he became a director, with the black Tory, Derek Laud, of the Laud Ludgate lobbying organisation.
As chairman of the Council for Country Sports from 1988, Colvin stepped up his opposition to gun-control and bans on foxhunting. As captain of the Commons shooting club, he opposed the conversion of its shooting range into a creche.