Nicholas Budgen
Encyclopedia
Nicholas William Budgen often called Nick Budgen, was a British
Conservative Party
politician.
Named after St. Nicholas Church in Newport, Shropshire
of which his grandfather (who was later Dean of Lichfield Cathedral) was priest, Budgen was baptised at Lichfield Cathedral by the grandfather of fellow Conservative politician Enoch Powell
- 37 years later he would ironically succeed Powell as the Conservative member of Parliament for Wolverhampton South West.
Nicholas Budgen was educated at St Edward's School in Oxford and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
. Budgen was raised by his grandfather after his father had been killed during the Second World War, one of his uncles having been killed during the First World War and another during the second. During his National Service
he rose to the rank of Lieutenant
in the North Staffordshire Regiment
. In 1959 he transferred to the Staffordshire Yeomanry
. He became a barrister at Gray's Inn
in 1962.
In the 1970 general election
he stood for the Conservatives
in Birmingham, Small Heath, but failed to gain election. In 1974, when the Conservative MP Enoch Powell
left the party and resigned from his seat
over their policy on the EEC, only six weeks before the 1974 general election, Budgen was selected to stand for the Conservatives in Powell's old seat: Wolverhampton South West.
In 1975 he voted to remain in the Common Market. In 1981 he was made a Conservative whip, at the time a sure way of becoming a minister. On 8 May 1982, however, he resigned as a whip over his opposition to the creation of a Northern Ireland Assembly
with no government powers. However to compensate The Spectator magazine selected him as their 1984 Backbencher of the Year. His speeches in 1985 against the Anglo-Irish Agreement
persuaded his cousin Ian Gow
to resign as a minister from Margaret Thatcher
's government.
According to Michael Brown
, who was at the time a government whip, Nick Budgen was the only critic of the 1988 Budget, which contained many "giveaways", and led to high inflation and the 1990 recession. Brown described the situation in the Commons tea room after the budget as one of congratulatory atmosphere, until Nick Budgen entered and proceeded to tell those present that "It is the most irresponsible budget I have ever heard, it will be downhill from now on. In one fell swoop Mr Lawson has squandered five years of responsible economic management".
He was also opposed to immigration into the UK and on 10 October 1989, at the Conservative Party Conference, he, with Tim Janman
, MP, and Jonathan Guinness (in the chair), addressed a controversial fringe meeting organized by the Young Monday Club, advertised as The End of the English? - Immigration and Repatriation. Charles Moore
described at Budgen's memorial service how he once rang Mr Budgen pretending to be a racist constituent. He said Mr Budgen said he supported a firm immigration policy, but when pushed to agree that all immigrants should be sent home he forcefully defended their right to be in Britain. "His distaste was palpable. I can think of many more liberal-minded MPs who might have given less firm answers to someone they thought might vote for them," he said.
He called for the Prime minister John Major
to sack the then Chancellor Kenneth Clarke
because Clarke had resuscitated the idea of the United Kingdom joining the European Single Currency
. In spite of this Clarke who had been at Cambridge with Budgen, invited Budgen (who had at the time lost the Conservative party whip) to his 50th birthday party at 11 Downing Street.
But his real prominence came in the 1990s when he was one of the whipless eight; the Maastricht Rebels
. The whipless eight had taken to having their own policy meetings, leading former pro-EU Prime Minister Edward Heath
to describe them as "a party within a party". To Budgen the European question was an issue far more important than mere party loyalty. He had a contemptuous attitude towards both party and his leaders, having the second most rebellious voting record in the House of Commons for the period from 1979 to 1997. He is quoted as saying, "you know, this is a government you can push" and was acutely aware that John Major
's government was reliant upon the right wing of its party because of its small majority in the House of Commons.
To this end, he helped lead a hardcore of approximately 50 right-wing Conservative Party
MPs to influence government policy on Northern Ireland and Europe among other things. His hard line on the Northern Ireland situation was perhaps stiffened by the IRA murder of his cousin Ian Gow
MP, who bled to death in his wife's arms in 1990. He was popular with right-wingers not only for his intelligence but also because he had been campaigning against the UK's gradual European drift since he resigned as a Whip in 1983.
The day after a conciliatory article in The Times
by Budgen, John Major returned the Conservative whip to the rebels. Additionally, of the whipless rebels, he was the only one to vote with the government on VAT on fuel in November 1994; the government were, however, defeated, forcing the then Chancellor Ken Clarke to return to Parliament with a "mini budget", an unprecedented event.
Unlike most of the Maastricht rebels Budgen was against capital punishment
. It was also Budgen who first muted the idea of a referendum
on the European Single Currency in 1993, with his proposed European Currency (Referendum) Bill.
Budgen was also a leading member of the Treasury Select Committee, who questioned every tax rise and attacked Kenneth Clarke
as being "intellectually dishonest". It was his position on this committee that persuaded him that the Bank of England
should be made independent of political interference, this led to his private members bill in 1994, an attempt to privatise the Bank of England
. The bill failed; however, in 1997 when the Labour Party
was in government, it made the Bank of England
independent as one of its first measures.
Budgen was also vociferous in protecting the rights of gun owners following the Dunblane massacre
. His speech was described in the left-leaning Guardian
newspaper by columnist Simon Hoggart as "one of the last great parliamentary speeches". The Dunblane bill created a situation where small calibre pistols were illegal in the UK, apart from a 3 week period in 2002 for the Commonwealth Games
being held in Manchester, with the British team being forced to practice in France.
Due to his support for a referendum on the question of European integration, James Goldsmith
's Referendum Party
decided not to run a candidate against him. Budgen had in fact suggested to the seatless former Conservative Government minister Alan Clark
that he should stand for the Referendum Party
. He had said that the Conservatives "in the West Midlands will be running on alternative manifesto", presumably meaning with other local Maastricht Rebels, Christopher Gill (Ludlow) and Richard Shepherd
(Aldridge & Brownhills). Despite losing with a 9.9% swing from the Conservatives to Labour, of the 144 seats that Labour gained from the Conservatives it had the joint-tenth lowest swing, and was one of only 13 seats that changed hands with a swing in single figures.
Whilst Budgen was in favour of limiting immigration and opposed a ban on handguns, unusually for a right wing MP he was against and voted against capital punishment, he had also voted to lower the age of consent for homosexuals.
Budgen was a keen huntsman. He had hunted in 29 of the UK's counties, and in his youth was well known as a particularly fearless rider; he wrote regularly for Horse and Hound and occasionally for the Wall Street Journal, The Times
, Daily Mail
, Glasgow Herald and The Irish Times
. Budgen was described in the Commons by one former minister as being "worth ten placeman" and by the Daily Telegraph as the "late, great Nicholas Budgen". He seemed to take great joy in continuing Wolverhampton South West's feud (begun by Enoch Powell
) with Edward Heath
, heckling him at any opportunity.
Powell had let it be known that he would refuse a peerage while Heath was still in the Commons, and the latter refused to retire from the Commons for so long as he thought Powell might have a chance of a peerage. According to Julian Critchley
, Budgen purchased his suits from Oxfam
and rarely bought anyone a drink.
He attempted to stand for the European Parliament
along with the fellow euro-sceptic ex-MPs Norman Lamont
and Winston Churchill
: all failed. Diagnosed with liver cancer and given only months to live he faced his fate matter of factly. Whilst on his death bed, he rediscovered the Anglicanism of his youth, organised the sale of his many horses and planned his funeral. His funeral service was near his Lichfield
farm at Lichfield Cathedral
, where he had been baptised and where his grandfather had been Dean; the eulogy was given by his close friend and fellow Maastricht rebel Richard Shepherd
, at his memorial service at Westminster Abbey
another close friend Charles Moore
gave a eulogy.
which stated that Britain has "no selfish, strategic or economic interest" in maintaining the Union with Northern Ireland. Budgen asked John Major the question -
"Can I reassure my constituents that the United Kingdom has an interest in maintaining Wolverhampton in the Union?"
On the 1988 Budget - "It is the most irresponsible budget I have ever heard, it will be downhill from now on. In one fell swoop Mr Lawson has squandered five years of responsible economic management."
On supporting Douglas Hurd
in the 1990 Conservative leadership contest:
"it is the Conservative worker's fate to be betrayed by his leader, so we may at least be betrayed elegantly."
"New Labour will not nationalise industry, it will instead nationalise people."
"If the Conservatives say beggars should be kicked once, then New Labour will say that beggars should be kicked twice."
"It would be my general feeling that the transference of power to Europe was so important a matter as to require a vote against any organisation and any party that wished to transfer that power."
On John Major: "he would make a reasonably competent head of a Wolverhampton Social Security office."
"If it [Labour] comes to power, those solid citizens will put pressure on the fresh-faced public school boy (Tony Blair
) and we shall be back to the old story of an enormous public sector borrowing requirement, higher taxes and higher interest rates, and there will be no difference whatsoever in substance between the fresh-faced public school boy and all the old chaps who are in favour of old Labour."
Ken Livingstone
, Mayor of London and former Labour MP once "said admiringly" to Nick Budgen in 1996: "you've made Major change his policy on Europe, again and again.".
New Statesman Article
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...
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...
politician.
Named after St. Nicholas Church in Newport, Shropshire
Newport, Shropshire
Newport is a market town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. It lies some north of Telford and some west of Stafford sitting on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border...
of which his grandfather (who was later Dean of Lichfield Cathedral) was priest, Budgen was baptised at Lichfield Cathedral by the grandfather of fellow Conservative politician Enoch Powell
Enoch Powell
John Enoch Powell, MBE was a British politician, classical scholar, poet, writer, and soldier. He served as a Conservative Party MP and Minister of Health . He attained most prominence in 1968, when he made the controversial Rivers of Blood speech in opposition to mass immigration from...
- 37 years later he would ironically succeed Powell as the Conservative member of Parliament for Wolverhampton South West.
Nicholas Budgen was educated at St Edward's School in Oxford and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Corpus Christi College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is notable as the only college founded by Cambridge townspeople: it was established in 1352 by the Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary...
. Budgen was raised by his grandfather after his father had been killed during the Second World War, one of his uncles having been killed during the First World War and another during the second. During his National Service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
he rose to the rank of Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in the North Staffordshire Regiment
North Staffordshire Regiment
The North Staffordshire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army, which was in existence between 1881 and 1959. It can date its lineage back to 1756 with the formation of a second battalion by the 11th Regiment of Foot, which shortly after became the 64th Regiment of Foot...
. In 1959 he transferred to the Staffordshire Yeomanry
Staffordshire Yeomanry
The Staffordshire Yeomanry was a unit of the British Army.Raised in 1794 following Prime Minister William Pitt's order to raise volunteer bodies of men to defend Great Britain from foreign invasion, the Staffordshire Yeomanry began as volunteer cavalry regiment. It first served overseas at the...
. He became a barrister at Gray's Inn
Gray's Inn
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
in 1962.
In the 1970 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1970
The United Kingdom general election of 1970 was held on 18 June 1970, and resulted in a surprise victory for the Conservative Party under leader Edward Heath, who defeated the Labour Party under Harold Wilson. The election also saw the Liberal Party and its new leader Jeremy Thorpe lose half their...
he stood for the Conservatives
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...
in Birmingham, Small Heath, but failed to gain election. In 1974, when the Conservative MP Enoch Powell
Enoch Powell
John Enoch Powell, MBE was a British politician, classical scholar, poet, writer, and soldier. He served as a Conservative Party MP and Minister of Health . He attained most prominence in 1968, when he made the controversial Rivers of Blood speech in opposition to mass immigration from...
left the party and resigned from his seat
Resignation from the British House of Commons
Members of Parliament sitting in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom are technically forbidden to resign. To circumvent this prohibition, a legal fiction is used...
over their policy on the EEC, only six weeks before the 1974 general election, Budgen was selected to stand for the Conservatives in Powell's old seat: Wolverhampton South West.
In 1975 he voted to remain in the Common Market. In 1981 he was made a Conservative whip, at the time a sure way of becoming a minister. On 8 May 1982, however, he resigned as a whip over his opposition to the creation of a Northern Ireland Assembly
Northern Ireland Assembly
The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive...
with no government powers. However to compensate The Spectator magazine selected him as their 1984 Backbencher of the Year. His speeches in 1985 against the Anglo-Irish Agreement
Anglo-Irish Agreement
The Anglo-Irish Agreement was an agreement between the United Kingdom and Ireland which aimed to help bring an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland...
persuaded his cousin Ian Gow
Ian Gow
Ian Reginald Edward Gow TD was a British Conservative politician and solicitor. While serving as Member of Parliament for Eastbourne, he was assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army who exploded a bomb under his car outside his home in East Sussex.-Life:Ian Gow was born at 3 Upper...
to resign as a minister from Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
's government.
According to Michael Brown
Michael Brown
-Politics:*Michael Brown , current mayor of Grand Forks, North Dakota*Michael Brown , former British Conservative MP, now a political journalist...
, who was at the time a government whip, Nick Budgen was the only critic of the 1988 Budget, which contained many "giveaways", and led to high inflation and the 1990 recession. Brown described the situation in the Commons tea room after the budget as one of congratulatory atmosphere, until Nick Budgen entered and proceeded to tell those present that "It is the most irresponsible budget I have ever heard, it will be downhill from now on. In one fell swoop Mr Lawson has squandered five years of responsible economic management".
He was also opposed to immigration into the UK and on 10 October 1989, at the Conservative Party Conference, he, with Tim Janman
Tim Janman
Timothy Simon Janman is a former Conservative Party politician in England. He was Member of Parliament for Thurrock in Essex from 1987 to 1992, when he lost to the Labour Party candidate.-Early years:...
, MP, and Jonathan Guinness (in the chair), addressed a controversial fringe meeting organized by the Young Monday Club, advertised as The End of the English? - Immigration and Repatriation. Charles Moore
Charles Moore
Charles Moore may refer to:*Charles Moore , America Olympic hurdler*Charles Moore , director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney...
described at Budgen's memorial service how he once rang Mr Budgen pretending to be a racist constituent. He said Mr Budgen said he supported a firm immigration policy, but when pushed to agree that all immigrants should be sent home he forcefully defended their right to be in Britain. "His distaste was palpable. I can think of many more liberal-minded MPs who might have given less firm answers to someone they thought might vote for them," he said.
He called for the Prime minister John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
to sack the then Chancellor Kenneth Clarke
Kenneth Clarke
Kenneth Harry "Ken" Clarke, QC, MP is a British Conservative politician, currently Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. He was first elected to Parliament in 1970; and appointed a minister in Edward Heath's government, in 1972, and is one of...
because Clarke had resuscitated the idea of the United Kingdom joining the European Single Currency
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
. In spite of this Clarke who had been at Cambridge with Budgen, invited Budgen (who had at the time lost the Conservative party whip) to his 50th birthday party at 11 Downing Street.
But his real prominence came in the 1990s when he was one of the whipless eight; the Maastricht Rebels
Maastricht Rebels
The Maastricht Rebels were British Members of Parliament belonging to the then governing Conservative Party who refused to support the government of John Major in a series of votes in the House of Commons on the issue of the implementation of the Maastricht Treaty in British law.The Maastrict...
. The whipless eight had taken to having their own policy meetings, leading former pro-EU Prime Minister Edward Heath
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath, KG, MBE, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as Leader of the Conservative Party ....
to describe them as "a party within a party". To Budgen the European question was an issue far more important than mere party loyalty. He had a contemptuous attitude towards both party and his leaders, having the second most rebellious voting record in the House of Commons for the period from 1979 to 1997. He is quoted as saying, "you know, this is a government you can push" and was acutely aware that John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
's government was reliant upon the right wing of its party because of its small majority in the House of Commons.
To this end, he helped lead a hardcore of approximately 50 right-wing 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...
MPs to influence government policy on Northern Ireland and Europe among other things. His hard line on the Northern Ireland situation was perhaps stiffened by the IRA murder of his cousin Ian Gow
Ian Gow
Ian Reginald Edward Gow TD was a British Conservative politician and solicitor. While serving as Member of Parliament for Eastbourne, he was assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army who exploded a bomb under his car outside his home in East Sussex.-Life:Ian Gow was born at 3 Upper...
MP, who bled to death in his wife's arms in 1990. He was popular with right-wingers not only for his intelligence but also because he had been campaigning against the UK's gradual European drift since he resigned as a Whip in 1983.
The day after a conciliatory article in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
by Budgen, John Major returned the Conservative whip to the rebels. Additionally, of the whipless rebels, he was the only one to vote with the government on VAT on fuel in November 1994; the government were, however, defeated, forcing the then Chancellor Ken Clarke to return to Parliament with a "mini budget", an unprecedented event.
Unlike most of the Maastricht rebels Budgen was against capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
. It was also Budgen who first muted the idea of a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
on the European Single Currency in 1993, with his proposed European Currency (Referendum) Bill.
Budgen was also a leading member of the Treasury Select Committee, who questioned every tax rise and attacked Kenneth Clarke
Kenneth Clarke
Kenneth Harry "Ken" Clarke, QC, MP is a British Conservative politician, currently Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. He was first elected to Parliament in 1970; and appointed a minister in Edward Heath's government, in 1972, and is one of...
as being "intellectually dishonest". It was his position on this committee that persuaded him that the Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
should be made independent of political interference, this led to his private members bill in 1994, an attempt to privatise the Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
. The bill failed; however, in 1997 when the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
was in government, it made the Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
independent as one of its first measures.
Budgen was also vociferous in protecting the rights of gun owners following the Dunblane massacre
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:...
. His speech was described in the left-leaning Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper by columnist Simon Hoggart as "one of the last great parliamentary speeches". The Dunblane bill created a situation where small calibre pistols were illegal in the UK, apart from a 3 week period in 2002 for the Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....
being held in Manchester, with the British team being forced to practice in France.
Due to his support for a referendum on the question of European integration, James Goldsmith
James Goldsmith
Sir James Michael "Jimmy" Goldsmith was an Anglo-French billionaire financier and tycoon. Towards the end of his life, he became a magazine publisher and a politician. In 1994, he was elected to represent France as a Member of the European Parliament and he subsequently founded the short-lived...
's Referendum Party
Referendum Party
The Referendum Party was a Euro-sceptic, single issue party in the United Kingdom formed by Sir James Goldsmith to fight the 1997 General Election. The party called for a referendum on aspects of the UK's relationship with the European Union.-Policy:...
decided not to run a candidate against him. Budgen had in fact suggested to the seatless former Conservative Government minister Alan Clark
Alan Clark
Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark was a British Conservative MP and diarist. He served as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments of Employment, Trade, and Defence, and became a privy counsellor in 1991...
that he should stand for the Referendum Party
Referendum Party
The Referendum Party was a Euro-sceptic, single issue party in the United Kingdom formed by Sir James Goldsmith to fight the 1997 General Election. The party called for a referendum on aspects of the UK's relationship with the European Union.-Policy:...
. He had said that the Conservatives "in the West Midlands will be running on alternative manifesto", presumably meaning with other local Maastricht Rebels, Christopher Gill (Ludlow) and Richard Shepherd
Richard Shepherd
Richard Charles Scrimgeour Shepherd is a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom. He is currently a Member of Parliament, having represented the constituency of Aldridge-Brownhills since 1979....
(Aldridge & Brownhills). Despite losing with a 9.9% swing from the Conservatives to Labour, of the 144 seats that Labour gained from the Conservatives it had the joint-tenth lowest swing, and was one of only 13 seats that changed hands with a swing in single figures.
Whilst Budgen was in favour of limiting immigration and opposed a ban on handguns, unusually for a right wing MP he was against and voted against capital punishment, he had also voted to lower the age of consent for homosexuals.
Budgen was a keen huntsman. He had hunted in 29 of the UK's counties, and in his youth was well known as a particularly fearless rider; he wrote regularly for Horse and Hound and occasionally for the Wall Street Journal, The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
, Glasgow Herald and The Irish Times
The Irish Times
The Irish Times is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Kevin O'Sullivan who succeeded Geraldine Kennedy in 2011; the deputy editor is Paul O'Neill. The Irish Times is considered to be Ireland's newspaper of record, and is published every day except Sundays...
. Budgen was described in the Commons by one former minister as being "worth ten placeman" and by the Daily Telegraph as the "late, great Nicholas Budgen". He seemed to take great joy in continuing Wolverhampton South West's feud (begun by Enoch Powell
Enoch Powell
John Enoch Powell, MBE was a British politician, classical scholar, poet, writer, and soldier. He served as a Conservative Party MP and Minister of Health . He attained most prominence in 1968, when he made the controversial Rivers of Blood speech in opposition to mass immigration from...
) with Edward Heath
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath, KG, MBE, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as Leader of the Conservative Party ....
, heckling him at any opportunity.
Powell had let it be known that he would refuse a peerage while Heath was still in the Commons, and the latter refused to retire from the Commons for so long as he thought Powell might have a chance of a peerage. According to Julian Critchley
Julian Critchley
Sir Julian Michael Gordon Critchley was a British Conservative Party politician.Born in Islington, the son of a distinguished neurosurgeon, as a boy Critchley was brought up in Swiss Cottage, north London, and Shropshire, where he attended preparatory school, and later Shrewsbury School...
, Budgen purchased his suits from Oxfam
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
and rarely bought anyone a drink.
He attempted to stand for the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
along with the fellow euro-sceptic ex-MPs Norman Lamont
Norman Lamont
Norman Stewart Hughson Lamont, Baron Lamont of Lerwick, PC is a British politician and former Conservative MP for Kingston-upon-Thames. He is best-known for his period serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer, from 1990 until 1993...
and Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill (grandson)
Winston Spencer-Churchill , generally known as Winston Churchill, was a British Conservative Party politician and a grandson of former Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.-Early life:...
: all failed. Diagnosed with liver cancer and given only months to live he faced his fate matter of factly. Whilst on his death bed, he rediscovered the Anglicanism of his youth, organised the sale of his many horses and planned his funeral. His funeral service was near his Lichfield
Lichfield
Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
farm at Lichfield Cathedral
Lichfield Cathedral
Lichfield Cathedral is situated in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. It is the only medieval English cathedral with three spires. The Diocese of Lichfield covers all of Staffordshire, much of Shropshire and part of the Black Country and West Midlands...
, where he had been baptised and where his grandfather had been Dean; the eulogy was given by his close friend and fellow Maastricht rebel Richard Shepherd
Richard Shepherd
Richard Charles Scrimgeour Shepherd is a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom. He is currently a Member of Parliament, having represented the constituency of Aldridge-Brownhills since 1979....
, at his memorial service at Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
another close friend Charles Moore
Charles Moore
Charles Moore may refer to:*Charles Moore , America Olympic hurdler*Charles Moore , director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney...
gave a eulogy.
Quotations
On the Downing Street DeclarationDowning Street Declaration
The Downing Street Declaration was a joint declaration issued on 15 December 1993 by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, John Major, and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, Albert Reynolds at the British Prime Minister office in 10 Downing Street...
which stated that Britain has "no selfish, strategic or economic interest" in maintaining the Union with Northern Ireland. Budgen asked John Major the question -
"Can I reassure my constituents that the United Kingdom has an interest in maintaining Wolverhampton in the Union?"
On the 1988 Budget - "It is the most irresponsible budget I have ever heard, it will be downhill from now on. In one fell swoop Mr Lawson has squandered five years of responsible economic management."
On supporting Douglas Hurd
Douglas Hurd
Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell, CH, CBE, PC , is a British Conservative politician and novelist, who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major between 1979 and his retirement in 1995....
in the 1990 Conservative leadership contest:
"it is the Conservative worker's fate to be betrayed by his leader, so we may at least be betrayed elegantly."
"New Labour will not nationalise industry, it will instead nationalise people."
"If the Conservatives say beggars should be kicked once, then New Labour will say that beggars should be kicked twice."
"It would be my general feeling that the transference of power to Europe was so important a matter as to require a vote against any organisation and any party that wished to transfer that power."
On John Major: "he would make a reasonably competent head of a Wolverhampton Social Security office."
"If it [Labour] comes to power, those solid citizens will put pressure on the fresh-faced public school boy (Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
) and we shall be back to the old story of an enormous public sector borrowing requirement, higher taxes and higher interest rates, and there will be no difference whatsoever in substance between the fresh-faced public school boy and all the old chaps who are in favour of old Labour."
Ken Livingstone
Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstone is an English politician who is currently a member of the centrist to centre-left Labour Party...
, Mayor of London and former Labour MP once "said admiringly" to Nick Budgen in 1996: "you've made Major change his policy on Europe, again and again.".
External links
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk_politics/newsid_201000/201623.stm
- http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_199810/ai_n8815454/Spectator Obituary by Jonathan AitkenJonathan AitkenJonathan William Patrick Aitken is a former Conservative Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom, and British government minister. He was convicted of perjury in 1999 and received an 18-month prison sentence, of which he served seven months...
] - Daily Telegraph Article by Andrew Gimson
- http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-60544385.html
- http://www.questia.com/PM.qst;jsessionid=FpLRCqdq6hxm8vJhCvGhD2czfn2GvtQ1xCWRly1hcbcFM245nRzt!812724775?a=o&d=5001642146
New Statesman Article