Oliver Piers Stutchbury (January 1927 – February 2011) was a British politician. Born in

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, Stutchbury was educated at

Radley College Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley, is a public school (independent boarding school for boys) near Radley, Oxfordshire, England, which was founded in 1847. The school covers including playing fields, a golf course, a lake, and ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he served with the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

, becoming a lieutenant, then he attended

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

. He became a solicitor's clerk, and joined the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. He stood in Rhondda East at the 1951 United Kingdom general election, taking second place but only 10.3% of the vote.
, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 28 February 2011 Later in the 1950s, Stutchbury became concerned about nuclear proliferation. He left the Conservatives and joined the

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuc ...

; by the 1960s, he had also joined the Labour Party. He worked at the Save and Prosper unit trust fund, the largest in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

, became its Chief Executive, and wrote ''The Management of Unit Trusts'', an influential textbook. However, he resigned from his job in 1966 to work as a volunteer fundraising adviser to the Labour Party, also completing a PhD at King's College. This was soon published as ''Use of Principle'', in which he argued that all lies were unethical. In 1970, Stutchbury resigned from his fundraising role, complaining that his ideas were not being taken up, and instead sought a winnable Parliamentary seat. He failed to be selected, and although he was shortlisted for the post of

General Secretary of the Labour Party The General Secretary of the Labour Party is the most senior employee of the British Labour Party, and acts as the non-voting secretary to the National Executive Committee. When there is a vacancy the National Executive Committee selects a provi ...

in 1972, he also failed to be selected for that post. Instead, in 1973, he stood in the 1973 Greater London Council election, in Ealing. Although narrowly defeated, he was appointed as an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

. However, he decided that the council was ineffective, resigned and published ''Too Much Government? A Political Aeneid''. He launched the GLC Abolitionist Campaign, which attracted defectors from parties as diverse as the Communist Party of Great Britain and the National Front. It stood 31 candidates in the 1977 Greater London Council election, but attracted few votes. Stutchbury moved to

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, where he ran a business. In 1980, he was linked to the formation of the Association of Democratic Groups, led by

Colin Phipps Colin Barry Phipps (23 July 1934 – 10 January 2009) was a British petroleum geologist and chairman of several petroleum companies. From 1974 to 1979 he was a Labour Party Member of Parliament, but in the 1980s he joined the Social Democratic P ...

.Lindsay Mackie, "Centre party 'plans' revealed", ''

'', 25 September 1980 This achieved little, and the Abolitionist Campaign was revived as "Abolish the GLC" for the 1981 Greater London Council election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stutchbury, Oliver 1927 births 2011 deaths Alumni of King's College, Cambridge British Army personnel of World War II Conservative Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Grenadier Guards soldiers Labour Party (UK) councillors Members of the Greater London Council People educated at Radley College