William David Mudd (2 June 1933 – 28 April 2020) was a British politician. Mudd was born in

Falmouth, Cornwall Falmouth ( ; kw, Aberfala) is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,797 (2011 census). Etymology The name Falmouth is of English or ...

, in June 1933. He was educated at

Truro Cathedral School Truro Cathedral School was a Church of England school for boys in Truro, Cornwall. An ancient school refounded in 1549 as the Truro Grammar School, after the establishment of Truro Cathedral in the last quarter of the 19th century it was responsi ...

and was a member of the Tavistock Urban District Council from 1959 to 1961. He carried out his

National service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

on merchant ships in the 1950s and, after working for a brief period as a stage manager in ballrooms all over the UK, he decided to take on a career in radio and television broadcast journalism. He was

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

MP for Falmouth and Camborne from 1970 until 1992, when he stood down. It was considered a surprise when he decided to stand in his old constituency at the 2005 general election as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate. He came fifth with 2% of the vote. In the 1970s, Mudd was a member of

Mebyon Kernow Mebyon Kernow – The Party for Cornwall (, MK; Cornish for ''Sons of Cornwall'') is a Cornish nationalist, centre-left political party in Cornwall, in southwestern Britain. It currently has five elected councillors on Cornwall Council, and s ...

as well as the Conservative Party. He was also a newsreader on

Westward Television Westward Television was the first ITV franchise-holder for the South West of England. It held the franchise from 29 April 1961 until 31 December 1981. After a difficult start, Westward Television provided a popular, distinctive and highly regar ...

in the 1970s and a Cornish bard. He died in

Derriford Hospital Derriford Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Plymouth, England. The hospital serves Plymouth and nearby areas of Devon and Cornwall. It also provides tertiary cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery and renal transplant surgery for the whol ...

, Plymouth, Devon in April 2020 at the age of 86.

References

*Times Guide to the House of Commons 1987, BBC news website

External links

Mr David Mudd: speeches in Parliament
Hansard 1803-2005 1933 births 2020 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Independent politicians in England Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Cornwall People educated at Truro Cathedral School Politicians from Cornwall UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 Bards of Gorsedh Kernow {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1930s-stub