Sir Derek Harold Spencer, KC (born 31 March 1936) is a British

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 ...

politician.

Education and career

Born in Clitheroe,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, he was educated at Clitheroe Royal Grammar School and

Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to th ...

. He served as a lieutenant in the King's Own Regiment from 1954 to 1956. He became a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

in 1961 and 'took silk' as a QC in 1980. He is a Master of the Bench, Gray's Inn.

Political career

Spencer was elected councillor for the Highgate ward on Camden London Borough council in 1978 and was re-elected in 1982, this time for the Swiss Cottage ward. Spencer resigned from Camden council after he was elected as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for the Leicester South constituency in the Conservative landslide of 1983, by just 7 votes — the smallest margin in the country. He lost the seat back to

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

. He was elected for the marginal Brighton Pavilion seat in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, when he was knighted and appointed Solicitor-General. As Solicitor General, he represented the government in several significant cases including ''Wingrove v UK'' (1997) about the application of blasphemy law under the

Human Rights Act 1998 The Human Rights Act 1998 (c. 42) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received royal assent on 9 November 1998, and came into force on 2 October 2000. Its aim was to incorporate into UK law the rights contained in the European Con ...

. In

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, however, he was defeated by Labour's

David Lepper David Lepper (born september 1945) is a British Labour and Co-operative politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brighton Pavilion from 1997 to 2010. Non-political life Lepper was educated at the University of Kent where he took a ...

by 13,181 votes on a 13.5% swing.

Memberships

* ''Ex officio'' Bar Council, 1992–1997 * Criminal Bar Association * Northern Ireland Bar * South Eastern Circuit

Family

Spencer has three sons (David, Andrew and Frederick) and one daughter (Caroline). His second wife, Caroline, died on 10 January 2003 of a heart attack.

References

External links

* 1936 births British King's Counsel Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1992–1997 Solicitors General for England and Wales Living people Members of Gray's Inn 21st-century King's Counsel Politicians from Brighton and Hove Conservative Party (UK) councillors Councillors in the London Borough of Camden {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1930s-stub