Brigadier Sir Frank Medlicott
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(10 November 1903 – 9 January 1972) was a
National Liberal Party and later
Liberal Party
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politician in the
United Kingdom
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.
He first stood for parliament as a Liberal, contesting
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in 1929.
He was elected as a National Liberal
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
East Norfolk at a
by-election in 1939 after the National Liberal MP
Viscount Elmley had succeeded to the peerage as the 8th
Earl Beauchamp
Earl Beauchamp () was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
The peerage was created in 1815 for William Lygon, 1st Baron Beauchamp, along with the subsidiary title Viscount Elmley, in the County of Worcester. He had already been creat ...
.
After the Woolton-Teviot agreement in 1947, The National Liberals and
Conservative Party
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Political parties called The Conservative P ...
merged local party associations and fielded joint candidates. Many candidates, including Medlicott, described themselves as "Conservative and National Liberal", or other permutations of the two names.
When the East Norfolk constituency was abolished for the
1950 general election, Medlicott was elected as Conservative and National Liberal MP for
Central Norfolk. In November 1956 Medlicott was a firm opponent of the Eden government's decision to invade the
Suez canal
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zone, but his stance was not supported by the Central Norfolk Conservative and National Liberal Association which passed a resolution dissociating themselves from the views of their MP.
On 1 May 1957 Medlicott announced that he would not contest the next election, writing to the association to tell them that he rejected their view that the Member of Parliament should do what party leaders tell him. In November 1957, Medlicott resigned the Conservative whip. He was invited to be the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
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candidate for the constituency but declined, and in November 1958 he applied to receive the Conservative whip again (which was granted). Medlicott duly retired from the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
at the
1959 election. He re-joined the Liberal Party, however, he did not stand again for election. From 1969 he served as the Liberal Party's National Treasurer.
[''The History of the Liberal Party'' by ]Roy Douglas
Richard Roy Douglas (12 December 1907 – 23 March 2015) was an English composer, pianist and arranger. He worked as musical assistant to Ralph Vaughan Williams, William Walton, and Richard Addinsell, made well-known orchestrations of works su ...
See also
*
1939 East Norfolk by-election
References
*
*
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Further reading
''Sir Frank Medlicott, The life and political career of a Liberal and Liberal National MP and activist'' by David Dutton: Journal of Liberal History, Issue 51, Summer 2006
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Medlicott, Frank
1903 births
1972 deaths
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
National Liberal Party (UK, 1931) politicians
UK MPs 1935–1945
UK MPs 1945–1950
UK MPs 1950–1951
UK MPs 1951–1955
UK MPs 1955–1959
Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates
Knights Bachelor
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Royal Artillery soldiers
Royal Artillery officers
British Army personnel of World War II