Sir James Gerald Douglas Howarth (born 12 September 1947) 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. He was 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
Aldershot
Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alders ...
from
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 ...
until
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
, having been the MP for
Cannock and Burntwood from 1983 to 1992.
He was the
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (or just Parliamentary Secretary, particularly in departments not led by a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), Secretary of State) is the lowest of three tiers of Minister (government), government minist ...
at the
Ministry of Defence
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
as Minister for International Security Strategy from May 2010 to September 2012 and is chairman of
Conservative Way Forward
Conservative Way Forward (CWF) is a British pressure and campaigning group, which is Thatcherite in its outlook and agenda. Margaret Thatcher was its founding President.
Conservative Way Forward was founded in 1991 to "defend and build upon th ...
. In 2016, he joined the political advisory board of
Leave Means Leave
Leave Means Leave was a pro-Brexit, Eurosceptic political pressure group organisation that campaigned and lobbied for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union following the 'Leave' result of the EU referendum on 23 June 2016. The campai ...
. He stood down at the
2017 general election.
Early life and career
The son of James and Mary Howarth, he was educated at
Bloxham School
Bloxham School, also called All Saints' School, is an independent co-educational day and boarding school of the British public school tradition, located in the village of Bloxham, three miles (5 km) from the town of Banbury in Oxfordshir ...
and the
University of Southampton
, mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour
, type = Public research university
, established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...
(BA Hons), and married Elizabeth Jane (née Squibb) in 1973; the couple have two sons and a daughter, Emily, who is married to Conservative MP
James Cartlidge
James Roger Cartlidge (born 30 April 1974) is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Suffolk since 2015, and has been serving as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury since October 2022. He ...
.
Howarth joined the Conservative party in 1964. and in March 1968 was present at the
Grosvenor Square
Grosvenor Square is a large garden square in the Mayfair district of London. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Duke of Westminster, and takes its name from the duke's surname "Grosvenor". It was developed for fashionable re ...
anti-Vietnam War demonstration, waving a US flag in support of the war, saying "Well, there were three of us. I suspect that I am unique among those of us who were there in Grosvenor Square on that horrifying and frightening occasion in so far as mine was the only banner in support of the Americans. I took the precaution of ensuring that there was a thin blue line of men from the Metropolitan police between me and the hordes, and very wise I was, too". On 16 April 1970 Howarth demonstrated in favour of the abolition of
exchange controls
Foreign exchange controls are various forms of controls imposed by a government on the purchase/sale of foreign currencies by residents, on the purchase/sale of local currency by nonresidents, or the transfers of any currency across national bor ...
outside the
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 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...
. On 14 January 1975 he wrote to ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' newspaper defending the conviction of
Ricky Tomlinson
Eric "Ricky" Tomlinson (born 26 September 1939) is an English actor. He is best known for his television roles as Bobby Grant in '' Brookside'', DCI Charlie Wise in ''Cracker'' and Jim Royle in '' The Royle Family'', and playing the titular cha ...
and Des Warren over the Shrewsbury building strike.
A qualified private
pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
, he was commissioned into the
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
The Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) was established in 1936 to support the preparedness of the U.K. Royal Air Force in the event of another war. The Air Ministry intended it to form a supplement to the Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF ...
as an
acting pilot officer
Acting pilot officer (A/Plt Off) is the lowest commissioned grade in the Royal Air Force. Acting pilot officer is not an actual military rank, therefore acting pilot officers are regraded to pilot officer instead of receiving a promotion. Unl ...
in 1968, serving until late 1969. Twenty years later, in 1988, he received the
Britannia Airways
Britannia Airways was a charter airline based in the UK. It was founded in 1961 as Euravia and became the world's largest holiday airline. Britannia's main bases were at London Gatwick, London Stansted, London Luton, Cardiff, Bristol, East Mi ...
Parliamentary Pilot of the Year Award. In 1971 was employed by the
Bank of America
The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...
International Ltd., where he remained until 1977, when he moved to the European Arab Bank until 1981. He then became the Syndication Manager for the
Standard Chartered Bank
Standard Chartered plc is a multinational bank with operations in consumer, corporate and institutional banking, and treasury services. Despite being headquartered in the United Kingdom, it does not conduct retail banking in the UK, and around ...
for the next two years, after which he was first elected to parliament.
Howarth was General Secretary of the
Society for Individual Freedom
The Society for Individual Freedom (SIF) is a United Kingdom-based association of libertarians, classical liberals, free-market conservatives and others promoting individual freedom. It has links to the British intelligence community.
Early ye ...
, a right-wing pressure group, from 1969 to 1971 after leaving university.
[''Dod's Guide to the General Election, June 2001''](_blank)
, Vacher Dod Publishing, 2001, page 152 He was also once an active member of the
Conservative Monday Club
The Conservative Monday Club (usually known as the Monday Club) is a British political pressure group, aligned with the Conservative Party, though no longer endorsed by it. It also has links to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Ulster Unioni ...
while at university. From 1973 to 1977 he was Director of the Freedom Under The Law Group.
He served as an elected councillor on the
London Borough of Hounslow
The London Borough of Hounslow () is a London borough in West London, England, forming part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 when three smaller borough councils (forming part of the former Middlesex County Council area) amalgamated under ...
from 1982 to 1983, and sat on its Environmental Planning, and Finance and General Purposes Committees.
While
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
was governed under the
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
system, Howarth set up a "Hain prosecution fund" to raise money to privately prosecute anti-apartheid activist
Peter Hain
Peter Gerald Hain, Baron Hain (born 16 February 1950), is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2005 to 2007, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2007 to 2008 and twice as Secretary of State ...
, later a Labour cabinet minister. The prosecution was sponsored by the Society for Individual Freedom, of which Howarth was the general secretary. According to
John Mann, Howarth and Francis Bennion set up an organisation to counter the anti-apartheid movement called "Freedom Under Law".
Parliamentary career
First spell (1983–92)
Howarth was first elected for the
Cannock and Burntwood constituency in the Conservative landslide victory at the
1983 general election. Allegations of far-right sympathies were made against Howarth in a controversial January 1984 ''
Panorama
A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...
'' programme, "
Maggie's Militant Tendency
This article outlines, in chronological order, the various controversies surrounding or involving the BBC.
Early years 1926 General Strike
In 1926, the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) called a General Strike to prevent wage r ...
". Howarth and his friend
Neil Hamilton both successfully sued the BBC and were each awarded £20,000 damages for libel in October 1986, with their court costs paid.
Howarth was Parliamentary Private Secretary to
Michael Spicer
William Michael Hardy Spicer, Baron Spicer, (22 January 1943 – 29 May 2019) was a British politician and life peer who was a Conservative member of the House of Lords from 2010 until 2019. He served as Member of Parliament for West Worcest ...
when Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Energy 1987–90, and as Minister of State, Department of the Environment in 1990. He lost his seat at the
1992 general election. He was absent from parliament for five years, but was re-elected at the
1997 United Kingdom general election
The 1997 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 1 May 1997. The governing Conservative Party led by Prime Minister John Major was defeated in a landslide by the Labour Party led by Tony Blair, achieving a 179 seat majority.
Th ...
as MP for
Aldershot
Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alders ...
.
Second spell (1997–2017)
He is a supporter of the British
defence industry
The arms industry, also known as the arms trade, is a global industry which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. It consists of a commercial industry involved in the research and development, engineering, production, and s ...
, when, speaking in support of the industry, he told delegates at a meeting in 2009 sponsored by the Defense Industries Council that "People who decry the defence industry should hang their heads in shame because it is a noble industry". He also told the meeting that, should his party attain government, he could accept the title of "Minister for War" reflecting his belief that wider Government should recognise that Great Britain is at war and support the armed forces appropriately.
In 2001, Howarth was one of several famous faces duped into appearing on the Channel Four ''
Brass Eye
''Brass Eye'' is a British satirical television series parodying current affairs news programming. A series of six episodes aired on Channel 4 in 1997, and a further episode in 2001. The series was created and presented by Chris Morris, writte ...
'' television programme; this was the "Paedogeddon" spoof episode, where he agreed to read out anti-paedophile warnings.
In a programme in 2008 about the fall of
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
, Howarth told
Michael Portillo
Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo (; born 26 May 1953) is a British journalist, broadcaster and former politician. His broadcast series include railway documentaries such as ''Great British Railway Journeys'' and '' Great Continental Railway Journ ...
that he was "gutted" when Thatcher resigned in November 1990.
At the
2015 general election Howarth was joined in the Commons by his son-in-law,
James Cartlidge
James Roger Cartlidge (born 30 April 1974) is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Suffolk since 2015, and has been serving as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury since October 2022. He ...
, the Conservative MP for
South Suffolk. On 20 April 2017, Howarth announced he would not be seeking re-election in the
2017 general election and now resides in Suffolk.
Race relations
In 1999, Howarth questioned the conclusion of the
Macpherson report
Stephen Lawrence (13 September 1974 – 22 April 1993) was a black British teenager from Plumstead, southeast London, who was murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Well Hall Road, Eltham on the evening of 22 Apr ...
(into Stephen Lawrence's death) that the Metropolitan police are "institutionally racist" as "a grotesque over-reaction."
In 2005, he said about Muslims: "If they don't like our way of life, there is a simple remedy: go to another country, get out. There are plenty of other countries whose way of life would appear to be more conducive to what they aspire to. They would be happy and we would be happy".
After
British Airways
British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...
in November 2006 indicated that a member of its check-in staff would not be permitted to display a cross over her uniform, Howarth announced his decision to boycott the
flag carrier
A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations.
Hist ...
and said that "the idea that somehow it has become unacceptable to demonstrate that (Christian) faith is bizarre...the cross is a modest symbol. It is not an aggressive or provocative gesture... it is a quiet demonstration of faith".
In August 2014, he warned about the dangers of immigration to Britain as he perceives them in a leaked e-mail to a constituent and declared that
Enoch Powell
John Enoch Powell, (16 June 1912 – 8 February 1998) was a British politician, classical scholar, author, linguist, soldier, philologist, and poet. He served as a Conservative Member of Parliament (1950–1974) and was Minister of Health (1 ...
was right in his anti-immigration
"rivers of blood" speech in April 1968: "Clearly, the arrival of so many people of non-Christian faith has presented a challenge, as so many of us, including the late Enoch Powell, warned decades ago".
Homosexuals
In 2000, he described the lifting of the ban on homosexuals in the military as "appalling" and went on to state that the "decision will be greeted with dismay, particularly by "ordinary" soldiers in Her Majesty's forces, many of whom joined the services precisely because they wished to turn their backs on some of the values of modern society".
In 2005 he criticised the
gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
Labour Minister
Peter Mandelson
Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson (born 21 October 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as First Secretary of State from 2009 to 2010. He was President of the Board of Trade in 1998 and from 2008 to 2010. He is the ...
because his life-partner, Reinaldo Avila da Silva, a
Brazilian translator who had been living in the UK for seven years, had received British citizenship. Howarth described Avila da Silva as Mandelson's 'consort', who was less deserving of citizenship than others.
On 20 May 2013, whilst debating the
Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill
The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (c. 30) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which introduced same-sex marriage in England and Wales.
Background
Civil partnerships were introduced in the United Kingdom in 2004, allowi ...
, Howarth warned of "the aggressive homosexual community who see this as but a stepping stone to something even further." Howarth did not elaborate on what "something further" would be.
Expenses
Following the expenses scandal of 2009, Howarth said that he had "acted within the rules" set out by the House of Commons, but nonetheless repaid expenses identified by Sir Thomas Legg as being unreasonable.
After the 2012 reshuffle, he was recommended for a knighthood and was appointed a
Knight Bachelor
The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...
on 20 September 2012.
In April 2013, he was appointed chairman of the Thatcherite campaign group
Conservative Way Forward
Conservative Way Forward (CWF) is a British pressure and campaigning group, which is Thatcherite in its outlook and agenda. Margaret Thatcher was its founding President.
Conservative Way Forward was founded in 1991 to "defend and build upon th ...
.
Whistleblowing
Howarth is now the chairman of Addveritas – advisors on
whistleblowing
A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...
.
Notes
References
* Copping, Robert, ''The Story of the Monday Club – The First Decade'', Current Affairs Information Service, London, April 1972, (P/B).
* ''
Dod's Parliamentary Companion
''Dods Parliamentary Companion'' (formerly "Dod's Parliamentary Companion") is an annual politics reference book published in the United Kingdom.
It provides biographies and contact information on members of the Houses of Parliament and the Ci ...
'' 1991, 172nd edition, London.
* Ellis, Dr.Frank, ''The Macpherson Report: 'Anti-racist' Hysteria and the Sovietization of the United Kingdom'', published by Right Now Press Ltd., London, 2001,(P/B),
External links
Gerald Howarth MP''official constituency website''
Gerald Howarth MPConservative Party profile
Aldershot and North Hampshire Conservatives*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howarth, Gerald
Living people
1947 births
People educated at Bloxham School
Alumni of the University of Southampton
Royal Air Force officers
Councillors in the London Borough of Hounslow
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 1983–1987
UK MPs 1987–1992
UK MPs 1997–2001
UK MPs 2001–2005
UK MPs 2005–2010
UK MPs 2010–2015
UK MPs 2015–2017
Members of the Freedom Association
20th-century Royal Air Force personnel