Vernon Edward Hartley Booth (born 17 July 1946) is a former

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

politician.

Political career

Having stood unsuccessfully for

Hackney North and Stoke Newington Hackney North and Stoke Newington is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom since 1987 by Diane Abbott of the Labour Party, who served as Shadow Home Secretary from 6 October 2016 to 5 April 2020. Abbott was o ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

, Booth succeeded

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 from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

as the

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 in ...

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 o ...

for Finchley from the 1992 general election until the constituency was abolished in the 1997 general election. Booth resigned in February 1994 as a parliamentary private secretary to

Douglas Hogg Douglas Martin Hogg, 3rd Viscount Hailsham, Baron Hailsham of Kettlethorpe (born 5 February 1945), is a British politician and barrister. A member of the Conservative Party he served in the Cabinet as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Foo ...

, then the Foreign Office minister of state, after newspaper reports of a relationship with House of Commons researcher

Emily Barr Emily Barr is a British travel writer and novelist. She debuted with the novel ''Backpack'' in 2001. In additional to travel fiction, she has also written young adult novels and a horror. Career Barr had been working as a journalist for ''The ...

. Despite his resignation, Booth insists that "there was no sexual impropriety" between himself and Barr. This was politically embarrassing to the John Major government of the time, following the backlash of Major's '' Back to Basics'' initiative, and in January 2015, the satirical magazine '' Private Eye'' criticised Booth for his alleged hypocrisy, saying it went against his recommendations in the newly released 1985 memo that the government should instil values of "personal responsibility, basic honesty, nd respect forthe law and the police" from an early age. Barr went on to be a successful journalist and novelist. Booth lost a bruising nomination battle with the Hendon South MP John Marshall for the new

Finchley and Golders Green Finchley and Golders Green is a constituency created in 1997 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. The current MP is Mike Freer of the Conservative Party, who has held the seat since 2010. Boundaries 1997–2010: The ...

constituency, and was unsuccessful in finding another seat before the election. Marshall lost the 1997 general election to Labour's

Rudi Vis Rudolf Jan Vis (4 April 1941 – 30 May 2010) was a Dutch-born British Labour politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Finchley and Golders Green from 1997 to 2010. Early life Vis was born in 1941 in the town of Alkmaar, in th ...

. Booth was a co-author of a 1985 memo by former Number 10 adviser

Oliver Letwin Sir Oliver Letwin (born 19 May 1956) is a British politician, Member of Parliament (MP) for West Dorset from 1997 to 2019. Letwin was elected as a member of the Conservative Party, but sat as an independent after having the whip removed in S ...

, advising that the then-

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

ought not to regenerate certain inner cities, claiming that black youths would use the money for the "discotheque and drug trade", and added: "So long as these bad moral attitudes remain, efforts to improve the inner cities will flounder." However, Booth has "largely escaped notice" with regards to co-authoring the memo.

Personal life

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

lay preacher with a wife and three children, Booth is related to the founders of the Salvation Army.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Hartley Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1992–1997 1946 births Living people