John Arbuthnot Du Cane Wilkinson (23 September 1940 – 1 March 2014) was a British
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 ...
politician. He was educated at
Eton College
Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...
and
Churchill College, Cambridge.
Electoral history
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
Bradford West
Bradford West is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament since 2015 United Kingdom gene ...
from
1970
Events
January
* January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC.
* January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...
until
February 1974
The following events occurred in February 1974:
February 1, 1974 (Friday)
*Joelma fire, A fire killed 177 people and injured 293 others in the 23-story Joelma Building at São Paulo in Brazil. Another 11 later died of their injuries. The bl ...
, when he was defeated by the
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 ...
candidate
Edward Lyons. He failed to regain the seat against Lyons in
the following general election that same year.
In the
1979 general election he was elected as MP for
Ruislip-Northwood, succeeding
Petre Crowder, where he was re-elected in the successive general elections in
1983,
1987,
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 ...
,
1997 and
2001.
Wilkinson did not stand in the
May 2005 general election, and the succeeding MP for Ruislip-Northwood was fellow
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 ...
,
Nick Hurd
Nicholas Richard Hurd (born 13 May 1962) is a British politician who served as Minister for London from 2018 to 2019 and Minister of State for Policing and the Fire Service from 2017 to 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, he was the Member ...
. By the time of his retirement, Wilkinson was one of the longest-serving Conservative MPs, having served 30 years in Parliament.
Parliamentary career
Wilkinson remained on the backbenches for most of his parliamentary career, apart from two brief periods as a
Parliamentary Private Secretary
A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...
(PPS): to the Minister of State for Industry from 1979 to 1980 and to the Secretary of State for Defence from 1981 to 1982.
Guardian Unlimited Politics – Aristotle
/ref>
A former member of the Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
(RAF), he spoke frequently in debates on defence and from 1979 to 1990 he was a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of The Western European Union
The Western European Union (WEU; french: Union de l'Europe occidentale, UEO; german: Westeuropäische Union, WEU) was the international organisation and military alliance that succeeded the Western Union (WU) after the 1954 amendment of the 1948 ...
(WEU). He also served as a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...
.
Wilkinson was one of the Maastricht Rebels
The Maastricht Rebels were British Members of Parliament (MPs) belonging to the then governing Conservative Party who refused to support the government of Prime Minister John Major in a series of votes in the House of Commons on the issue of t ...
, from whom the Conservative whip
A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...
was withdrawn when they voted against legislation to ratify the Maastricht Treaty
The Treaty on European Union, commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty, is the foundation treaty of the European Union (EU). Concluded in 1992 between the then-twelve member states of the European Communities, it announced "a new stage in the ...
on European Union. Wilkinson and the other rebels continued to oppose the European policy of Conservative 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 is not ...
John Major
Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...
for much of the 1992–97 parliament.
In popular culture
Wilkinson was portrayed by Jasper Jacob in the 2002 BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...