William John Biffen, Baron Biffen, (3 November 1930 – 14 August 2007), was a British Conservative Party politician. A member of the House of Lords, he was previously a Member of Parliament for over 35 years, and served in Margaret Thatcher's cabinet.

Early life and education

The son of Victor William Biffen, a tenant farmer, of Hill Farm,

Otterhampton Otterhampton is a village and civil parish in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England, between Bridgwater and the Steart Peninsula. The civil parish includes the larger village of Combwich and the small village of Steart. History It wa ...

Bridgwater Bridgwater is a large historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. Its population currently stands at around 41,276 as of 2022. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies alon ...

, Somerset, and his wife Edith Annie ('Tish'), John Biffen was born in Bridgwater, Somerset, in 1930. He was educated firstly at Combwich village school, followed by Dr. Morgan's Grammar School, Bridgwater. He then earned a scholarship to Jesus College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a first class honours degree in History. From 1953 to 1960 he worked for Tube Investments Ltd. In the 1960s he joined the Mont Pelerin Society.

Political career

Having previously stood unsuccessfully against Richard Crossman at Coventry East in

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

, Biffen was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of

Oswestry Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads. The town was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...

, later renamed Shropshire North, from the time of his election at a by-election in 1961 until his retirement at the 1997 general election. In his early political career he was a disciple of Enoch Powell, voting for him in the Conservative leadership election of 1965. Biffen was a

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek reform ...

and voted in a parliamentary division in 1972, opposing his own party, against the UK's entry into the EC. He championed tight fiscal policy and opposed state intervention in economic management. This stance barred his way to advancement under Edward Heath, but contributed to his promotion under Margaret Thatcher.

In government

Biffen served in Thatcher's government in the successive positions of Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Secretary of State for Trade, and as Leader of the House of Commons. Thatcher writes in '' The Downing Street Years'' (1993) that "(Biffen) had been a brilliant exponent in Opposition of the economic policies in which I believed... But he proved rather less effective than I had hoped in the gruelling task of trying to control public expenditure." In 1981, he allowed Rupert Murdoch to buy '' The Times'' and '' The Sunday Times'' without reference to the Monopolies Commission. According to Woodrow Wyatt, who helped persuade Thatcher to ensure this, the Commission "almost certainly would have blocked it". As Leader of the House, Biffen used the guillotine to cut short debate on the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1986. Edward Pearce has written that Biffen "was widely thought the best post-war floor leader". Biffen's image as an economic "dry" mellowed during his time in government, and he made blunt public calls for greater moderation in government policy. In 1980 he warned the country to prepare for "three years of unparalleled austerity". In 1981 Biffen gave a speech to a fringe meeting at that year's Conservative Party Conference in which he argued the party was "within touching distance of the débâcles of

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

and

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

". He further claimed that far from cutting public spending, the government had increased it by two per cent since 1979 and that the government was part of an all-party consensus in favour of the welfare state and public spending: "We are all social democrats now", Biffen concluded in his speech. On 9 February 1986, he said that Toryism was "not a raucous political faction" and after the Conservative Party's losses in the 1986 local government elections, and poor performances in the two parliamentary by-elections held simultaneously, Biffen was interviewed on '' Weekend World'' by Brian Walden on 11 May as the government's spokesman. He called the results "Black Thursday", said the Conservatives needed to fight the next general election on a "

balanced ticket In United States politics, balancing the ticket is a practice where a political candidate chooses a running mate, usually of the same party, with the goal of bringing more widespread appeal to the campaign. The term is most prominently used to des ...

" and that "no one seriously supposes that the Prime Minister would be Prime Minister throughout the entire period of the next Parliament". This alienated him from Thatcher and resulted in his being dropped from the Cabinet after the 1987 general election. His dismissal was no surprise, in that Thatcher's press secretary Bernard Ingham had already famously called him a "semi-detached" member of the Cabinet. Thatcher in her memoirs described Biffen's desire for a balanced ticket as "foolish" and "a recipe for paralysis." Nevertheless, Thatcher later admitted that Biffen's departure from the Cabinet was "a loss in some ways", because of his Euroscepticism and his "sound instincts on economic matters". In the month after his sacking Biffen likened Thatcher's governing style to that of a "

Stalinist Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...

regime".

Return to the Backbench

On the backbenches Biffen voted against the Local Government Finance Act 1988 which introduced the Community Charge (the poll tax). He voted against the Maastricht Treaty and was in favour of a referendum on the EU Constitution so he could vote "No".

House of Lords

On 3 June 1997 he was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

, as Baron Biffen, of Tanat in the County of Shropshire.

Personal life

Biffen married Sarah Wood in 1979. He had one stepson, Nicholas Wood, a correspondent with ''The New York Times'' and ''International Herald Tribune'', and a stepdaughter, Lucy. The family lived at Tanat House, Llanyblodwel.

Political views

Despite his right-wing views on economic policy, he was very much to the left of Margaret Thatcher on social policy. Similarly to Powell, he completely opposed capital punishment and was very supportive of equal gay rights but wanted less immigration. Biffen also opposed the tightening of laws restricting abortion and voted in 1990 to preserve the limit at 28 weeks. Brian Walden noted that Biffen was the "most honest" politician he had interviewed.

Death

Biffen died on 14 August 2007, aged 76, after a short illness. He had suffered from kidney failure for many years. He was survived by his wife, stepson and stepdaughter.

In popular culture

Biffen was portrayed by Roger Brierley in the 2004 BBC production of '' The Alan Clark Diaries''.

Notes

Bibliography

*John Biffen, ''Nation in Doubt'' (Conservative Political Centre, 1976). *John Biffen, ''Political Office, or Political Power?: Six Speeches on National and International Affairs'' ( Centre for Policy Studies, 1977). *John Biffen, 'The Conservatism of Labour', in Maurice Cowling (ed.), ''Conservative Essays'' (Cassell, 1978), pp. 155–167. *John Biffen, 'Inside the House of Commons', (1989). *John Biffen, ''Inside Westminster'' (Andre Deutsch Ltd, 1996).