Sir William Michael John Grylls (21 February 1934 – 7 February 2001) 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 in ...
politician. He was implicated in the
cash-for-questions affair
The "cash-for-questions affair" was a political scandal of the 1990s in the United Kingdom.
It began in October 1994 when ''The Guardian'' newspaper alleged that London's most successful parliamentary lobbyist, Ian Greer of Ian Greer Associates ...
, a political scandal of the 1990s. He was the father of adventurer and the
Scout Association
The Scout Association is the largest Scouting organisation in the United Kingdom and is the World Organization of the Scout Movement's recognised member for the United Kingdom. Following the origin of Scouting in 1907, the association was form ...
’s
Chief Scout A Chief Scout is the principal or head scout for an organization such as the military, colonial administration or expedition or a talent scout in performing, entertainment or creative arts, particularly sport. In sport, a Chief Scout can be the prin ...
Bear Grylls.
Education and early career
Grylls was born in Folkestone, Kent, the son of
Brigadier
Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. I ...
William Edward Harvey Grylls , of the
15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars, and Rachel Elizabeth, daughter of Brigadier General Kempster Kenmure Knapp and a cousin of the journalist and Conservative politician
Bill Deedes
William Francis Deedes, Baron Deedes, (1 June 1913 – 17 August 2007) was a British Conservative politician, army officer and journalist. He was the first person in Britain to have been both a member of the Cabinet and the editor of a major da ...
. The Grylls family owned and lived at Winterbourne Zelston House,
Blandford
Blandford Forum ( ), commonly Blandford, is a market town in Dorset, England, sited by the River Stour about northwest of Poole. It was the administrative headquarters of North Dorset District until April 2019, when this was abolished and ...
,
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...
; the family can be traced back to 17th century
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
. He was educated at the
Royal Naval College, Dartmouth
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
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* Royal, Iowa, a ci ...
. His eyesight was not good enough for the Navy, so he joined the
Royal Marines, and saw active service, leaving in 1955, and studying Spanish at the
University of Madrid.
He turned his hand to business, setting up a wine importing firm called the '
Costa Brava Company'. His description of some of his products as "Spanish champagne" provoked the ire of both the makers of genuine
champagne
Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, ...
and its London importers; he was unsuccessfully prosecuted for trading under a false description, but they won a
civil action
-
A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil act ...
against him for "
passing off
Passing off is a common law tort which can be used to enforce unregistered trade mark rights. The tort of passing off protects the goodwill of a trader from misrepresentation.
The law of passing off prevents one trader from misrepresenting go ...
", i.e. misrepresenting his goods by using someone else's trademark.
From 1959 he served as a councillor on
St. Pancras Borough Council, and was elected to the
Greater London Council for the
Cities of London and Westminster from 1967 to 1970.
Family
Grylls married Sarah (Sally) Smiles Justice Ford, the daughter of
Patricia Ford, Lady Fisher, briefly an
Ulster Unionist
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movem ...
MP, and cricketer
Neville Montagu Ford. Sally is the stepdaughter of Conservative MP
Nigel Fisher
Sir Nigel Thomas Loveridge Fisher, MC (14 July 1913 – 9 October 1996) was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom.
Early life
Son of naval officer Sir Thomas Fisher and Aimée Constance, daughter of Walter Loveridge, of Oaken, ...
and the stepsister of Labour MP
Mark Fisher
Mark Fisher (11 July 1968 – 13 January 2017), also known under his blogging alias k-punk, was an English writer, music critic, political and cultural theorist, philosopher, and teacher based in the Department of Visual Cultures at Goldsm ...
. The Gryllses have one daughter, Lara Sarah Grylls, and one son,
Edward Michael "Bear" Grylls, the adventurer, TV presenter and the
Scout Association
The Scout Association is the largest Scouting organisation in the United Kingdom and is the World Organization of the Scout Movement's recognised member for the United Kingdom. Following the origin of Scouting in 1907, the association was form ...
’s
Chief Scout A Chief Scout is the principal or head scout for an organization such as the military, colonial administration or expedition or a talent scout in performing, entertainment or creative arts, particularly sport. In sport, a Chief Scout can be the prin ...
, who is most recognised as the host of ''
Born Survivor''.
Career as Member of Parliament
Grylls was an unsuccessful candidate in the
Fulham constituency in both the
1964
Events January
* January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
* January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...
and
1966 general elections. At the
1970 general election, he was returned to 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. T ...
as
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
Chertsey
Chertsey is a town in the Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, south-west of central London. It grew up round Chertsey Abbey, founded in 666 CE, and gained a market charter from Henry I. A bridge across the River Thames first appeared in t ...
in
Surrey. His seat was abolished in boundary changes, but he was returned to
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
for the new
North West Surrey constituency in the
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 ...
general election. He represented this
constituency until his retirement at the
1997 election.
Andrew Roth
Andrew Roth (23 April 1919 – 12 August 2010) was a biographer and journalist known for his compilation of ''Parliamentary Profiles'', a directory of biographies of British Members of Parliament, a small sample of which is available online in ...
, author of ''Parliamentary Profiles'', in assessing Grylls's ideology, accused him of "opportunistic deviations", for example favouring little state interference with business, but supporting public funds for
British Aerospace
British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marcon ...
, which was a large employer in his constituency.
He was
knighted in the
1992 New Years Honours List.
Cash for questions
For some years Grylls had acted as a consultant to the lobbying company run by
Ian Greer at the heart of the ''Cash-for-Questions'' inquiry. The
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards
The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is an officer of the British House of Commons. The work of the officer is overseen by the Commons Select Committee on Standards.
The current commissioner is Kathryn Stone.
Duties
The commissioner i ...
, Sir
Gordon Downey
Sir Gordon Stanley Downey (26 April 1928 – 12 April 2022) was Britain's first Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.
The Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards was set up by the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in ...
, stated that Grylls had "seriously misled" the
select committee on members' interests in 1990 (replaced in 1995 by the
Standards and Privileges Committee) by understating the number of payments he had received for introducing clients to ministers
and Grylls' conduct, said Sir Gordon, had fallen "below the standards the House is entitled to expect of its members".
The Committee concluded that Grylls had "received payments from Mr Greer (though not in cash) which were neither introduction commissions nor fees associated with the Unitary Tax Campaign. It is not possible to conclude that these payments originated from
Mohamed Al-Fayed, although Sir Michael actively participated in the Greer lobbying operation. Sir Michael deliberately misled the Select Committee on Members' Interests in 1990 by seriously understating the number of commission payments he had received; and by omitting to inform them of other fees received from Mr Greer. Sir Michael persistently failed to declare his interests in dealings with Ministers and officials over the
House of Fraser. Sir Michael's action in taking a commission payment for introducing a constituent to Mr Greer was unacceptable. There is insufficient evidence to show that Sir Michael solicited business for Mr Greer in expectation of commission payments."
Other
Grylls was a member of the
Royal Yacht Squadron
The Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS) is a British yacht club. Its clubhouse is Cowes Castle on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom. Member yachts are given the suffix RYS to their names, and are permitted (with the appropriate warrant) to w ...
until his death in 2001; his widow remains an honorary member. In ''
Piers Morgan's Life Stories
''Kate Garraway's Life Stories'' (formerly known as ''Piers Morgan's Life Stories'' until 2021) is a British television chat show on ITV1, presented by Kate Garraway and was formerly presented by Piers Morgan. Recorded in front of a studio aud ...
'', Bear Grylls said that his father had a pace-maker fitted in February 2001, but suddenly died of a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
two days after his operation while recovering at home.
References
Sources
* ''Times Guide to the House of Commons'', Times Newspapers Limited, 1992 edition.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grylls, Michael
1934 births
2001 deaths
Graduates of Britannia Royal Naval College
University of Paris alumni
Royal Marines officers
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Members of St Pancras Metropolitan Borough Council
Members of the Greater London Council
UK MPs 1970–1974
UK MPs 1974
UK MPs 1974–1979
UK MPs 1979–1983
UK MPs 1983–1987
UK MPs 1987–1992
UK MPs 1992–1997
Knights Bachelor
Politicians awarded knighthoods
British Eurosceptics