Michael Spicer, Baron Spicer
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William Michael Hardy Spicer, Baron Spicer, (22 January 1943 – 29 May 2019) was a British politician and
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 ...
who was a Conservative member of the House of Lords from 2010 until 2019. He served as Member of Parliament for
West Worcestershire West Worcestershire is a constituency in Worcestershire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Harriett Baldwin, a Conservative. The constituency is considered a safe seat for the Conservatives. The constituency b ...
from 1974 to 2010 and was a minister from 1984 to 1990. He later served as chairman of the
1922 Committee The 1922 Committee, formally known as the Conservative Private Members' Committee, is the parliamentary group of the Conservative Party in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The committee, consisting of all Conservative backbench member ...
from 2001 to 2010.


Early life

He was born in
Bath, Somerset Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...
, to
Lt. Col. Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
(later Brigadier) L. Hardy Spicer and Muriel, daughter of Wallis G. Carter of Bath. Spicer was educated in Vienna, at Gaunts House Preparatory School and Wellington College, and received a degree in economics from
Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mon ...
. After graduation, he worked as a financial journalist for '' The Statist'', the ''
Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...
'' and '' The Sunday Times''. He was Director of Conservative Systems Research Centre from 1968 to 1970, and managing director of Economic Models Ltd from 1970 to 1980.


Parliamentary career

Spicer joined the Conservative Party, and at the 1966 general election, he challenged Manny Shinwell in the safe Labour Easington constituency as the youngest parliamentary candidate in the country against the eldest. He stood in Easington again at the 1970 general election before he was elected at the February 1974 general election for
South Worcestershire South Worcestershire was a parliamentary constituency which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system. The constituency was created f ...
. He represented South Worcestershire until 1997. When boundary changes abolished the constituency; he then moved to the
West Worcestershire West Worcestershire is a constituency in Worcestershire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Harriett Baldwin, a Conservative. The constituency is considered a safe seat for the Conservatives. The constituency b ...
seat, which he represented until his retirement from the Commons. After the 1979 general election, which swept the Conservatives to power, he became 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 ...
at the
Department of Trade Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
. He was later made a Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party. He became a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Transport in 1984 and served until 1987 with specific responsibility for aviation. In 1987, he moved to the Department of Energy, again as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary, this time with responsibility for electricity and coal. In January 1990, he was promoted to become a Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, but after the ousting of Margaret Thatcher in November 1990, he left the government payroll over his opposition to British participation in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. On leaving the government, he became the chairman of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee in the House of Commons. In 1993, he founded the
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 ...
European Research Group within the Conservative Party. In the
1996 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1996 were appointments by most of the sixteen Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other co ...
he received a knighthood, with the honour conferred by Queen Elizabeth II on 13 February 1996. After the 1997 general election he became a member of the Treasury Select Committee. He was an author and had a number of books published, including ''The Spicer Diaries''. His majority declined in 1997 in keeping with the general trend across the country, but he kept his seat which had become West Worcestershire after boundary changes that year. His majority almost doubled four years later, at the 2001 general election. However, unlike most other Conservative MPs, he failed to increase his majority in
2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
; instead, it was more than halved, and he held one of the Conservatives' most marginal seats against the Liberal Democrats, who had a 'decapitation' strategy. After the 2001 general election, Spicer was elected Chairman of the
1922 Committee The 1922 Committee, formally known as the Conservative Private Members' Committee, is the parliamentary group of the Conservative Party in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The committee, consisting of all Conservative backbench member ...
, a position that he held until he stood down in 2010. As chairman of the 1922 Committee, he had the distinction of presiding over more leadership elections than any of his predecessors since Iain Duncan Smith,
Michael Howard Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet posi ...
and
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
were all elected during his tenure. This record has now been surpassed by Graham Brady. In the Commons, he became known for asking short questions, usually of one-sentence questions to government ministers and at Prime Minister's Questions and once simply asking Gordon Brown, "Will the Prime Minister confirm that he will soldier on to the bitter end?" On another occasion, he asked Brown, "Why are there always so many strikes at the end of a Labour government?" On 26 March 2006, Spicer announced that he would not contest the Worcestershire West seat at the 2010 election and that he would retire as an MP.


Later life

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 ...
on 8 July 2010 as Baron Spicer, of
Cropthorne Cropthorne is a village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England within the Vale of Evesham, and on the North-west edge of the Cotswolds. It is approximately southeast of Worcester, north of Cheltenham, and southwest of Stratford-upon- ...
in the County of Worcestershire. He was sworn of the
Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...
on 15 May 2013 at
Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...
; as a peer, he acquired the
post-nominal letters Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, academic degree, accreditation, ...
"PC" for life.


Death

Spicer died in the
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is an Inner London borough with royal status. It is the smallest borough in London and the second smallest district in England; it is one of the most densely populated administrative regions in the ...
, London, from complications of Parkinson's disease and leukaemia on 29 May 2019.


References


External links


Sir Michael Spicer MP
official site

* ttps://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/michael_spicer/west_worcestershire TheyWorkForYou.com – Michael Spicer MP*
Ministerial Posts

BBC Politics page


News items


Elected Chairman of 1922 committee in 2001
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spicer, Michael 1943 births 2019 deaths Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge British Eurosceptics Conservative Party (UK) life peers Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Deaths from leukemia Deaths from Parkinson's disease Neurological disease deaths in the United Kingdom Deaths from cancer in the United Kingdom Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire People from Bath, Somerset UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 Life peers created by Elizabeth II Knights Bachelor Politicians awarded knighthoods