![Nigel Hastilow 2016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Nigel_Hastilow_2016.jpg)
Nigel Hastilow (born 1956) is a journalist, author, businessman and politician. He is a former editor of the ''
Birmingham Post
The ''Birmingham Post'' is a weekly printed newspaper based in Birmingham, England, with a circulation of 2,545 and distribution throughout the West Midlands. First published under the name the ''Birmingham Daily Post'' in 1857, it has had a s ...
'' and was
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
candidate for
Birmingham Edgbaston
Birmingham Edgbaston is a constituency, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Preet Gill, a Labour and Co-operative MP.
The most high-profile MP for the constituency was former Prime Minister Neville Chamber ...
in the
2001 general election. In April 2007, Hastilow was selected a prospective parliamentary candidate (PPC) for the Conservative Party for the
Halesowen and Rowley Regis constituency but was deselected after he received criticism about a newspaper column he wrote for the ''
Express & Star
The ''Express & Star'' is a regional evening newspaper in Britain. Founded in 1889, it is based in Wolverhampton, England, and covers the West Midlands county and Staffordshire.
Currently edited by Martin Wright, the ''Express & Star'' publish ...
'' which included the statement "
Enoch Powell
John Enoch Powell, (16 June 1912 – 8 February 1998) was a British politician, classical scholar, author, linguist, soldier, philologist, and poet. He served as a Conservative Member of Parliament (1950–1974) and was Minister of Health (1 ...
was right", sparking a national controversy about immigration and racism.
[Tories rebuke race row candidate](_blank)
BBC News
Education
Hastilow was born in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
and educated at
Mill Hill School
Mill Hill School is a 13–18 mixed independent, day and boarding school in Mill Hill, London, England that was established in 1807. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
History
A committee of Nonconformist ...
in London. After graduating from the
University of Birmingham
, mottoeng = Through efforts to heights
, established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...
, he trained as a journalist.
Journalism
Working for a variety of local newspapers in Birmingham, Hastilow became first political correspondent and then editor of the ''
Birmingham Post
The ''Birmingham Post'' is a weekly printed newspaper based in Birmingham, England, with a circulation of 2,545 and distribution throughout the West Midlands. First published under the name the ''Birmingham Daily Post'' in 1857, it has had a s ...
''. He subsequently became a columnist, set up his own publishing company which he later sold and also worked for the
Institute of Directors
The Institute of Directors (IoD) is a British professional organisation for company directors, senior business leaders and entrepreneurs. It is the UK's longest running organisation for professional leaders, having been founded in 1903 and incor ...
and the
Institute of Chartered Accountants. He writes regularly for the ''
Express & Star
The ''Express & Star'' is a regional evening newspaper in Britain. Founded in 1889, it is based in Wolverhampton, England, and covers the West Midlands county and Staffordshire.
Currently edited by Martin Wright, the ''Express & Star'' publish ...
'' and is author of ''
The Last of England'' and ''
Tomorrow's England''.
Political career
In 2001 Hastilow stood as a Conservative Party candidate in the constituency of Birmingham Edgbaston but lost to the Labour Party candidate at general election.
Earlier that year it had emerged that he had put a comment on his website which was subsequently taken up to attack Hague's leadership by
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
at
Prime Ministers Questions
Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs, officially known as Questions to the Prime Minister, while colloquially known as Prime Minister's Question Time) is a constitutional convention (political custom), constitutional convention in the United Kingdo ...
. However, the article itself had been approved by then party chairman
Michael Ancram
Michael Andrew Foster Jude Kerr, 13th Marquess of Lothian, Baron Kerr of Monteviot, (born 7 July 1945), commonly known as Michael Ancram, is a British politician and life peer who served as Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party from 2001 to ...
and argued that, contrary to the Prime Minister's claims, the Conservatives were the only party capable of defending Britain's interests and warning of Tony Blair's ambition to become the first President of the European Union.
In 2002 Hastilow was elected to
Stratford-on-Avon District Council where he served as a councillor for two years. During that period he claimed no expenses. He was the only Conservative to oppose a 52 per cent council tax increase and also succeeded in committing the local authority to opposing the Labour Party's hunting ban.
In April 2007. Hastilow was selected to represent the Conservative Party in the constituency of Halesowen and Rowley Regis. However, he was dumped following the publication of his column in the 5 November edition of the ''
Express & Star
The ''Express & Star'' is a regional evening newspaper in Britain. Founded in 1889, it is based in Wolverhampton, England, and covers the West Midlands county and Staffordshire.
Currently edited by Martin Wright, the ''Express & Star'' publish ...
'' which caused political controversy. He stated how allegedly "uncontrolled" immigration was becoming an increasingly big issue for people in his
Halesowen and Rowley Regis
Halesowen and Rowley Regis is a constituency in the West Midlands represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by James Morris, a Conservative.
Members of Parliament
Boundaries
Halesowen and Rowley Regis straddles ...
constituency. He said his constituents claimed that Enoch Powell, a politician noted for his
Rivers of Blood speech
The "Rivers of Blood" speech was made by British Member of Parliament (MP) Enoch Powell on 20 April 1968, to a meeting of the Conservative Political Centre in Birmingham, United Kingdom. His speech strongly criticised mass immigration, especi ...
, was right to warn that uncontrolled immigration would change the country dramatically.
[Evans, Stephen (2008) 'Consigning its Past to History? David Cameron and the Conservative Party', ''Parliamentary Affairs'', 61 (2): 291–314.]
This led to him being heavily criticised by fellow Tories such as
David Davis.
"Labour MP
Peter Hain
Peter Gerald Hain, Baron Hain (born 16 February 1950), is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2005 to 2007, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2007 to 2008 and twice as Secretary of State ...
, then Work and Pensions Secretary, said that Hastilow's remarks showed the Tories' "racist underbelly".
Political beliefs
Hastilow is an active member of the
TaxPayers' Alliance
The TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) is a pressure group in the United Kingdom which was formed in 2004 to campaign for a low-tax society. The group had about 18,000 registered supporters as of 2008 and claimed to have 55,000 by September 2010. However ...
, which campaigns for lower taxes and greater value for money in public spending. He is a supporter of
The Freedom Association
The Freedom Association (TFA) is a pressure group in the United Kingdom that describes itself as "a non-partisan, classically liberal campaign group, which has links to the Conservative Party and UK Independence Party (UKIP). TFA was founded in ...
, and has spoken at some of its events including a debate on the future of the BBC, and he is a backer of the
Drivers’ Alliance, an organisation dedicated to defending the interests of motorists.
He is a strong advocate of free market economics, believing high taxes and increased regulation stifle entrepreneurialism and force businesses to abandon Britain. He believes in the importance of manufacturing industry and regrets that successive governments have neglected this vital aspect of the economy.
A traditionalist on education, he was for some time a member of the Conservative Party committee (chaired by
John Bercow
John Simon Bercow (; born 19 January 1963) is a British former politician who was Speaker of the House of Commons from 2009 to 2019, and Member of Parliament (MP) for Buckingham between 1997 and 2019. A member of the Conservative Party prior to ...
, a previous
Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings.
Systems that have such a position include:
* Speaker of ...
) campaigning to protect the country's remaining grammar schools.
Hastilow is a confirmed Euro-sceptic. It was reported in 2008 that he had been approached to stand as a candidate for the
UK Independence Party
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...
(UKIP) at the European elections.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hastilow, Nigel
1956 births
Living people
Conservative Party (UK) parliamentary candidates
People educated at Mill Hill School
People from Birmingham, West Midlands
Alumni of the University of Birmingham
UK Independence Party politicians