Basil Reginald Vincent Ziani de Ferranti (2 July 1930 – 24 September 1988) was a British businessman and a

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 ...

politician. He was educated at Eton and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, and was the grandson of the electrical engineer and inventor

Sebastian de Ferranti Sebastian Pietro Innocenzo Adhemar Ziani de Ferranti (9 April 1864 – 13 January 1930) was a British electrical engineer and inventor. Personal life Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti was born in Liverpool, England. His Italian father, Cesare, was a ...

and son of Sir Vincent Ziani de Ferranti. He was an unsuccessful candidate at the 1955 general election in the Labour-held Manchester Exchange constituency. In 1958, he was elected 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 ...

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 Morecambe and Lonsdale at a by-election in 1958, following the elevation to the peerage of the constituency's Conservative MP, Ian Fraser. He held the seat at the 1959 general election, but stood down from

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 ...

at the 1964 election. He had held ministerial office only briefly, as Parliamentary Secretary for Aviation from July to October 1962. He later became a member (1973–1979) and chairman (1976–1978) of the European

Economic and Social Committee The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is a consultative body of the European Union (EU) established in 1958. It is an advisory assembly composed of "social partners", namely: employers ( employers' organisations), employees (trade ...

. He subsequently became a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP), and a Vice President from 1979 to 1982.European Parliament
/ref> He represented the Hampshire West constituency from 1979 to 1984, and Hampshire Central from 1984 until his death.

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1930 births 1988 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge 20th-century British businesspeople Conservative Party (UK) MEPs Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies English people of Italian descent Ferranti MEPs for England 1979–1984 MEPs for England 1984–1989 Ministers in the Macmillan and Douglas-Home governments, 1957–1964 People educated at Eton College UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1930s-stub