Robert Antony Hayward, Baron Hayward, (born 11 March 1949) is a British Conservative Party politician and media commentator.

Early life

Hayward was educated at

Abingdon School Abingdon School is an independent day and boarding school in Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. It is the List of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom, twentieth oldest Independent School (UK), independent British school. In May 202 ...

and Maidenhead Grammar School, where he was head boy. He won a scholarship to study economics (honours) at the

University of Rhodesia The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) is a public university in Harare, Zimbabwe. It was opened in 1952 as the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and was initially affiliated with the University of London. It was later renamed the Univers ...

. He served as national vice-chairman of the Young Conservatives from 1976 to 1977 and was a councillor on

Coventry City Council Coventry City Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the city of Coventry in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Coventry has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasi ...

from 1976 to 1978.

Parliamentary career

Hayward first stood for Parliament, unsuccessfully, at

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, ; , 'Merlin's fort' or possibly 'Sea-town fort') is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community (Wales), community in Wales, lying on the River Towy north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. At the 2021 United Kingdom cen ...

, in October 1974, being beaten by the leader of

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...

Gwynfor Evans Gwynfor Richard Evans (1 September 1912 – 21 April 2005) was a Welsh politician, lawyer and author. He was President of the Welsh political party Plaid Cymru for thirty-six years and was the first member of Parliament to represent it at West ...

. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingswood from

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

to 1992. In January 1992 he "talked out" the second reading of the Civil Rights (Disabled Persons) Bill, and had to apologise for misleading the House. He lost his seat in the 1992 general election to Labour's

Roger Berry Roger Leslie Berry (born 4 July 1948) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingswood from the 1992 general election until his defeat at the 2010 general election. Early life Roger Berry was born ...

. In 1993, Hayward was the unsuccessful Conservative candidate at the

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

, losing the

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both. With such seats, there is very little chance of a seat changing h ...

by a swing of over 35% to the

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

candidate. During the campaign he was targeted by disability rights activists from the

Disabled People's Direct Action Network The Disabled People's Direct Action Network (DAN) is a disability rights activist organisation in England and Wales that campaigned for civil rights with high-profile street demonstrations involving civil disobedience, rallies and protests. Prio ...

for previously blocking legislation that would have improved disabled people's rights. During his time in the House of Commons, he served on the Energy Select Committee (1984–85), the Conservative Party's Aviation Committee (1984–92) and as PPS at the Department for Trade & Industry, including to

Michael Howard Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who was Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposi ...

as the then minister for corporate and consumer affairs. Hayward was also PPS to

Paul Channon Henry Paul Guinness Channon, Baron Kelvedon, (9 October 1935 – 27 January 2007) was Conservative MP for Southend West for 38 years, from 1959 until 1997. He served in various ministerial offices, and was a Cabinet minister for 3½ years, as ...

, the secretary of state for transport, between 1987 and 1989, a period that saw the

Lockerbie bombing Pan Am Flight 103 (PA103/PAA103) was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via a stopover in London and another in New York City. Shortly after 19:00 on 21 December 1988, the Boeing 747 "Clipper Maid of th ...

Clapham Clapham () is a district in south London, south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (including Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Ea ...

and Kings Cross rail disasters and the Kegworth air crash. In 1989, Hayward successfully predicted the number of MPs not supporting

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

in the leadership election. In 1990, Hayward conducted similar analysis for the first leadership ballot and the implications of the second. Prior to the 1992 general election, Hayward correctly forecast a Conservative victory on the basis of an analysis of the opinion polls and election results in 1991 and submitted in a paper written for the party leadership, including prime minister, John Major. Although the term was not coined by Hayward, his paper gave rise to the phrase ' shy Tory'. The paper (and forecast) was referred to in ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' on 12 April 1992.

Rugby referee

Throughout his time as an MP, Hayward continued to referee rugby union, having qualified in 1980. Following his election defeat in 1992, he was promoted to national level and officiated at division 3 and 4 and county championship matches. Hayward refereed the first inter-parliamentary rugby game – between Britain and France in 1991.

Gulf War hostages

Hayward was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) for his services to friends and families of hostages prior to the Gulf War in 1991

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

, when he established and ran, with others, the Gulf Support Group for civilians who were held after the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. This service ran initially from Hayward's home, then from offices in London.

After Parliament

Following his Commons career, in 1994 he became chief executive of the British Soft Drinks Association. He then moved to become chief executive of the

British Beer and Pub Association The British Beer and Pub Association is the drinks and hospitality industry's largest and most influential trade association representing some 90% of UK brewing (by volume) and the ownership of around 20,000 of the nation's pubs. History The A ...

in 1999, a post he held until 2009. Hayward has been a prominent spokesman on gay and lesbian issues since

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

after leaving parliament, and in 1996 was one of the founding members and first chairman of the

Kings Cross Steelers The Kings Cross Steelers are a British rugby union team, based in London. Founded in 1995, it was the world's first gay-inclusive rugby union club. Its founding sparked the beginning of a much larger gay-inclusive rugby movement which to date i ...

who successfully competed as the first gay rugby union team in the world. As of 2015, he is currently a vice-president of the club. Hayward was recipient of national Rugby Writers Award on 13 January 2020 for 'services to rugby'. Hayward stepped down as CEO of the Beer and Pub Association to concentrate on his career as a psephologist and political analyst. He was an advisor to the then-

chairman of the Conservative Party The chairman of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom is responsible for party administration and overseeing the Conservative Campaign Headquarters, formerly Conservative Central Office. When the Conservative Party (UK), Conservatives are ...

Eric Pickles Eric Jack Pickles, Baron Pickles, (born 20 April 1952) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Brentwood and Ongar from 1992 United ...

and was widely credited with identifying 'motorway man' as a key factor in the 2010 general election. During 2009/10 he had responsibility for preparing policy for the Conservative Party to reduce the size of the House of Commons. He subsequently worked at Conservative Campaign Headquarters on the Conservative Party's proposals for the abortive 2011–13 boundary review. Hayward was deputy chairman of Central YMCA from 2011 until 2017, and treasurer of

Dignity in Dying Dignity in Dying (originally The Voluntary Euthanasia Legalisation Society) is a United Kingdom nationwide campaigning organisation. It is funded by voluntary contributions from members of the public, and as of December 2010, it claimed to hav ...

from 2012 to 2015. From 2012 to 2014, a non-executive director of Portcullis Public Affairs. In 2014 Hayward was presenter of the Business Breakfast Show on

Colourful Radio Colourful Radio is a commercial radio station broadcasting on DAB across London, Birmingham, Manchester as well as online. Colourful Radio's output is split between news, current affairs and urban music hit-list. History Founded in 2002 by Ko ...

. It was announced on 15 May 2012 that Robert Hayward would be chairing the government's Public Sector Equality Duty review. This review was completed in September 2013. In the

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

elections in the

London Borough of Southwark The London Borough of Southwark ( ) in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council ...

, Hayward was a candidate in Camberwell Green ward.

Return to Parliament

On 27 August 2015 it was announced in the Dissolution Honours list that Hayward would be awarded a life peerage. He was created Baron Hayward, ''of

Cumnor Cumnor is a village and civil parish 3½ miles (5.6 km) west of the centre of Oxford, England. The village is about 2 miles (3.2 km) south-west of Botley and its centre is west of the A420 road to Swindon. The parish includes Cumno ...

in the County of Oxfordshire'', on 28 September 2015. In June 2016, Hayward sponsored the Assisted Dying Bill 2016–17 in the House of Lords. In 2017, he revealed that he has been living with

multiple sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease resulting in damage to myelinthe insulating covers of nerve cellsin the brain and spinal cord. As a demyelinating disease, MS disrupts the nervous system's ability to Action potential, transmit ...

. Hayward is a media commentator on elections and opinion polls, as well as an election night analyst for

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadc ...

in 2017 and TalkRadio in 2019.

References

Sources

*''The Times Guide to the House of Commons'',

Times Newspapers Ltd News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media conglomerate News Corp. It is the current publisher of ...

, 1983 *''The Times Guide to the House of Commons'',

, 1992 *''Almamac of British Politics'' (1999)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hayward, Robert 1949 births Living people People educated at Hampton School People educated at Abingdon School Conservative Party (UK) life peers Life peers created by Elizabeth II Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 Officers of the Order of the British Empire English gay politicians LGBTQ life peers Coventry City Councillors Conservative Party (UK) councillors LGBTQ members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom University of Zimbabwe alumni