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Francis Pym has died

Former Foreign Secretary Francis Pym has died.

The last year has seen us lose other 'greats' from the Thatcher years: Ian Gilmour, John Biffen and Bernard Weatherill.

The Times: "Pym won plaudits as Foreign Secretary during and after the Falklands conflict but was sacked after Mrs Thatcher's landslide re-election win in June 1983. In the run-up to that election, as the unofficial leader of the Cabinet "wets", or "One Nation Tories", he had suggested that a Thatcher landslide might not be the best thing for the country."

Sky: "He first entered the Commons in 1961, after a career in business and a distinguished war record.  He was awarded the Military Cross and twice mentioned in despatches after serving as a Captain in the 9th Royal Lancers during the African and Italian campaigns."

6.45pm Comment from Alistair Burt MP: "I was lucky to have Francis as a constituent for the last few years. I last saw him about a year or so ago, and brought him upto date with our new Leader and what we were all about at Westminster. Though frail physically, his mind was sharp as ever. He missed not getting to Westminster in his latter years. He was immensely loved in Sandy, Beds, where his family home lies and all the characteristics written about above, his sense of public service and his courtesy to all were always in evidence. He will be well remembered in humble homes tonight as well as the grandest, which is not a bad measure of a man. The Conservative Party has been the better for his presence within in and his service to it."

A good man: Owen Paterson's tribute to John Biffen

Owen Paterson has kindly sent us the address he gave at yesterday's Memorial Service in honour of his predecessor as MP for North Shropshire, John Biffen.  Lord Biffen died last August.  We've posted the address in full below.

Baroness Thatcher, Lord Howe, Lord Heseltine and Ken Clarke were all among yesterday's attendees.

Lord Gilmour has died

Lord Gilmour, former Spectator Editor and Cabinet minister, will be best remembered for being a leading Tory critic of Margaret Thatcher.

The Metro has a first report | BBC

Saturday morning:

Telegraph: "The former Conservative Cabinet minister Lord Gilmour of Craigmillar died. He was 81.  Lord Gilmour, a staunch opponent of Thatcherism and a pro-European, died at the West Middlesex Hospital following a short illness, his eldest son David said.  Ian Gilmour served as Defence Secretary in Edward Heath's government in the 1970s and Lord Privy Seal in Margaret Thatcher's first government, before being removed in 1981."

Scotsman: "Dubbed the "wettest of the wets", he was sacked in 1981 and became a persistent and outspoken critic of Thatcherism.  He responded to his dismissal by issuing a statement declaring Mrs Thatcher was steering "full speed ahead for the rocks".  Pro-Europe, against hanging, and opposed to the poll tax, he was also a trenchant critic of monetarist economics."

John Biffen has died

Lord Biffen, as he became in 1997, served Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Secretary of State for Trade, and as Leader of the House of Commons.

As Secretary of State for Trade he controversially declined to refer Rupert Murdoch's purchase of Times newspapers to the competition authorities.

He was dropped by Margaret Thatcher in 1987 after he had called for a more balanced conservatism.  Bernard Ingham, Mrs Thatcher's press secretary, famously described him as semi-detached after his remarks.

Just described by Lord Heseltine on Today as one of the original Powellites, Biffen was both an opponent of the poll tax and of the Maastricht Treaty.

Reactions: BBC | Telegraph | Times | Iain Dale | EU Referendum | Conservative History Group

10.30am update: A tribute from Owen Paterson, John Biffen's successor as MP for Shropshire North:

“John Biffen was an exceptional man. He was MP for North Shropshire for 35 years and people of all parties and all interests owe him a great debt. He was greatly admired as a constituency MP for his conscientious hard work, his judgement and his kindness to all regardless of their political affiliation.

On the national stage, he was first and foremost a great parliamentarian, still remembered as one of the finest leaders of the House of the last fifty years. Liked and respected by both friends and opponents, he handled the House with fairness and a deft sense of humour. He was a staunch believer in the sovereignty of the House of Commons.

He played a key role in the revival of the Conservative party’s fortunes in the 1970s as a member of Margaret Thatcher’s inner circle, rethinking and developing the policies that led to 18 years of Conservatives Government and the transformation of Great Britain.

However, to the end he was brave and independent minded, never afraid to part company with the party line if he believed it to be wrong.

My thoughts go out to his wife Sarah and his step children Lucy and Nicholas. She has always been a tower of strength and in particular, has looked after him with unfailing care in recent years as his health declined.”

David Cameron said: "John Biffen was a thoughtful and principled politician. He was also a great House of Commons man and was liked and respected across all parties.  I know that he will be missed by his family and my thoughts are with his wife, Sarah."

3.30pm: Iain Dale has set up a Facebook group to pay tribute to John Biffen.

Heseltine and Tebbit lead tributes to Lord Weatherill

BBC: "Although Lord Weatherill was a Tory MP, in the Lords he was convenor of the crossbench peers and his father was a member of the Independent Labour Party.  Tributes were being paid to him on Monday from across the political spectrum.  Lord Heseltine, the former Tory deputy prime minister, said: "He was a popular Speaker and a good one."  Lord Tebbit, the Tory peer and former party chairman, described him as "one of life's gentlemen".  Former Labour MP Tam Dalyell, an ex-Father of the House of Commons, said: "Albeit he once called me 'the platoon sergeant of the awkward squad', I rated him in the very highest league of Speakers, partly because he resisted pressure from Margaret Thatcher, and was fair to those with dissenting opinions. He was superb in being host to people from developing countries, particularly Asians as he spoke Urdu.""

Gerald Ford has died

Gerald Ford, US President from 1974 to 1976, has died aged 93, his widow Betty has announced.  Ford became America's leader in the exceptional circumstances after Richard Nixon's resignation and his presidency was always overshadowed by Nixon.  He chose 'A return to honesty' as the theme of his presidency although his decision to pardon his predecessor for the Watergate scandal was very controversial.  He was an otherwise unexceptional leader and he contributed to the economic consensus that brought America low during the 1970s.

President Bush has issued the following statement:

"Laura and I are greatly saddened by the passing of former President Gerald R. Ford.  President Ford was a great American who gave many years of dedicated service to our country. On August 9, 1974, after a long career in the House of Representatives and service as Vice President, he assumed the Presidency in an hour of national turmoil and division. With his quiet integrity, common sense, and kind instincts, President Ford helped heal our land and restore public confidence in the Presidency.  The American people will always admire Gerald Ford's devotion to duty, his personal character, and the honorable conduct of his administration. We mourn the loss of such a leader, and our 38th President will always have a special place in our Nation's memory. On behalf of all Americans, Laura and I offer our deepest sympathies to Betty Ford and all of President Ford's family. Our thoughts and prayers will be with them in the hours and days ahead."

Ford did contribute one of my very favourite quotations to the conservative movement:

"A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have."

Fox News' timeline.

General Pinochet is dead

"He may be a sonofabitch but he's our sonofabitch" was a favourite soundbite of the Cold War era.  As the west attempted to 'contain communism' we formed alliances with regimes that had dubious human rights records.  One of those regimes was that of General Pinochet of Chile, who has died today.  Pinochet's admirers recognise his Friedmanite reforms whilst dictatorial ruler, the fact that he resigned once a democratic government had been elected and that he built a nation which remains one of the most prosperous in Latin America.  His more numerous critics remember concentration camps and more than two thousand deaths at the hands of his security apparatus.  It certainly was not a happy time for the Conservative Party when Margaret Thatcher celebrated her Falklands War ally during his period of house arrest in the UK.

Tomorrow sees Tory MPs William Hague and Gary Streeter launch the first annual report of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission.  It will be interesting to see if the Commission is willing to criticise human rights abusing nations in the world today that are otherwise partners for Britain in economic and political matters.  Sam Coates will be submitting a full report on the CPHRC's work tomorrow.

Milton Friedman has died

MILTON FRIEDMAN - ONE OF THE MOST ARTICULATE DEFENDERS OF FREE MARKET CAPITALISM - HAS DIED. 

His wisdom is captured in some of the quotations pasted below:

"Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program."

"Inflation is the one form of taxation that can be imposed without legislation."

"Many people want the government to protect the consumer. A much more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government."

"Nobody spends somebody else's money as carefully as he spends his own. Nobody uses somebody else's resources as carefully as he uses his own. So if you want efficiency and effectiveness, if you want knowledge to be properly utilized, you have to do it through the means of private property."

"Government power must be dispersed. If government is to exercise power, better in the county than in the state, better in the state than in Washington. If I do not like what my local community does, be it in sewage disposal, or zoning, or schools, I can move to another local community, and though few may take this step, the mere possibility acts as a check. If I do not like what Washington imposes, I have few alternatives in this world of jealous nations."

"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there'd be a shortage of sand."

“Most economic fallacies derive - from the tendency to assume that there is a fixed pie, that one party can gain only at the expense of another.”

17/11 updates: Margaret Thatcher's tribute is recorded on Sky News and Iain Murray has written a must-read tribute on National Review Online.

18/11 update: Milton Friedman's writings for The Wall Street Journal.

Lord Harris of High Cross has died

John Blundell of the Institute of Economic Affairs has issued the following statement:

"I am very sorry indeed to inform you that Lord (Ralph) Harris died suddenly at his home in north London this morning.  An ambulance was called at 8am but he could not be revived at hospital and a heart attack is suspected.  At this point we have no other details but we will be sure to inform you as and when."

Ralph Harris was one of the great thinkers behind the Thatcher years and Britain's economic renaissance.  He will be sadly missed.

4.15pm update from Eamonn Butler on the ASI blog: "Together with Arthur Seldon and John Wood, Ralph Harris built the Institute of Economic Affairs into a power-house of free-market and classical liberal ideas, and for many years Ralph was the IEA's public face. This work was marked by the peerage which came soon after Mrs Thatcher's election in 1979. True to his principles, however, he allied himself with no political party, and sat on the cross benches in the House of Lords."

Danny Finkelstein (5pm): "I owe a great deal to Ralph Harris and the late Arthur Seldon, the men who founded the Institute of Economic Affairs and were tireless campaigners for liberty. Their greatest achievement in the as to promote the idea of free market reform when it was deeply unfashionable. By changing the mind of a few individuals in the Conservative Party they changed the world."

A video tribute to Eric Forth

Produced by Paul Osborn.

Eric Forth MP has died

Rt Hon Eric Forth died last night.

The MP for Bromley & Chislehurst was in the Commons last week and reported stomach pains to colleagues.  He looked unwell and sought medical advice after dislocating his shoulder.  It was revealed to him that he had advanced and inoperable bone cancer.

Mr Forth, born in 1944 and brought up in Glasgow in a tenement, was a schools minister in the Major government.

He will be most remembered for his love of parliament and he constantly blocked legislation of all kinds.  He believed that too much legislation was one of Britain's greatest ills and constantly opposed ten minute rule bills and private members' bills.  When Shadow Leader of the House of Commons his weekly encounters with Robin Cook became great parliamentary occasions.

He loved Elvis Presley and a lifesize cardboard cutout of the 'King' in his office stood alongside all kinds of American ephemera.  His taste in clothes was outlandish - golden watch chains, waistcoats and flamboyant ties - and a sketchwriter once likened him to a Victorian undertaker on a day out at the races.

On the right of the party he was a Eurosceptic (although he didn't resign over Maastricht) and fiercely opposed the modernisation of the party and parliament.

Although he held strong and controversial views on almost everything he was well liked across the House because his apparent fierceness only thinly concealed affability and because people recognised that his love of parliament, in all its splendour, indicated a real commitment to service of his country.

'Sir Caspar', great friend of Britain, has died

Caspar Weinberger - a great warrior friend of Britain during the Falkands and Cold Wars - has died.

Times Online: "Caspar Weinberger, the former US Defence Secretary awarded an honourary knighthood by Margaret Thatcher for persuading Ronald Reagan to support the Falklands conflict, died [today] aged 88. His wife of 63 years, Jane, was at his bedside."

BBCi: "He joined the Reagan administration in 1981... Mr Weinberger shared with President Reagan a conviction that the Soviet Union was the biggest threat to the US and he oversaw the biggest peacetime increase in defence spending in US history... During his time in office, Mr Weinberger persuaded Congress to fund the so-called "Star Wars" programme - a system for defending the US against incoming missiles from space and by land... Mr Weinberger was also an ally of the former UK Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, promising her US support during the Falklands War with Argentina in 1982."

Chris Tame, founder of the Libertarian Alliance, has died

Sean Gabb, Director of the Libertarian Alliance, has distributed this email message this morning:

"It is with the deepest regret that I must announce the death of Dr Chris R. Tame, Founder and President of the Libertarian Alliance.

Chris founded the Libertarian Alliance in the early 1970s. During the next 30 years, he worked tirelessly to recover the British libertarian tradition as a seamless heritage of freedom. He took issue with those Conservatives who saw freedom in terms purely of pounds and pence - and often not even as that. He took issue also with those who demanded freedom in all matters but those involving the getting and spending of money. He believed that freedom should be defined in the traditional English sense, as the rights to life, liberty and justly acquired property.

IDS pays tribute to John Profumo

Iain Duncan Smith has written a tribute to John Profumo on the day of his funeral:

"Toynbee Hall is one of the jewels in the crown of this nation's charitable sector. It is the kind of caring institution that commands the love and respect of the British people, an institution that never walks away from people, however hopeless or disadvantaged their circumstances may seem.  Toynbee Hall gave John Profumo his second chance in life and he used it well. It was at Toynbee hall that I first met him and discovered – through others – all the good work that he had done. So many people, who owe the quality of their lives to him, spoke warmly of this one time disgraced politician.  Everyone deserves a second chance. It's what you do with it that marks your life. Real greatness for John Profumo lay not in counting honours and awards, or amassing fame and fortune, but in using his second chance to give other much more vulnerable people their second chance."

See the full article in The Yorkshire Post.