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."

Comments

[Justin Hinchcliffe]

Sad news. Good, though, to be reminded how the Conservative Party has always been a broad church.

[Radical Tory]

It's always sad when someone dies and my condolences go to his family. Though he had principle he was wrong on so many issues. Though I guess he had the last laugh getting to see the wets hijack the party...for now.

[Oberon Houston]

Good for CH to report this so promptly. Lord Gilmour was a great conservative (note the small 'c', hence the 'wet' label from Margaret Thatcher). I am also one of the 'wettest of wet' conservatives - therefore lament his passing and want to celebrate the signifigance of his conservative political life, it is our salvation. One Day.

[Disraeli]

Very sad news. We have lost a wonderful man and a very sharp thinker. A reminder that the Conservative tradition goes back well beyond 1975.

I hope that Conservative Home will be providing him with the fuller obituary that he deserves.

[Richard Woolley]

Ian Gilmour was a wonderfully languid figure, full of wisdom and common sense. I thoroughly enjoyed reading his book, Dancing with Dogma: Britain under Thatcherism. It gives a balanced,lucid analysis of the Thatcher years from a One Nation perspective.
He was right to oppose monetarism, it was a disaster, even Milton Friedman later disowned it.

[Alistair]

It's certainly sad to see the passing of a gentleman and a true Conservative -- so very different from the Thatcherites and disguised Thatcherites who control the party today.

[Editor]

If I had the time Disraeli I would write extended tributes to those senior Tories who die but I don't. If you click through the Obituaries category you will see that Ian Gilmour is being treated similarly to others who have recently passed away.

[Traditional Tory]

I certainly wasn't on Lord Gilmour's political wavelength (though I have moved a little closer to it over the years) but he was extremely erudite, and a true gentleman.

He wrote a book about the history and philosophy of Conservatism called Inside Right. Years later I wrote to him raising a query about some point in the book and said how much I enjoyed it.

In return I received a long and appreciative handwritten letter which I still treasure.

[Richard Carey]

Editor: If I had the time Disraeli I would write extended tributes to those senior Tories who die but I don't. If you click through the Obituaries category you will see that Ian Gilmour is being treated similarly to others who have recently passed away.

Just as a thought on this, "Disraeli", I am sure that if you wished to submit such a piece yourself as an item for consideration for the Platform section, the Editor might be able to make use of it.

[Editor]

Richard Carey is correct Disraeli. You'd be very welcome to submit something for the Platform blog.

[Londoner]

For those of us of a certain age, the reducing survival rate of Cabinet Ministers of the early Thatcher era (which doesn't seem all that long ago) is becoming a powerful reminder of our own middle age.

Consulting my 1979 Times HoC Guide for the 22 members of the first Thatcher cabinet in order of seniority, and going from memory, my tally is now 9 definitely dead, 8 definitely alive and 5 various shades of uncertainty (I'm sure they and their friends are not uncertain, it's just that I don't remember!). We might therefore have passed the 50% mark - anyone help with the ones I am unsure about (Pym, Younger, Edwards, Atkins, Jenkin)?:

Thatcher - very much alive!
Whitelaw - dead
Hailsham - dead
Carrington - alive
Howe - alive
Joseph - dead
Pym - think maybe dead, but hope I am wrong
Soames - dead
Prior - dead
Gilmour - dead
Walker - alive
Heseltine - alive
Younger - think maybe dead, but hope I am wrong
Edwards - think maybe dead, but hope I am wrong
Atkins - think maybe dead, but hope I am wrong
Jenkin - think maybe dead, but hope I am wrong
St John Stevas - alive
Nott - alive
Howell - alive
Carlisle - dead
Biffen - dead
Maude - dead

Incidentally of these, 4 had sons who either or, or have been, Tory MPs, of which 2 made Shadow Cabinet level at some point but none have yet served in a real Cabinet.

I may take this list forward for the entire Thatcher Governments and post it somewhere on here at some point. Without willing any of them towards an early demise, wouldn't it be a good idea to have some obituaries written by some of the surviving ones up your sleeve, like other quality outlets? They need not be the thoroughly researched ones re childhood etc, but appreciations from admirers of their political lives. I could think of some of these that I would be able to have a reasonable crack at without having to do any research. I can see that you'd have to be quite careful about a Heseltine one though in view of the strong feelings he would still invoke.

As for Ian Gilmour, I agree that his languid and effortless manner were his most memorable features. I remember that it was rumoured at the time that, bearing in mind his views, it was only his intelligence (to a small extent) and his dashing and gallant manner (to a much greater one) that kept him in Mrs Thatcher's team for as long as he was. Whatever his "noises off", it was to his credit that he remained in the House of Commons, actively participating, for nine years after his departure from the Cabinet.

[Traditional Tory]

Prior - dead

I think you'll find he is still alive and I think Pym is as well.

[Moral minority]

Londoner is incorrect. Francis Pym and Patrick Jenkin (father of Bernard) are alive. Humphrey Atkins, George Younger and Nicholas Edwards are sadly dead too.

Pym's Wikipedia entry says

"After winning a landslide [1983], Thatcher sacked him. When asked afterwards why she had terminated Pym's employment, Thatcher voiced public concern for the numerous persons, all afflicted with dwarfism, who resided in Pym's household. It was not public knowledge at the time that Pym fed them sweets almost exclusively, and would scold them fiercely when they stole his personal effects, which they frequently did."

Very weird, especially as Pym was Foreign Secretary at the time and had been Defence Secretary and Leader of the Commons!!

[Traditional Tory]

Thatcher voiced public concern for the numerous persons, all afflicted with dwarfism, who resided in Pym's household. It was not public knowledge at the time that Pym fed them sweets almost exclusively,

Sorry. That's Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia nutters make up as they go along.

At least the anonymous editor hasn't accused Pym of international drug dealing or complicity in the JFK assassination, unlike other 'Wikivictims'

[Londoner]

Delighted to hear that Pym, Prior and Jenkin are all alive. All fine servants of the party in their time, wherever they may have been on the wet/dry spectrum. However, with the 3 others confirmed as dead by Moral Minority, this means, if our collective recollections are correct, that Ian Gilmour has taken us to the tipping point: 11 of Mrs T's first cabinet are alive (inc herself of course) and 11 are now dead. May they all rest in peace. It therefore seems that the life expectancy of a Cabinet member on appointment is about 28 and a half years, which actually doesn't seem too bad.

But I really think you should have appreciations ready for the other 11, Editor.

Does anyone know if there are any surviving members of Heath's cabinets who did not also serve in Thatcher's (i.e. Carrington, Walker and the lady herself)? Christopher Chataway perhaps?

[Moral minority]

IIRC, Peter Carrington (Defence) and Jim Prior (MAFF) served in Heath's first cabinet. Like Iain Gilmour, Geoffrey Howe and Peter Walker joined the cabinet following reshuffles.

[Graham D'Amiral]

When I was a student I read Ian Gilmour's excellent book "Whatever happened to the tories?" not that I agreed with much of his argument but it was certainly a powerful critique of Thatcherism and a very engaging read.

I'm not sure many right wingers would share his view that John Major was more of a Thatcherite than Mrs Thatcher ever was herself though!