Tory MP;
Tory MP;
Born: August 8, 1925; Died: September 7, 2013
Lord Hayhoe, who has died aged 88, was a Conservative MP from the one-nation mould whose affable, consensus-style Toryism meant he was labelled a wet by Margaret Thatcher. Although he served in various positions in the early years of her Governments, he was eventually moved to the back benches, where he joined the growing discontent with Thatcherism.
He was born Barney Hayhoe in Croyden and, unlike so many of the Tory MPs of his generation - and the latest one - he did not go to public school. He went to a technical school and Borough Polytechnic and started work as a tool room apprentice. He then worked as a chartered engineer with the Ministry of Supply and served as an arms inspector.
His life in politics began when he joined The Young Conservatives, eventually becoming their vice-chairman. In 1958, he became chairman of the British Committee Of European Youth Campaign, where he developed the pro-European, internationalist views that would later make him popular with Edward Heath and unpopular with Margaret Thatcher.
His first attempt at becoming a Conservative MP was in Lewisham, followed by Heston and Isleworth, which he won in 1968. He was quickly singled out by Heath, the party leader, and sat on the committee that advised on the drafting of the Tory manifesto for the 1970 General Election, which the party won.
Four years later, with the Tories in opposition again and led by Mrs Thatcher, Hayhoe became the party's deputy spokesman on employment.
When the Conservatives were returned to power in 1979, he was appointed Under-Secretary Of Defence. Over the next seven years, he served in a number of relatively junior Government posts, including junior minister at the Treasury and the Department Of Health. In the latter role, he was responsible for the famous, shocking adverts that were designed to stop the spread of Aids.
His time in Government came to an end in the reshuffle of 1986 - he was knighted in the New Year's Honours - which meant he was free to join Edward Heath's infamous longest sulk in history and snipe about Thatcherism from the back benches. He opposed the introduction of the poll tax and voted for Michael Heseltine in the leadership battle of 1990 that eventually led to Mrs Thatcher's resignation.
He was created a life peer in 1992 after an 18-year career in the Commons. He was latterly involved in work for a number of health charities and was chairman of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Trust.
He is survived by two sons and a daughter; his wife predeceased him last year.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article