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Former minister Lord Gilmour dies | Former minister Lord Gilmour dies |
(about 2 hours later) | |
The former Conservative cabinet minister Lord Gilmour has died aged 81. | The former Conservative cabinet minister Lord Gilmour has died aged 81. |
His eldest son David Gilmour said he died at the West Middlesex Hospital following a short illness. | His eldest son David Gilmour said he died at the West Middlesex Hospital following a short illness. |
Lord Gilmour served as defence secretary in Edward Heath's Cabinet before becoming Lord Privy Seal in Margaret Thatcher's first government. | Lord Gilmour served as defence secretary in Edward Heath's Cabinet before becoming Lord Privy Seal in Margaret Thatcher's first government. |
He was sacked by Mrs Thatcher in 1981 and remained a prominent critic of what he regarded as extreme Thatcherite policies. | |
He went on to the back benches where he remained until he went to the House of Lords as Lord Gilmour of Craigmillar in 1992. | |
Thatcher critic | |
Pro-Europe, against hanging, opposed to the poll tax and unhappy with monetarist economics, Lord Gilmour was a leading Conservative wet who became a persistent and outspoken critic of Thatcherism. | Pro-Europe, against hanging, opposed to the poll tax and unhappy with monetarist economics, Lord Gilmour was a leading Conservative wet who became a persistent and outspoken critic of Thatcherism. |
He became the first minister to be sacked by Margaret Thatcher and responded by issuing a statement declaring that she was steering "full speed ahead for the rocks". | |
He was Conservative MP for Norfolk Central from 1962 to 1974 and Chesham and Amersham from 1974 to 1992. | |
Wealthy and well connected, he was editor and proprietor of the Spectator magazine for a time in the 1950s. | |
Peerage | |
He was once quoted as saying: "Socialists may look forward to some grim Utopia. Conservatives have no such illusions about the future or the past. | |
"For them there has never been a 'golden age' and there never will be. Similarly there is no fixed or golden policy to which the Conservative Party could or should turn." | |
Lord Gilmour retired from the Commons in 1992 and was given a peerage. | |
The leader of the Conservatives in the House of Lords, Lord Strathclyde said: "Sir Ian Gilmour had a lifetime of service to the public and the Conservative Party. | |
"He will be greatly missed by his friends from all sides of the political spectrum." | |
He leaves four sons and a daughter. |