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Michael Colvin
MP
Michael Colvin MP
Member of Parliament; for Romsey; Romsey and Waterside (1983-1997)
	In office; 9 June 1983 – 24 February 2000
Preceded by	Constituency Established
Succeeded by	Sandra Gidley
Member of Parliament; for Bristol North West
	In office; 3 May 1979 – 13 May 1983
Preceded by	Ronald Thomas
Succeeded by	Michael Stern
Personal details
Born	Michael Keith Beale Colvin; 27 September 1932; London, England
Died	24 February 2000 (aged 67); Tangley, Hampshire, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Nichola Cayzer
Children	3
Alma mater	Royal Agricultural College

Michael Keith Beale Colvin (27 September 1932 – 24 February 2000) was a British Conservative Party politician. He was first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol North West in 1979. From 1983 onwards, he was the MP for Romsey and Waterside constituency in Hampshire, which later became the constituency of Romsey.

Early life and career

Michael Colvin was born in London to Captain Ivan Beale Colvin and Joy Arbuthnot.^[1]^[2] He had a brother, Alistair Colvin, four years his junior. He was privately educated, firstly at West Downs School in Winchester, and then at Eton College. He then attended the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. Joining the Grenadier Guards at 18, he served in Berlin, Suez and Cyprus, and became a captain.^[1]

Active in local government at first, he was an elected member of the Tangley parish council, Andover rural district council and Hampshire County Council. He had left Hampshire local government by the mid-1970s.^[1]

Parliamentary career

Policy positions

He won his first parliamentary seat in 1979 in the Bristol North West constituency. He was considered to be one of the "wets", and thus under Margaret Thatcher likely to remain a backbencher.^[3]

Colvin showed political ambivalence; he urged the creation of a new centre party, but also called for privatisation of NHS. In 1983, he moved to the newly created seat of Romsey and Waterside, near Southampton. Opposed to bans on foxhunting, Colvin was the chairman of the Council for Country Sports from 1988. Colvin rejected gun-control; he was a leading figure, following the Hungerford and Dunblane massacres in the "gun lobby".^[1] In 1989 he sponsored a private member's bill which became the Computer Misuse Act 1990.

Southern Africa

Colvin became the chairman of the Conservative Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Committee. He supported the South-African-backed anti-SWAPO white forces in Africa and endorsed the Namibia regime in 1981. In his Guardian obituary of Colvin, Andrew Roth wrote that the MP "was also a somewhat secretive former propagandist for apartheid South Africa".^[1] He defended the whites of southern Africa, accepting invitations to visit South Africa, then under apartheid, and Bophuthatswana, a Bantustan ('homeland') set up for blacks by the South African government. He urged that the 'homelands', which were not internationally recognised, should be accepted.^[3]^[4] Although he supported reformist Denis Worrall's election campaign in 1987, the following year he criticised the BBC for broadcasting the concert tribute to Nelson Mandela.^[1] Connected to the Strategic Network International (SNI), a lobbyist front set up in 1985 to campaign against the imposition of economic sanctions against South Africa, Colvin was involved in finding sympathetic Conservative MPs to visit the 'homelands' on expenses paid trips.^[3]^[4] The Conservative activist Derek Laud was involved in SNI and was responsible for recommending Colvin to the group.^[5]

In 1991, Colvin became a consultant to SNI (at £10,000 a year), in succession to Neil Hamilton. Colvin, with Conservative colleagues John Carlisle and David Atkinson were among members of SNI sent to watch the peace process in Angola during 1992. SNI dissolved the following year.^[5] His consultancy with SNI was not declared, and when the connection became known in 1994, the media linked the issue to then on-going cash-for-questions affair: "It was not registered. It is an oversight which I regret", Colvin said.^[2] At this time, among 11 Conservative MPs, he was found by the Commons Select Committee on Members' Interests to have failed to declare, as a Lloyd's 'Name', details of his syndicate's activities, specifically the areas of insurance underwritten.^[6]^[7] He was a friend to lobbyists such as Ian Greer, more directly implicated in the cash for questions scandal, which led to Hamilton's disgrace. Later, Colvin became a director of the Laud Ludgate lobbying organisation.^[1]

Personal life and death

He married Nichola Cayzer, the daughter of Nicholas Cayzer, Baron Cayzer. The couple had three children; two daughters and a son.^[8]

Colvin and his wife died in a fire at their house, Tangley House, near Andover in February 2000.^[1]^[8] The following by-election led to the Liberal Democrat gaining the seat with their candidate Sandra Gidley being elected.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Roth, Andrew (25 February 2000). "Obituary - Michael Colvin". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Michael Colvin MP: Tory squire". BBC News. 24 February 2000. Archived from the original on 18 June 2003. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
^ ^a ^b ^c "The Guardian Profile: Michael Colvin". The Guardian. London. Press Association. 24 February 2000. Archived from the original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
^ ^a ^b Hanning, James; Elliott, Francis (25 April 2009). "From Pretoria, a gift horse: Funny Cameron never mentioned it". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 15 February 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
^ ^a ^b Davies, Patricia Wynn; Dowden, Richard; Carlin, John (26 October 1994). "The Attack on Sleaze: How apartheid regime set out to woo Tories". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 15 August 2011. Retrieved 5 November 2012.
^ Davies, Patricia Wynn (28 June 1994). "MPs rebuked for flouting rule on Lloyd's: Former prime minister among group of Names criticised for failing to disclose syndicate numbers". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
^ Davies, Patricia Wynn; MacIntyre, Donald (25 October 1994). "Third Tory MP failed to declare consultancy fee". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 22 May 2021. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Family tell of inferno grief". BBC News. 25 February 2000. Archived from the original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved 20 June 2017.

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Michael Colvin

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Ronald Thomas	Member of Parliament for Bristol North West 1979–1983	Succeeded by Michael Stern
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Romsey and Waterside 1983–1997	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Romsey 1997–2000	Succeeded by Sandra Gidley