David Wilshire
Tory MP for Spelthorne who devised the controversial Section 28 and defended the poll tax
DAVID WILSHIRE, who has died aged 80, was a Conservative MP on the Right of the party who represented the Surrey constituency of Spelthorne from 1987 to 2010.
A backbencher for all but four of his 23 years in the Commons, Wilshire was the originator in 1988 of the controversial Section 28, which outlawed the promotion of homosexuality by local authorities. He opposed the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, was one of the first Conservative MPS to say they would never support UK entry into a single European currency, and was a last-ditch defender of the poll tax.
Wilshire was a fervent opponent of capital punishment, but supported caning in schools – having been beaten frequently at prep school. He was one of the MPS who objected to Diana, Princess of Wales, being invited to speak to parliamentarians about landmines; as a result, she decided not to take up the invitation.
Wilshire stressed the need for integrity in government. However his Commons career was foreshortened by disclosures about his finances after The Daily Telegraph’s exposure of MPS’ expenses claims in 2009.
David Wilshire was born in Bristol on September 16 1943, the son of HC Wilshire, a company director. From Kingswood School, Bath, he read geography at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. He then worked briefly as a personnel officer and a teacher before starting a sports and camping business, which he ran until his election to Parliament.
Joining the Conservative Party in 1974, he was elected to Wansdyke council in 1976 and Avon county council the following year, leading Wansdyke council from 1981 to 1987.
Wilshire was selected as parliamentary candidate for the Isle of Wight in 1980, but withdrew after his 12-year-old daughter choked to death at school. Selected to succeed Humphrey Atkins at Spelthorne, he held the seat at the 1987 election with a majority of 20,050.
Soon after, he came cross the book Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin, about two gay men and their daughter, which was stocked in a London teachers’ resource centre. A scandalised Wilshire told the Commons: “The book portrays a child living with two men, and clearly shows that as an acceptable family relationship.” With his colleague Jill Knight, he introduced an amendment to the Local Government Bill which became Section 28, triggering a political storm.
“I got a fair amount of hate mail and a fair amount of publicity, most of it unflattering,” he recalled.
When Michael Heseltine launched his leadership challenge in 1990, Wilshire voted for Mrs Thatcher on the first ballot, and John Major on the second. He subsequently became PPS to Alan Clark, then Peter Lloyd.
He was one of the Eurosceptic plotters who met at the Carlton Club in May 1992. In April 1994 he claimed that some colleagues were “close to breaking point” over John Major’s leadership, and the following year he backed John Redwood’s challenge.
Wilshire was a member of the Anglo-irish Parliamentary Body from 1992, and from 1994 to 1997 served on the Northern Ireland Select Committee. After the Good Friday Agreement, he opposed letting Sinn Fein into government without decommissioning and in September 2000 backed the DUP’S anti-agreement Rev William Mccrea in the Antrim South by-election.
With his majority slashed at the 1997 election to 3,473, Wilshire backed Redwood over William Hague for the leadership and was appointed to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. He was appointed an Opposition whip in 2001. From 2005 he was a member of the Transport Select Committee and the 1922 Committee executive. He was also appointed leader of the Conservatives’ delegation to the Council of Europe, chairing its European Democratic Group in 2009-10.
As the scandal over MPS’ expenses broke in May 2009, Wiltshire’s local paper asked why he had claimed the maximum allowance for a second home in London when his constituency home was in the commuter belt. He insisted that he had always furnished the flat out of his own pocket, but four days later the Telegraph revealed that he claimed thousands of pounds toward the cost of interior decoration. Subsequently it emerged that Wilshire had also spent more than £1,000 of taxpayers’ money on furniture, contradicting previous claims.
Wilshire resisted pressure to justify his conduct; a “Conservative Anti-corruption Group” was formed locally, and six members of his association volunteered to stand against him. Further investigation by the Telegraph established that Wilshire had used parliamentary expenses to pay £105,000 to a company he set up with his partner Ann Palmer to run his office. He referred himself to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, claiming the arrangement had been approved by the authorities. He equated his treatment over his expenses with the Holocaust, a statement for which he later apologised.
Next day, after a meeting with the Chief Whip, Wiltshire announced that he would not be seeking re-election.
David Wilshire married Margaret Weeks in 1967; they separated in 2000. He is survived by his partner and by the son of his marriage.