John Biffen
Encyclopedia
William John Biffen, Baron Biffen, PC
, DL
(3 November 1930 – 14 August 2007), was a Conservative
member of the House of Lords
, who previously spent 36 years in the House of Commons.
, a small village on the River Parrett
near Bridgwater
, Somerset
in 1930. He was educated firstly at Otterhampton
village school followed by Dr. Morgan's Grammar School, Bridgwater. He then earned a scholarship to Jesus College, Cambridge
where he graduated with a first class honours degree in History. From 1953 to 1960 he worked for Tube Investments Ltd.
(MP) for the constituency of Oswestry
, later renamed Shropshire North
, from the time of his election at a by-election in 1961 until his retirement at the 1997 general election
. In the same year he was made a life peer
, sitting as Baron Biffen, of Tanat in the County of Shropshire
.
In his early political career he was a disciple of Enoch Powell
, voting for him in the Conservative leadership election of 1965
. Biffen was a Eurosceptic
and voted against Britain's entry into the EEC in a parliamentary division
in 1972 against his own party. Biffen championed tight fiscal policy and opposed state intervention in economic management.
, but contributed to his promotion under Margaret Thatcher
. He served in Thatcher's government in the successive positions of Chief Secretary to the Treasury
, Secretary of State for Trade, and as Leader of the House of Commons
. In the 1960s Biffen joined the Mont Pelerin Society
.
In 1981, Biffen allowed Rupert Murdoch
to buy The Times
and The Sunday Times
without reference to the Monopolies Commission. According to Woodrow Wyatt
, who helped persuade Thatcher to ensure this, the Commission "almost certainly would have blocked it."
As Leader of the House Biffen used the guillotine
to cut short debate on the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1986
. Edward Pearce
has written that Biffen "was widely thought the best post-war floor leader".
Biffen's image as an economic dry mellowed during his time in government and he made blunt public calls for greater moderation in government policy. In 1980 he warned the country to prepare for "three years of unparalleled austerity". In 1981 Biffen gave a speech to a fringe meeting at that year's Conservative Party Conference in which he claimed the party was "within touching distance of the débâcles of 1906
and 1945
." He further claimed that far from cutting public spending, the government had increased it by two per cent since 1979 and that the government was part of an all-party consensus in favour of the welfare state and public spending: "We are all social democrats
now", Biffen concluded in his speech.
On 9 February 1986 he claimed that Toryism was "not a raucous political faction" and after the Conservative Party's losses in the local government elections and in two by-elections in 1986 Biffen was interviewed on Weekend World
by Brian Walden
on 11 May as the government's spokesman. He called the results "Black Thursday", said the Conservatives needed to fight the next general election on a "balanced ticket
" and that "no one seriously supposes that the Prime Minister would be Prime Minister throughout the entire period of the next Parliament". This alienated him from Thatcher and resulted in his being dropped from the Cabinet after the 1987 General Election
. His axing was no surprise, in that Thatcher's press secretary Bernard Ingham
had already famously called him a "semi-detached" member of the Cabinet. Thatcher in her memoirs described Biffen's desire for a balanced ticket as "foolish" and "a recipe for paralysis." In the month after his sacking Biffen criticised Thatcher's government as a "Stalinist
regime".
(the poll tax). He voted against the Maastricht Treaty
and was in favour of a referendum
on the EU Constitution
so he could vote "No".
Brian Walden
noted that Biffen was the "most honest" politician he had interviewed.
in the 2004 BBC
production of The Alan Clark Diaries
.
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Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
, DL
Deputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
(3 November 1930 – 14 August 2007), was a Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
member of the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
, who previously spent 36 years in the House of Commons.
Early life
The son of a tenant farmer Victor Biffen and his wife 'Tish', John Biffen was born at CombwichCombwich
Combwich is a village in the parish of Otterhampton within the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, between Bridgwater and the Steart Peninsula.The village lies on Combwich Reach as the River Parrett flows to the sea and was the site of an ancient ferry crossing. In the Domesday book it was known as...
, a small village on the River Parrett
River Parrett
The River Parrett flows through the counties of Dorset and Somerset in South West England, from its source in the Thorney Mills springs in the hills around Chedington in Dorset...
near Bridgwater
Bridgwater
Bridgwater is a market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is the administrative centre of the Sedgemoor district, and a major industrial centre. Bridgwater is located on the major communication routes through South West England...
, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
in 1930. He was educated firstly at Otterhampton
Otterhampton
Otterhampton is a village and civil parish in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England, between Bridgwater and the Steart Peninsula.The village lies on Combwich Reach as the River Parrett flows to the sea.-History:...
village school followed by Dr. Morgan's Grammar School, Bridgwater. He then earned a scholarship to Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The College was founded in 1496 on the site of a Benedictine nunnery by John Alcock, then Bishop of Ely...
where he graduated with a first class honours degree in History. From 1953 to 1960 he worked for Tube Investments Ltd.
Member of Parliament
Biffen was the Member of ParliamentMember of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for the constituency of Oswestry
Oswestry (UK Parliament constituency)
Oswestry is a United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 to 1983, when it was renamed North Shropshire...
, later renamed Shropshire North
North Shropshire (UK Parliament constituency)
North Shropshire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. From its first creation in 1832 to the abolition of the first creation in 1885 it elected two Knights of the Shire...
, from the time of his election at a by-election in 1961 until his retirement at the 1997 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
. In the same year he was made a life peer
Life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
, sitting as Baron Biffen, of Tanat in the County of Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
.
In his early political career he was a disciple of Enoch Powell
Enoch Powell
John Enoch Powell, MBE was a British politician, classical scholar, poet, writer, and soldier. He served as a Conservative Party MP and Minister of Health . He attained most prominence in 1968, when he made the controversial Rivers of Blood speech in opposition to mass immigration from...
, voting for him in the Conservative leadership election of 1965
Conservative Party (UK) leadership election, 1965
The Conservative Party leadership election of July 1965 was held to find a successor to Sir Alec Douglas-Home.It was the first time that a formal election by the parliamentary party had taken place, previous leaders having emerged through a consultation process...
. Biffen was a Eurosceptic
Euroscepticism
Euroscepticism is a general term used to describe criticism of the European Union , and opposition to the process of European integration, existing throughout the political spectrum. Traditionally, the main source of euroscepticism has been the notion that integration weakens the nation state...
and voted against Britain's entry into the EEC in a parliamentary division
Division (vote)
In parliamentary procedure, a division of the assembly is a voting method in which the members of the assembly take a rising vote or go to different parts of the chamber, literally dividing into groups indicating a vote in favour of or in opposition to a motion on the floor...
in 1972 against his own party. Biffen championed tight fiscal policy and opposed state intervention in economic management.
In government
This stance barred his way to advancement under Edward HeathEdward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath, KG, MBE, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as Leader of the Conservative Party ....
, but contributed to his promotion under Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
. He served in Thatcher's government in the successive positions of Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury is the third most senior ministerial position in HM Treasury, after the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer . In recent years, the office holder has usually been given a junior position in the British Cabinet...
, Secretary of State for Trade, and as Leader of the House of Commons
Leader of the House of Commons
The Leader of the House of Commons is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Commons...
. In the 1960s Biffen joined the Mont Pelerin Society
Mont Pelerin Society
The Mont Pelerin Society is an international organization composed of economists , philosophers, historians, intellectuals, business leaders, and others who favour classical liberalism...
.
In 1981, Biffen allowed Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
to buy The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
and The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
without reference to the Monopolies Commission. According to Woodrow Wyatt
Woodrow Wyatt
Woodrow Lyle Wyatt, Baron Wyatt of Weeford , was a British politician, published author, journalist and broadcaster, close to the Queen Mother, Margaret Thatcher and Rupert Murdoch...
, who helped persuade Thatcher to ensure this, the Commission "almost certainly would have blocked it."
As Leader of the House Biffen used the guillotine
Cloture
In parliamentary procedure, cloture is a motion or process aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. It is also called closure or, informally, a guillotine. The cloture procedure originated in the French National Assembly, from which the name is taken. Clôture is French for "ending" or "conclusion"...
to cut short debate on the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1986
European Communities (Amendment) Act 1986
The European Communities Act 1986 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to transpose into British law the terms of the Single European Act.The preamble to the Act reads:...
. Edward Pearce
Edward Pearce (journalist)
-Life:Edward Pearce was brought up in Darlington, where he attended Queen Elizabeth Grammar School. He then studied at Oxford.Embarking on a career in journalism, in 1977 he became a leader writer for the Daily Express. In 1979 he moved to The Daily Telegraph, where he wrote leaders and sketches on...
has written that Biffen "was widely thought the best post-war floor leader".
Biffen's image as an economic dry mellowed during his time in government and he made blunt public calls for greater moderation in government policy. In 1980 he warned the country to prepare for "three years of unparalleled austerity". In 1981 Biffen gave a speech to a fringe meeting at that year's Conservative Party Conference in which he claimed the party was "within touching distance of the débâcles of 1906
United Kingdom general election, 1906
-Seats summary:-See also:*MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1906*The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918-External links:***-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987**...
and 1945
United Kingdom general election, 1945
The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...
." He further claimed that far from cutting public spending, the government had increased it by two per cent since 1979 and that the government was part of an all-party consensus in favour of the welfare state and public spending: "We are all social democrats
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
now", Biffen concluded in his speech.
On 9 February 1986 he claimed that Toryism was "not a raucous political faction" and after the Conservative Party's losses in the local government elections and in two by-elections in 1986 Biffen was interviewed on Weekend World
Weekend World
Weekend World is a British television political series, made by London Weekend Television and broadcast from 1972 to 1988.Created by John Birt not long after he moved to LWT, the series was broadcast on the ITV network at lunchtimes on Sundays...
by Brian Walden
Brian Walden
Alastair Brian Walden is a British journalist and broadcaster who was a Labour Member of Parliament for a decade. He is the father of actor Ben Walden....
on 11 May as the government's spokesman. He called the results "Black Thursday", said the Conservatives needed to fight the next general election on a "balanced ticket
Ticket balance
In United States politics, balancing the ticket is when a political candidate chooses a running mate with the goal of bringing more widespread appeal to the campaign. It is most prominently used to describe the selection of the U.S. Vice Presidential candidate.There are several means by which the...
" and that "no one seriously supposes that the Prime Minister would be Prime Minister throughout the entire period of the next Parliament". This alienated him from Thatcher and resulted in his being dropped from the Cabinet after the 1987 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 1987
The United Kingdom general election of 1987 was held on 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the British House of Commons. The election was the third consecutive election victory for the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the 2nd...
. His axing was no surprise, in that Thatcher's press secretary Bernard Ingham
Bernard Ingham
Sir Bernard Ingham is a journalist and former civil servant who is best known as Margaret Thatcher's Chief Press Secretary while she was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Today Ingham lectures in Public Relations at Middlesex University in London...
had already famously called him a "semi-detached" member of the Cabinet. Thatcher in her memoirs described Biffen's desire for a balanced ticket as "foolish" and "a recipe for paralysis." In the month after his sacking Biffen criticised Thatcher's government as a "Stalinist
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
regime".
Backbenches and retirement
On the backbenches Biffen voted against the Local Government Finance Act 1988 which introduced the Community ChargeCommunity Charge
The Community Charge, popularly known as the "poll tax", was a system of taxation introduced in replacement of the rates to part fund local government in Scotland from 1989, and England and Wales from 1990. It provided for a single flat-rate per-capita tax on every adult, at a rate set by the...
(the poll tax). He voted against the Maastricht Treaty
Maastricht Treaty
The Maastricht Treaty was signed on 7 February 1992 by the members of the European Community in Maastricht, Netherlands. On 9–10 December 1991, the same city hosted the European Council which drafted the treaty...
and was in favour of a referendum
United Kingdom referendum on the European Constitution
A referendum was expected to take place in the United Kingdom in 2006 to decide whether the country should ratify the proposed Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. However, following the rejection of the Constitution by similar referendums in France in May 2005 and the Netherlands in June...
on the EU Constitution
Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe
The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe , , was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European Union...
so he could vote "No".
Personal life
Biffen married Sarah Wood in 1979. He had one stepson, Nicholas Wood, a correspondent with the New York Times and International Herald Tribune, and a stepdaughter, Lucy.Political views
Despite his right-wing views on economic policy, he was very much to the left of Margaret Thatcher on social policy: he completely opposed capital punishment, and was very supportive of equal gay rights whilst, conversely, agreeing with Powell on immigration.Brian Walden
Brian Walden
Alastair Brian Walden is a British journalist and broadcaster who was a Labour Member of Parliament for a decade. He is the father of actor Ben Walden....
noted that Biffen was the "most honest" politician he had interviewed.
Death
He died on 14 August 2007, aged 76, after a short illness, having suffered from kidney failure for many years. He was survived by his wife, stepson and stepdaughter.In popular culture
Biffen was portrayed by Roger BrierleyRoger Brierley
Roger Brierley was a British chartered accountant-cum-actor.Though never a major star, he appeared in many television productions over a forty year period. He twice appeared in Doctor Who, as Trevor in The Daleks' Master Plan and as the voice of Drathro in The Mysterious Planet...
in the 2004 BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
production of The Alan Clark Diaries
The Alan Clark Diaries
The Alan Clark Diaries is a 2004 BBC television serial dramatising the diaries of the controversial British Conservative politician Alan Clark.-March of the Grey Men:...
.
External links
- Obituary, The Daily Telegraph, 15 August 2007
- Obituary, The Guardian, 15 August 2007
- Obituary, The Independent, 15 August 2007
- Obituary, The Times, 15 August 2007
Offices held
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