Nicholas Budgen

Nicholas William Budgen (November 3, 1937 - October 26, 1998) was a British politician.

Nicholas Budgen was educated at St. Edward's School in Oxford and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. During his National Service he rose to the rank of Captain in the Staffordshire Regiment. He became a barrister with Gray's Inn in 1962.

In the 1970 general election he stood for the Conservatives in BirminghamSmallSmall Heath. In 1974, when the Conservative maverick Enoch Powell decided that he no longer wished to be a Conservative because of his anti-European views, only months before the 1974 general election, Budgen was selected to stand for the Conservatives in Powell's old seat: Wolverhampton South West.

In 1975 he voted to remain in the European Union. In 1981 he was made a Conservative whip, at the time a sure way of becoming a minister. In 1983, he effectively threw away his political career when he resigned as a whip over the government's Northern Ireland policy, commenting at the time that he "was not one of nature's policeman". However to compensate the Spectator magazine selected him as their 1984 Backbencher of the Year.

His real prominence came in the 1990's when he was one of the whipless eight; the Maastricht Rebels. However unlike the rest of the rebels, Budgen had brains and was not afraid to use them. He called for the Prime minister John Major to sack the then Chancellor Ken Clarke because of his pro european attitude and for the fact that Clarke had resuscitated the dying idea of a European Single Currency. The whipless eight had taken to having their own policy meetings, leading former Prime minister Edward Heath to describe them as "a party within a party". The Maastricht Rebels, and sleaze helped push the Conservative party to the lowest point in the opinion polls in its history, to a mere 18 points from 46 points two and a half year earlier. To Budgen the European question was an issue far more important than mere party loyalty. He had a contemptous attitude towards both party and his leaders, having the second most rebellious voting record in the House of Commons for the period from 1979 to 1997. He is quoted as saying "you know, this is a government you can push", he was acutely aware that John Major's government was reliant upon the right wing of its party because of its small majority in the House of Commons. To this end he helped lead a hardcore of approximately 50 rightwing Conservative MPs to hold the government to ransom in order to have their way on Northern Ireland and Europe among other things. He had a certain kudos amongst rightwingers not only for his intelligence but because he had been campaigning against the UK's gradual european drift since he resigned as a Whip in 1983. Unlike most of the Maastricht rebels Budgen was against capital punishment. It was also Budgen who first muted the idea of a referadum on the European Single Currency in 1993, with his proposed European Currency (Referadum) Bill.

Budgen was also a leading member of the Treasury Select Committee, who questioned every tax rise and attacked Ken Clarke as being "intellectually dishonest". It was his position on this committee that persuaded him that the Bank of England should be made independent of political interference, this lead to his private members bill in 1996, an attempt to privatise the Bank of England. The bill failed, however in 1997 when the Labour party was in government, it privatised the Bank of England as one of its first measures.

Budgen was also vociferous in protecting the rights of gun owners following the Dunblane massacre. His speech was described in the left leaning Guardian newspaper by columnist Simon Hoggart as "one of the last great parliamentary speeches". The Dunblane bill created a situation where small calibre pistols were illegal in the UK, apart from a 3 week period in 2002 for the Commonwealth games being held in Manchester, with the British team being forced to practice in France.

In the run up to the 1997 election he played the race card in a vain attempt to keep his seat. In a boost to his anti-European and anti-immigration credentials he was endorsed by his predecessor Enoch Powell, who was famous for his "Rivers of Blood" speech. Due to his anti european beliefs James Goldsmiths Referendum party decided not to run a candidate against him. He had said that the Conservatives "in the West Midlands will be running on alternative manifesto", presumably meaning with other local Maastricht Rebels, Christopher Gill(Ludlow) and Richard Shepherd(Aldridge & Brownhills).

Budgen was notoriously mean, letting others buy drinks for him or waiting at the bar until someone did and buying his suits from Oxfam. On his death over 40 horses were found on his farm, explaining why he always appeared so strapped for cash. Budgen was a keen huntsman and wrote regularly for the Horse and Hound. Budgen was above all a man of principle, and an unrepetant rebel. He was noted as one of parliaments intellectuals and there is no doubt that had he been prepared to sacrifice his principles he could have achieved high office. Parliament was a much more colouful place with men like Budgen in, who was described in the Commons by one former minister as being "worth ten placeman" and by the Daily Telegraph as the "late, great Nicholas Budgen". He seemed to take great joy in contuining Wolverhampton South West's feud(began by Enoch Powell) with the representative for Old Bexley and Sidcup,Edward Heath heckling him at any opportunity. Powell had let it be known that he would refuse a peerage while Heath was still in the Commons, Heath refusing to retire from the Commons for so long as he thought Powell might have a chance of a peerage. Budgen was a witty and popular member of the house. He attempted to stand for the European Parliament along with the fellow euro-sceptic ex MPs Norman Lamont and Winston Churchill, all failed. He died of liver cancer, aged 60.

Quotations

On supporting Douglas Hurd in the 1990 Conservative leadership contest: " it is the Conservative workers fate to be betrayed by his leader, so we may at least be betrayed elegantly."

"If the Conservatives say beggars should be kicked once, then New Labour will say that beggars should be kicked twice"

"It would be my general feeling that the transference of power to Europe was so important a matter as to require a vote against any organisation and any party that wished to transfer that power."

On John Major: "he would make a reasonably competent head of a Wolverhampton Social Security office"

External Links:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk_politics/newsid_201000/201623.stm