David John Mellor (born 12 March 1949) is a British broadcaster, barrister, and former politician. As a member of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, he served in the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon, formerly Hunting ...

Chief Secretary to the Treasury The chief secretary to the Treasury is a ministerial office in the government of the United Kingdom. The office is the second most senior in the Treasury, after the chancellor of the Exchequer. The office was created in 1961, to share the burde ...

(1990–92) and Secretary of State for National Heritage (April–September 1992), before resigning in 1992. He was the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for

Putney Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ancient paris ...

from 1979 to 1997. Since leaving Parliament, Mellor has worked as a newspaper columnist, a radio presenter, and an after-dinner speaker. He also served as Chairman of the government's '

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

Task Force'.

Education and early career

Born in Wareham,

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

, Mellor was educated at Swanage Grammar School, and Christ's College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, during which time he was Chairman of the

Cambridge University Conservative Association The Cambridge University Conservative Association, or CUCA, is a long-established student political society founded 1921, as a Conservative Association for students at Cambridge University, although it has earlier roots in the late nineteenth ce ...

and a contestant on ''

University Challenge ''University Challenge'' is a British television quiz programme which first aired in 1962. ''University Challenge'' aired for 913 episodes on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31 December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. The BBC ...

''. After briefly working for

Jeffrey Archer Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare (born 15 April 1940) is an English novelist, life peer, convicted criminal, and former politician. Before becoming an author, Archer was a Member of Parliament (1969–1974), but did not ...

(at the time a

) while studying for his bar exams, Mellor was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1972. He ceased to practise in 1979 upon being elected as an MP, and he remains "non-practising". He was appointed

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

in 1987.

Parliamentary career

After contesting

West Bromwich East West Bromwich East is a constituency that is represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Nicola Richards of the Conservative Party, who was first elected at the 2019 United Kingdom general election. Members of Parliament ...

in the general election in October 1974, Mellor became the MP for

in the general election of 1979, and held the seat until 1997.

Government minister

Mellor was made Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the

Department of Energy A Ministry of Energy or Department of Energy is a government department in some countries that typically oversees the production of fuel and electricity; in the United States, however, it manages nuclear weapons development and conducts energy-re ...

in 1981. In 1983, Mellor was appointed as a minister in the Home Office where he was involved in several pieces of legislation, including the

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) (1984 c. 60) is an Act of Parliament which instituted a legislative framework for the powers of police officers in England and Wales to combat crime, and provided codes of practice for the exercise ...

and the

Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 The Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 (c. 23) was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. Its main effects were to establish the Crown Prosecution Service The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conductin ...

(which established the

Crown Prosecution Service The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal advi ...

). He was also involved with legislation enabling the re-investigation of miscarriages of justice, and with the

Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, sometimes referred to as ASPA, is an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (1986 c. 14) passed in 1986, which regulates the use of animals used for research in the UK. The Act ...

. In 1987, Mellor was moved to the

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreig ...

by Thatcher, and was made responsible for the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union (before the

revolutions of 1989 The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Natio ...

). At this point he made an extended appearance on the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

discussion programme '' After Dark'' speaking about the

Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

. Mellor was briefly

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care The secretary of state for health and social care, also referred to as the health secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department of Health and Social Care. The incumbent ...

in 1988, where he was responsible for health service reforms. He was made a

Privy Councillor A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...

in 1990 by Thatcher, shortly before she resigned as Prime Minister. Mellor was briefly Minister for the Arts in 1990 before entering

's new Cabinet as

in November of that year. He was interviewed in December 1991 on the TV programmne ''Hard News'' following the establishment of the Calcutt Review inquiring into Press Standards. Mellor said during the interview that "the press – the popular press – is drinking in the last chance saloon" and called for curbs on the "sacred cow" of press freedom to curb their more extreme activities. Following the 1992 general election Mellor remained a Cabinet Minister as

Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport The secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, also referred to as the culture secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for strategy and policy across the Department ...

in the newly created Department of National Heritage (now the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport), during which period he was occasionally referred to as the "Minister for Fun" after comments he made to the waiting press on leaving 10 Downing Street on his appointment.

Resignation

In July 1992 Mellor's former mistress, actress Antonia de Sancha, sold her “kiss and tell” story of Mellor's extra-marital affair with her for £35,000. Their telephone conversations had been secretly recorded by de Sancha's landlord, an activity which at the time was legal in England. '' The Sun'', relying on material supplied by the publicist

Max Clifford Maxwell Frank Clifford (6 April 1943 – 10 December 2017) was an English publicist who was particularly associated with promoting " kiss and tell" stories in tabloid newspapers. In December 2012, as part of Operation Yewtree, Clifford was arr ...

, made a number of untrue claims about the relationship, that de Sancha later admitted. This was subsequently confirmed by David Mellor in 2011 at the

Leveson Inquiry The Leveson Inquiry was a judicial public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press following the News International phone hacking scandal, chaired by Lord Justice Leveson, who was appointed in July 2011. A series o ...

into Press Behaviour. The Prime Minister

supported Mellor, but the media maintained their interest. A libel case brought by Mona Bauwens against ''

The People The ''Sunday People'' is a British tabloid Sunday newspaper. It was founded as ''The People'' on 16 October 1881. At one point owned by Odhams Press, The ''People'' was acquired along with Odhams by the Mirror Group in 1961, along with the ...

'', which came to the High Court in September 1992, led to the revelation that Mellor had accepted the gift of a month-long holiday in Marbella from Bauwens for his family which took place in August 1990. Mellor's connection to Bauwens, the daughter of Jaweed al-Ghussein, the finance director of the PLO (formally the Palestine National Fund) maintained the pressure on him. Mellor resigned on 24 September 1992.

Defeat at 1997 general election

Mellor contested the 1997 general election, but was defeated by the Labour Party's Tony Colman as one of the most notable Tory casualties as Labour won by a landslide to end nearly 20 years of Conservative government. The election night was memorable for Mellor's showdown with the

Referendum Party The Referendum Party was a Eurosceptic, single-issue political party that was active in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 1997. The party's sole objective was for a referendum to be held on the nature of the UK's membership of the European Union ...

founder Sir James Goldsmith — Mellor was taunted by Goldsmith and Michael Yardley, the Spokesperson for the Sportsman's Alliance (who gave him a slow hand clap and shouted "Out! Out! Out!") during Mellor's concession speech. Mellor retorted: Goldsmith would die from pancreatic cancer two months later on 18 July 1997.

After Parliament

Mellor was chairman of the incoming Labour government's 'Football Task Force' from August 1997 until its dissolution in 1999. Among the recommendations accepted by the Labour government and introduced into law was the criminalisation of racial abuse by an individual spectator, as distinct from a group. Mellor has also pursued a career in journalism, and has written columns for six national newspapers including the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' and ''

'', often on current affairs, but also his specialist interests of sport and the arts. He regularly presented football-related programmes on BBC Radio 5 until 2001, and classical music programmes on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

and

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also featuring. The sta ...

for six years. Since 2000, Mellor has also been a radio presenter at

Classic FM (UK) Classic FM (styled as CLASSIC M) is one of the United Kingdom's three Independent National Radio stations and is owned and operated by Global. The station broadcasts classical music and was launched in 1992. Classic FM was the first national cl ...

. He is Opera and Classical Music critic for British newspaper ''

The Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first pub ...

''. He is a regular contributor to the radio station

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadcast ...

, on which he previously co-hosted a Saturday morning politics and current affairs discussion programme for eight years with former London Mayor

Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of London from the creation of the office ...

. This continued until 2016, when Livingstone was sacked and Mellor's contract was not renewed. In June 2010, it was reported in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' and the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its Masthead (British publishing), masthead was simpl ...

'' that Mellor called a chef a "fat bastard" during a licensing wrangle at the River Lounge restaurant near his home at

St Katharine Docks St Katharine Docks is a former dock and now a mixed-used district in Central London, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and within the East End. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, immediately downstream of the Tower of London an ...

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the ...

. The articles claimed Mellor used bad language and told the chef he should "do his £10-an-hour job somewhere else". In November 2014 ''The Daily Telegraph'' and ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' reported that Mellor had been secretly recorded by a taxi driver, saying "you think that your experiences are anything compared to mine?" In the secret recording of an encounter on 21 November, Mellor and the cab driver argue over which is the better route to their destination. The article alleged that he swore at the driver. Mellor later told the media that he regretted losing his temper but blamed the driver for provoking him.

Private life

Mellor married Judith Hall in Worthing on 20 July 1974. The couple had two sons before divorcing in 1995. Mellor currently lives with his partner,

Penelope Lyttelton, Viscountess Cobham Penelope Ann Lyttelton, Viscountess Cobham, (''née'' Cooper; born 2 January 1954), is a British businesswoman known for her involvement in a number of quangos (an acronym for quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations). Personal life ...

Catherine Pepinster Catherine Pepinster (born 7 June 1959) is an English editor, historian, commentator and writer with a focus on theology, Catholic and Anglican ecumenism, church history, and religion and politics. She was the first female editor of ''The Table ...

br>"David Mellor to divorce"
''The Independent on Sunday'', 6 November 1994

References

External links

*

David Mellor on Classic FM

David Mellor (Rt. Hon. David Mellor QC) – Broadcaster, Journalist and Former MP
(agent's site) * , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Mellor, David 1949 births Living people Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge British broadcaster-politicians British Secretaries of State Classical music radio presenters Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies English radio personalities English King's Counsel Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 People educated at Swanage Grammar School People from Wareham, Dorset Contestants on University Challenge Chief Secretaries to the Treasury