Sir Rodney Graham Page (30 June 1911 – 1 October 1981) was a British

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 ...

politician.

Biography

Page was educated at

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the ...

, and the

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and later became a solicitor. He was a

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appeal agent and a company and

building society A building society is a financial institution owned by its members as a mutual organization. Building societies offer banking and related financial services, especially savings and mortgage lending. Building societies exist in the United Ki ...

director. Page contested

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in 1950 and 1951 was first elected

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 ...

at a

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in 1953, for Crosby. He chaired the

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s from 1964 to 1966. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1972 and was a Minister of State at the Secretary of State for the Department of Local Government and Development until 1974, when the Conservative Government lost the February 1974 general election. He took a particular interest in government administration and played a significant part in the reorganisation of local government and water authorities in the early 1970s. When he was re-elected for the second time in 1974, he had a majority of over 19,000 votes. Page won his last

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

victory at the 1979 general election. He died in office in 1981 and was replaced in parliament by the first

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member to be elected, the former Labour Education Minister

Shirley Williams Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, (' Catlin; 27 July 1930 – 12 April 2021) was a British politician and academic. Originally a Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP), she served in the Labour cabinet from ...

. With W. J. Leaper, Page wrote a book called ''Rent Act 1965'' in 1966. He corresponded with

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

and Enoch Powell. He was a governor of

St. Thomas's Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foun ...

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, and the chairman of the Pedestrians' Association.

Death

Page's death, aged 70, caused a high-profile by-election in which

became the first Social Democratic Party MP to be elected in Britain. It was a shock result which overturned a 19,272 Conservative majority Sir Graham had won in 1979. However, the Conservatives regained the seat in 1983.

References

*''Times Guide to the House of Commons'', 1966, 1979 and 1983 editions *

External links

''Photo''
from Switch Designs Ltd

External links

* 1911 births 1981 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Alumni of the University of London {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1910s-stub