Iain MacDonald Sproat (8 November 1938 – 29 September 2011) was a British

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

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). He was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...

and

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 ...

. He worked as a publisher and journalist.

Parliamentary career

Sproat first contested Rutherglen in a by-election in May 1964, and again in the general election later that year, but was unsuccessful in both campaigns. At the 1970 general election, he stood in the marginal Scottish constituency of Aberdeen South, and ousted the sitting Labour MP, Donald Dewar. He was re-elected there at three further elections, until the 1983 general election when he moved to contest Roxburgh and Berwickshire believing that this was a 'safer' seat. However, Aberdeen South was held by the Conservatives, while Roxburgh and Berwickshire fell to the Liberal candidate

Archy Kirkwood Archibald Johnstone Kirkwood, Baron Kirkwood of Kirkhope, (born 22 April 1946) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. Education Kirkwood was educated at Cranhill Secondary School in Cranhill, Glasgow and studied pharmacy at Heriot-Watt Uni ...

. Sproat returned to Parliament nine years later, moving to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and succeeding Sir

Julian Ridsdale Sir Julian Errington Ridsdale (8 June 1915 – 21 July 2004) was a British National Liberal and later Conservative politician and long-serving Member of Parliament (MP) for Harwich. He took a particular interest in Japan. The son of a stockb ...

as MP for

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring District, Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-w ...

in the 1992 general election. He served as

Minister for Sport A Ministry of Sports or Ministry of Youth and Sports is a kind of government ministry found in certain countries with responsibility for the regulation of sports, particularly those participated in by young people. The Ministry of Youth and Sp ...

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 ...

's government from 1993 to 1997, but at the 1997 general election he was defeated by the Labour candidate

Ivan Henderson Ivan John Henderson (born 7 June 1958) is a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Harwich from 1997 to 2005. He is currently a member of Essex County Council for Harwich. Early life Henderson a ...

. Sproat stood again in Harwich at the 2001 election, but Henderson was returned with an increased majority. Sproat did not contest the 2005 general election; instead Douglas Carswell regained the seat for the Conservatives.

Outside Parliament

In 1979 he married Judith Mary Kernot, who survived him. A lifelong

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

fan, in 1980 he was founder publisher of the Cricketers' Who's Who (Green Umbrella) which celebrated its 43rd anniversary in 2022. A tireless campaigner to clear the name of his literary hero,

P.G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...

, he secured Wodehouse's knighthood in 1975 and later wrote 'Wodehouse at War' (pub Milner & Co. Ltd. 1981) claiming the author's innocence regarding charges that he acted as a propagandist for Nazi Germany during World War II.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sproat, Iain 1938 births 2011 deaths People educated at St. Mary's School, Melrose Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Aberdeen constituencies Scottish Conservative Party MPs People educated at Winchester College UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1992–1997