Edward Thomas Kellett-Bowman JP (born Bowman; 25 February 1931 – 22 November 2022) was a British business and management consultant. He had a political career as a local councillor and as a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP) for the Conservative Party. His work in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

was effective in shaping policy and he only narrowly missed being chosen to lead the Conservative group.

Early career

Bowman went to

Reed's School Reed's School is an independent secondary school, secondary day school, day and boarding school for boys with a co-educational sixth form located in Cobham, Surrey, England. There are currently around 700 day pupils (620 boys, 80 girls) and 1 ...

in Cobham,

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

and Slough College of Technology. He had technical and management training in textiles from 1951 to 1953, and then worked in textile industry management for two years."Who's Who 2008" (A & C Black). He then joined a company of pharmaceutical manufacturing chemists, working as a manager."The Times Guide to the House of Commons 1959", p. 87.

London municipal politics

Kellett-Bowman was already active in the Conservative Party as chairman of the Young Conservative Council of London and an executive member of the London Conservative Union. In 1957 Bowman was elected to Holborn Borough Council, but having moved by the time of the next election, in 1959 he was elected to St Pancras Borough Council. He was the Conservative candidate in

Pontefract Pontefract is a historic market town in the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district in West Yorkshire, England. It lies to the east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the ...

at the 1959 general election.

London County Council

In 1960, Bowman married Patricia Blakemore, who was one of the most vigorous election agents in the Conservative Party in London. She had already proved her skill as agent for Holborn and St Pancras South in 1959 and gained a marginal seat. In 1961, Edward Bowman was selected as candidate for the same division in the

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

election, his wife was again agent. Winning the seat for her husband was said to be the happiest moment of her life."Mrs Edward Bowman" (obituary), ''The Times'', 24 February 1970, p. 10. After reorganisation of local government in London, Bowman was defeated in elections to

Camden London Borough Council Camden London Borough Council, also known as Camden Council, legally The Mayor and Burgesses of the London Borough of Camden, is the local authority for the London Borough of Camden in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one o ...

in 1964, but was chosen by the elected councillors as an

Alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

. His wife was elected to Barnet London Borough Council in 1968, but soon fell ill and died in February 1970. When Bowman married fellow Camden councillor and Member of Parliament for Lancaster Elaine Kellett (who like him had been widowed) in 1971, the couple joined their names and adopted the surname 'Kellett-Bowman'.

Business consultancy

Kellett-Bowman gave up his job to study for a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

degree at Cranfield Institute of Technology in 1972, and in 1974 became a business and management consultant in private practice. He became a

Freeman Freeman, free men, Freeman's or Freemans may refer to: Places United States * Freeman, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Freeman, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Freeman, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Freeman, South Dako ...

of the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

in 1978 and a Liveryman of the Wheelwrights Company in 1979. He was also a Fellow of the

Chartered Management Institute The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) is a professional institution for management based in the United Kingdom. It was founded as the British Institute of Management (BIM) in 1947 or 1948, merged with the Institution of Industrial Managers (I ...

European Parliament

At the 1979 elections to the European Parliament, Kellett-Bowman was chosen as the Conservative Party candidate for the Lancashire East constituency, which stretched from

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

, including

Clitheroe Clitheroe () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Ribble Valley, Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for to ...

and Heywood. He won the seat with a majority of over 14,000, although only three out of the eight Parliamentary constituencies making up the seat were Conservative. At the same election, his wife was elected in the neighbouring constituency of Cumbria and Lancashire North.

Audit work

Kellett-Bowman specialised in budget and audit and in 1981 presented a report about budgetary control at the

Joint Research Centre The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the European Commission's science and knowledge service which employs scientists to carry out research in order to provide independent scientific advice and support to European Union (EU) policy. Leadersh ...

Ispra Ispra is a ''comune'' and small town on the eastern coast of Lake Maggiore, in the province of Varese (Lombardy, northern Italy). Toponymy Attested by the name ''Ispira'' (712), ''Ispira'' (XIV). Appears as ''Ispratium'' in Aegidius Tschudi's '' ...

near

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. The report found its funds were managed in way that concealed their details, and an administrative building had been built without permission."Commission criticized over misuse of funds", ''The Times'', 19 June 1981, p. 4. In February 1982, Kellett-Bowman criticised the sale of farm surpluses to the Soviet bloc, and accused the European Commission of distorting the foreign policy of the free world."Soviet sales put top EEC jobs at risk", ''The Times'', 19 February 1982, p. 8.

Federalism

At the

1984 European Parliament election The 1984 European Parliament election was the first since the inaugural election of 1979 and the 1981 enlargement of the European Community to include Greece. It was also the last before the accession of Spain and Portugal in 1986. Results sh ...

, Kellett-Bowman lost his seat. He returned to the European Parliament in a byelection in December 1988 in the Hampshire Central constituency. In July 1990 he supported a motion calling for a new constitution for Europe which would give the European Communities a federal structure. The motion also called for economic and monetary union, including a single currency, although others who had voted for the motion said that the translation was inaccurate.Andrew Grice, "F-word haunts 16 Euro-Tories", ''Sunday Times'', 29 May 1994. Four years later, Kellett-Bowman pointed out that in unambiguous votes on a federal Europe in March 1990 and February 1994 he had voted against."Against the F-word" (letter), ''Sunday Times'', 12 June 1994.

Transit crime

As a MEP, Kellett-Bowman served on the governing body of the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...

in the late 1990s.Stephen Bates, "Tories' allies press on with federal goals", ''The Guardian'', 30 August 1995, p. 12. He brought in a report to the European Parliament in February 1997 which identified the removal of border controls and a lack of co-operation by member states as being responsible for the rise in organised crime and smuggling.Neil Buckley, "Cross-border crime loses EU billions: Inquiry blames Brussels and customs for failing to clamp down on smuggling", ''Financial Times'', 21 February 1997, p. 2. Kellett-Bowman's report led to the European Union setting up a customs investigation body and computerising transit-monitoring systems.Neil Buckley, "EU plans single body against smuggling", ''Financial Times'', 13 March 1997, p. 2.

Conservative leadership

In September 1997, Kellett-Bowman stood for the leadership of the Conservative group of MEPs, and lost by one vote to Edward McMillan-Scott."MEPs choose new leader", ''The Times'', 17 September 1997, p. 8. He made an attack on mergers of accountancy firms in early 1998, urging the Commission to place a lower limit on the number of large firms so that there would never be fewer than five.Robert Bruce, "Numbers game", ''The Times'', 22 January 1998, p. 27.

Later career

At the 1999 election, Kellett-Bowman was placed seventh on the Conservative Party list in

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England that are in the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, top level category for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the nine counties of england, ...

, the lowest of all the sitting MEPs, making it very difficult for him to be elected. In the results the Conservatives won only five seats and thereafter Kellett-Bowman returned to management consultancy. In February 2006 Kellett-Bowman made a formal complaint to the European Parliament authorities accusing

Chris Huhne Christopher Murray Paul Huhne (born 2 July 1954) is a British energy and climate change consultant, and former journalist, business economist and politician who was the Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Eastleigh ...

, then a candidate for the Liberal Democrat leadership, of misusing Parliamentary funds to support his election campaign in Eastleigh during the 2005 general election. Kellett-Bowman denounced Huhne for "fraudulent use of public funds", pointing to the fact that Eastleigh was a

marginal constituency A marginal seat or swing seat is a constituency held with a small majority in a legislative election, generally one conducted under a single-winner voting system. In Canada, they may be known as target ridings. The opposite is a safe seat. Th ...

.Rosemary Bennett, "..as claims are made of fraud", ''The Times'', 18 February 2006, p. 39. The European Parliament took no regulatory action.

Personal life and death

Kellett-Bowman died on 22 November 2022, at the age of 91.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kellett-Bowman, Edward 1931 births 2022 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MEPs Members of Holborn Metropolitan Borough Council Members of St Pancras Metropolitan Borough Council Members of London County Council Alumni of Cranfield University MEPs for England 1979–1984 MEPs for England 1984–1989 MEPs for England 1989–1994 MEPs for England 1994–1999 People educated at Reed's School Councillors in the London Borough of Camden