Sir Eric Edward Bullus (20 November 1906 – 8 September 2001) was a British

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

politician. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for

Wembley North Wembley North was a United Kingdom constituencies, parliamentary constituency in what was then the Borough of Wembley in North-West London. It returned one Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons ...

from 1950 until the constituency was abolished by boundary changes for the February 1974 general election.

Early life

Although Bullus was born in

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

, his mother's home town, he grew up in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

. He was educated at

Leeds Modern School Leeds Modern School was a school in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. History Leeds Modern School was founded on 14 July 1845 in Rossington Street as the Mathematical and Commercial School. This building in the centre of Leeds became council of ...

and the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

Career

At the age of twenty, Bullus joined the right-of-centre newspaper the ''

Yorkshire Post ''The Yorkshire Post'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. It primarily covers stories from Yorkshire, although its masthead carries the slogan "Yorkshire's National Newspaper". It was previously owned by ...

'', for which he wrote for more than twenty years. He also joined the

Junior Imperial League The Young Conservatives (YC) is the youth wing of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom for members aged 25 and under. The organisation shares the same values and policies as its parent political party with branches being an integrated par ...

, the youth wing of the Conservative Party. He was elected to

Leeds City Council Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. Leeds has had a council since 1626, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1974 it has been a metropolitan borough council. It provides the ...

in 1930. Five years later he became the Tory whip; he also held the chair of the Libraries and Arts Committee, founding a series of lunchtime concerts. When the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

began, Bullus was thirty-three years old. Too old for active service, in August 1940 he was commissioned as a

pilot officer Pilot officer (Plt Off or P/O) is a junior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Pilot officer is the lowest ran ...

in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

(RAF) Volunteer Reserve. He served at the Air Ministry until 1943, when he was promoted to the rank of flight lieutenant and transferred to southeast Asia to join

Lord Mountbatten Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy), Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (born Prince Louis of Battenberg; 25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979), commonly known as Lord Mountbatten, was ...

's staff. Despite eventually reaching the rank of

wing commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr or W/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Wing commander is immediately se ...

, he never flew a plane, and was demobilised in December 1945.

Member of Parliament

Bullus was elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

in 1950 as MP for the constituency of Wembley North. He introduced the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill, which aimed to reinstate

flogging Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed ...

as a punishment for violent and armed robbery (a punishment that had been abolished by the

Criminal Justice Act 1948 The Criminal Justice Act 1948 ( 11 & 12 Geo. 6. c. 58) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that implemented several widespread reforms of the English criminal justice system, mainly abolishing penal servitude, corporal punishment ...

), as well as for wounding and rape, in 1952, and it was debated in early 1953. After the Home Secretary expressed opposition, the second reading of the bill was defeated in a free vote by a majority of 96. Bullus became the secretary of the Conservative backbenchers'

1922 Committee The 1922 Committee, formally known as the Conservative Private Members' Committee, or sometimes simply the 22, is the parliamentary group of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party in the British House of Commons of the United Kingdom, H ...

in 1953, and later served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to several ministers. Bullus was a passionate

eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...

. He strongly opposed Britain's entry into the

European Communities The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of Institutions of the European Union, institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Co ...

and voted against party orders in favour of a referendum on the issue. However, his loyalty to the government led him to support the European Communities Act 1972 despite this. Bullus was knighted in December 1964 as part of

Alec Douglas-Home Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel ( ; 2 July 1903 – 9 October 1995), known as Lord Dunglass from 1918 to 1951 and the Earl of Home from 1951 to 1963, was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative ...

's dissolution honours list, for "political and public services".

Personal life

Bullus was a member of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

and a committed Christian. At home, he was a lay reader, preaching nearly one thousand sermons during his life, and while serving in Delhi during World War II he was a member of the arch-deaconry council. He also enjoyed sport, taking part in swimming, rugby and cricket, including playing for the Lords and Commons cricket team. In 1949 he married Joan Denny, with whom he had two daughters. Joan died in 1993 after a marriage of fifty-two years. Bullus died in 2001, survived by both his children.

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bullus, Eric 1906 births 2001 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 Knights Bachelor Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Politicians from Peterborough Alumni of the University of Leeds English Anglicans Anglican lay readers People educated at Leeds Modern School