Sir William Fergus Montgomery (25 November 1927 – 19 March 2013) 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 ...

Member of Parliament (MP) for three separate periods totalling 34 years, each time representing a different constituency.

Early life

Born in

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England; it is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. The town was once known in Roman Britain, Roman times as ''Arbeia'' and as ''Caer Urfa'' by the Early Middle Ag ...

, County Durham, Montgomery was educated at Jarrow Grammar School and Bede College at the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to ...

, and became a teacher in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

in 1950. From 1950 to 1958, he was a

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

Hebburn Hebburn is a town in the South Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It was formerly in County Durham until 1974 with its own urban district from 1894 until 1974. It is on the south bank of the River Tyne between Gateshead and Jarrow and ...

Urban District Council In England and Wales, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected urban district council (UDC), which shared local government responsibilities with a county council. ...

. From 1957 to 1958, he was the national chairman of the Young Conservatives, having been vice-chairman from 1954 to 1957.

Parliamentary career

Having unsuccessfully contested the safe Labour seat of

Consett Consett is a town in the County Durham (district), County Durham district, in the ceremonial county of County Durham, Durham, England, about south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It had a population of 27,394 in 2001 and an estimate of 25,812 in ...

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

, he was first 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 ...

for Newcastle upon Tyne East at the 1959 general election with a narrow majority of just 98 votes. He is the only Conservative MP to have ever represented Newcastle East. Montgomery narrowly lost the seat to the Labour Party in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

. He returned to Parliament at a 1967 by-election for

Brierley Hill Brierley Hill is a town and Ward (electoral subdivision), electoral ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands (county), West Midlands (originally in Staffordshire), England. It is located south of Dudley and north of Stourbr ...

. Boundary changes which took effect from the February 1974 general election abolished the Brierley Hill constituency. Having unsuccessfully sought selection for South West Staffordshire, Montgomery was selected for the new Dudley West constituency, which partially replaced his old constituency. However, he was unsuccessful, losing the election to Colin Phipps of the Labour Party. His absence from Parliament was short-lived. The former

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...

Anthony Barber Anthony Perrinott Lysberg Barber, Baron Barber, (4 July 1920 – 16 December 2005) was a British Conservative politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1970 to 1974. After serving in both the Territorial Army and the Royal A ...

, stood down at the October 1974 general election and Montgomery was selected to contest the constituency of Altrincham and Sale. He was duly elected, and then held the seat until he retired at the 1997 general election. He was parliamentary private secretary to

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

during her tenure as Secretary of State for Education and when she was

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

Family

He married Joyce Riddle, a teacher, cricketer and Conservative local councillor. They had no children. Lady Montgomery was deputy lieutenant and high sheriff of Greater Manchester. According to Alistair Cooke, Baron Lexden, a Conservative member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

, Montgomery had an affair with Russian spy

John Vassall William John Christopher Vassall (20 September 1924 – 18 November 1996) was a British people, British civil servant who spied for the Soviet Union, allegedly under pressure of blackmail, from 1954 until his arrest in 1962. Although operating o ...

. The affair was discovered due

MI5 MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Gov ...

files being declassified in 2022.https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/spies-social-climbers-and-suspicious-stories-from-the-files-of-mi5/

Sources

* ''The BBC Guide to Parliament'', BBC Books, 1979, .

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Montgomery, Fergus 1927 births 2013 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Conservative Party (UK) councillors Councillors in Tyne and Wear UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 Alumni of the College of the Venerable Bede, Durham Knights Bachelor People from South Shields Politicians from Tyne and Wear English LGBTQ politicians LGBTQ members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom