Richard Thain Alexander (29 June 1934 – 20 April 2008) was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Newark in

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

until losing his seat in the landslide of the 1997 general election.

Early life

Alexander was born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

, although his father was an architect from

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...

. He went to Logie Coldstone prep school in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...

and

Dewsbury Grammar School Dewsbury is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Huddersfield and sou ...

and the Wheelwright School in

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder, West Yorkshire, River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

before studying law at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

and then at the

Institute of Advanced Legal Studies The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) is a member institute of the School of Advanced Study, University of London. Founded in 1947, it is a national academic centre of excellence, serving the legal community and universities across the ...

. He was

articled Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulate ...

in London, and then worked as a solicitor in

Scunthorpe Scunthorpe () is an industrial town in Lincolnshire, England, and the county's third most populous settlement after Lincoln, England, Lincoln and Grimsby, with a population of 81,286 in 2021. It is the administrative centre and largest settleme ...

from 1960 to 1964 and then in

Retford Retford (), also known as East Retford, is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It lies on the River Idle and the Chesterfield Canal. Retford is located east of Sheffield, west of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Linco ...

from 1964 to 1985.

Political career

Having joined the Young Conservatives in 1957, Alexander served on their National Advisory Committee in 1961 and fought his first elections in 1962 and 1963, standing (unsuccessfully) for

Town Council. He was elected to Retford Borough Council in 1965 and to

Nottinghamshire County Council Nottinghamshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Nottinghamshire in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county; the non-metropolitan county excludes the city of ...

in 1967, serving until 1974. He was elected to

Bassetlaw District Council Bassetlaw may refer to: * Bassetlaw (UK Parliament constituency), Nottinghamshire constituency in the British House of Commons * Bassetlaw District General Hospital, a National Health Service hospital in Worksop, Nottinghamshire * Bassetlaw Distr ...

in 1975, and he was Mayor of Retford in 1977–78. He was a parliamentary candidate for

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

and again in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

, but he was not chosen by the right-wing local party to fight the by-election of 1973. The seat was won by the sitting MP,

Dick Taverne Dick Taverne, Baron Taverne, (born 18 October 1928) is a British politician and life peer who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Lincoln from 1962 to 1974. A member of the Liberal Democrats, he was a Labour MP until his deselection in ...

, each time. At the 1979 general election, Alexander narrowly and unexpectedly beat the popular Labour MP for Newark, Edward Stanley Bishop despite the remaining presence of working mines in the constituency. He adopted a maverick approach in 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 ...

, and was never made a Minister. He was fully in support of the Conservatives on defence issues, describing

Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and political activist who served as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabine ...

's approach to the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

as a "''prima facie'' case of treason and sedition" and strongly opposing the "no first use" pledge on nuclear weapons. On other issues he was more moderate, being a member of the Tory Campaign for Homosexual Equality for a time (he resigned over a controversial article which suggested that

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

should embrace Prince Edward in order to advance their campaign). Alexander could also appear a classic Tory. He faithfully supported

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 ...

, bridled at the poor dress sense of the Labour MP

Terry Fields Terence Fields (8 March 1937 – 28 June 2008) was a British politician and firefighter. A member of the Militant group, he was the Labour Member of Parliament for Liverpool Broadgreen from 1983 to 1992. He was expelled from the Labour Party ...

(a member of the

Militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Lat ...

group), supported rate capping of left-wing councils, and sought the abolition of

Wages Council A wage is payment made by an employer to an employee for work done in a specific period of time. Some examples of wage payments include compensatory payments such as ''minimum wage'', ''prevailing wage'', and ''yearly bonuses,'' and remunerat ...

s which set minimum pay rates. His majority was substantially increased at the

1983 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1983. Africa * 1983 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1983 Equatorial Guinean legislative election * 1983 Kenyan general election * 1983 Malagasy parliamentary election * 1983 Malawian general elec ...

, after boundary changes removing the mining area to the neighbouring

Sherwood Sherwood may refer to: Places Australia *Sherwood, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane * Sherwood, South Australia, a locality *Shire of Sherwood, a former local government area of Queensland * Electoral district of Sherwood, an electoral district fr ...

constituency (although that too went Conservative in 1983). He also supported the

Union of Democratic Mineworkers The Union of Democratic Mineworkers (UDM) was a British trade union for coal miners based in Nottinghamshire, England, established in 1985, following the 1984–85 miners' strike, when the Nottinghamshire Area of the National Union of Minewo ...

in the 1984 UK miners' strike, but criticised the 31 pit closures announced by

Michael Heseltine Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, (; born 21 March 1933) is a British politician. Having begun his career as a property developer, he became one of the founders of the publishing house Haymarket Media Group in 1957. Heseltine se ...

in October 1992. He was one of many Conservative MPs to lose their seats in the Labour landslide at the 1997 general election. The victor, Fiona Jones, was convicted of falsifying her election expenses in March 1999, and Alexander was to stand at the resulting by-election, but the conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal in April 1999 with no need for a by-election. After his time in Parliament, Alexander was subsequently elected to serve as a councillor for the Magnus ward of

Newark and Sherwood District Council Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

Personal life

He married Valerie Ann Winn in 1966. They had a son and a daughter. He separated from his first wife in 1979 and they were divorced in 1985. He remarried in 1987, to Pat Hanson. Alexander died aged 73 at Beaumond House Community Hospice,

Newark-on-Trent Newark-on-Trent () or Newark is a market town and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district in Nottinghamshire, England. It is on the River Trent, and was historically a major inland port. The A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road bypasses th ...

, after a short battle with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

References

External links

*
Obituary: ''The Daily Telegraph'', 22 April 2008

Obituary: ''The Times'', 5 May 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Richard 1934 births 2008 deaths Politicians from Aberdeen Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 Alumni of University College London English solicitors Deaths from cancer in England Councillors in Nottinghamshire Mayors of places in Nottinghamshire Members of Nottinghamshire County Council 20th-century English lawyers