Robert Gurth Hughes (born 14 July 1951) is a British Conservative Party politician, who was a Government Minister in the 1990s.

Parliamentary career

Hughes was unsuccessful as a candidate for Stepney and Poplar in the 1979 general election. In 1980 Hughes was elected to the

Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...

representing

Croydon Central Croydon Central was a constituency created in 1974 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 2017 until its abolition for the 2024 general election by Labour MP Sarah Jones. The seat bucked the trend in national result ...

, serving until 1986. He was the Conservative candidate in the 1983 Bermondsey by-election and contested that constituency's successor seat of Southwark and Bermondsey at the 1983 general election. In 1987 he was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Harrow West Harrow West is a Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, constituency in Greater London created in 1945 and represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Until 1997 United Kingd ...

. He successfully defended his seat at the 1992 election but at the 1997 election his 18,000 majority swung to a Labour majority of 1,240 votes for Gareth Thomas. Hughes' Parliamentary Aide in the Commons until May 1997 was fellow Harrow politician, Councillor Mark Versallion. He served as a Government Whip in 1993 when the Maastricht bill went through the

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

, and was promoted to Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Office of Public Service and Science in the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for supporting the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister and Cabinet ...

in 1994 with responsibility for the Science Research Councils and the Medical Research Council. On 6 March 1995, Hughes resigned as Minister responsible for the

Citizen's Charter The Citizen's Charter was a British political initiative launched by the then prime minister, John Major, on 22 July 1991, less than a year into his premiership. Aims It aimed to improve public services A public service or service of genera ...

over an affair with a constituency worker who had come to him for help from an abusive relationship. Hughes confessed the affair and resigned when he believed that the liaison was about to be exposed in a Sunday newspaper. He opposed the Conservative party line in 1996 by supporting a total ban on handguns in the wake of the

Dunblane Massacre The Dunblane massacre took place at Dunblane Primary School in Dunblane, near Stirling, Scotland, on 13 March 1996, when 43-year-old Thomas Hamilton killed 16 pupils and one teacher and injured 15 others before killing himself. It remains the d ...

. Robert Hughes is a keen supporter of

Land value tax A land value tax (LVT) is a levy on the value of land (economics), land without regard to buildings, personal property and other land improvement, improvements upon it. Some economists favor LVT, arguing it does not cause economic efficiency, ec ...

to eliminate income and sales taxes.

Post-political career

Upon leaving the Commons he became General Secretary and then Executive Director of the optical trade body, the Federation of Ophthalmic & Dispensing Opticians. He became the Chief Executive of the

Association of Optometrists The Association of Optometrists (AOP) is the leading representative membership organisation for optometrists in the United Kingdom. It supports over 82% of practising optometrists (members) to fulfil their professional roles to protect the nati ...

(AOP) in 2004. In 2011 he left AOP to become the Chief Executive of the Surrey Association for Visual Impairment. As of 2017 he is now the Chairman of the Guildford Conservative Association. In May 2021 he was elected as a Conservative county councillor for Shere in the

Surrey County Council Surrey County Council is the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Surrey, England. The council is composed of 81 elected councillors, and in all but one election since 1974 the Conservative Party has held the majority. The leader ...

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Robert 1951 births Living people Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Politics of the London Borough of Croydon Members of the Greater London Council UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997