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Airey Neave | |
|---|---|
 Neave between May 1940 and May 1941 | |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland | |
| In office 4 March 1974 – 30 March 1979 | |
| Leader | |
| Preceded by | Francis Pym |
| Succeeded by | Alec Jones |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Air | |
| In office 16 January 1959 – 16 October 1959 | |
| Prime Minister | Harold Macmillan |
| Preceded by | Ian Orr-Ewing |
| Succeeded by | William Taylor |
| Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport | |
| In office 18 January 1957 – 16 January 1959 | |
| Prime Minister | Harold Macmillan |
| Preceded by | Hugh Molson |
| Succeeded by | John Hay |
| Member of Parliament forAbingdon | |
| In office 30 June 1953 – 30 March 1979 | |
| Preceded by | Sir Ralph Glyn |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Benyon |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Airey Middleton Sheffield Neave (1916-01-23)23 January 1916 Knightsbridge, London, England |
| Died | 30 March 1979(1979-03-30) (aged 63) Westminster, London, England |
| Manner of death | Assassination(car bomb attack) |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent(s) | Sheffield Airey Neave (father) Dorothy Middleton |
| Alma mater | Merton College, Oxford |
| Occupation |
|
| Profession | Barrister |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  British Empire |
| Branch/service |  British Army |
| Years of service | 1935–1951 |
| Rank | Lieutenant colonel |
| Unit | Royal Artillery |
| Battles/wars | |
Lieutenant ColonelAirey Middleton Sheffield Neave,DSO, OBE, MC, TD (/ˈɛəriˈniːv/) (23 January 1916 – 30 March 1979) was a British soldier, lawyer andMember of Parliament (MP) from1953 untilhis assassination in 1979.
During the Second World War he was the first Britishprisoner-of-war to succeed in escaping fromOflag IV-C atColditz Castle. On his return to England he worked withMI9 (Room 900) assistingescape and evasion lines in occupied Europe to help downed airmen evade elude German capture and return to Britain. The escape lines helped about 7,000 British and American airmen and soldiers escape occupied Europe. After the war he served with theInternational Military Tribunal at theNuremberg trials. He later becameConservative MP forAbingdon.
Neave was assassinated in acar bomb attack at theHouse of Commons. TheIrish National Liberation Army claimed responsibility.
Neave was the son ofSheffield Airey Neave CMG, OBE (1879–1961),[1] anentomologist, who lived atIngatestone,Essex, and his wife Dorothy, the daughter of Arthur Thomson Middleton. His father was the grandson ofSheffield Neave, the third son of Sir Thomas Neave, 2nd Baronet (seeNeave baronets).
The family came to prominence as merchants in the West Indies during the 18th century and were raised to the baronetage during the life ofRichard Neave,Governor of the Bank of England. Neave spent his early years inKnightsbridge in London, before he moved toBeaconsfield. Neave was sent toSt. Ronan's School,Worthing, and from there, in 1929, he went toEton College. He went on toreadJurisprudence atMerton College, Oxford.[2]
While at Eton, Neave composed a prize-winning essay in 1933 that examined the likely consequences ofAdolf Hitler's rise to supreme power inGermany, and Neave predicted then that another widespread war would break out in Europe in the near future. Neave had earlier been on a visit to Germany, and he witnessed theNazi German methods of grasping political and military power. At Eton, Neave served in the school cadet corps as a cadetlance corporal, and received aterritorial commission as asecond lieutenant in theOxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry on 11 December 1935.[3]
When Neave went toOxford University, he purchased and read the entire written works of the general and military theoristCarl von Clausewitz. When Neave was asked why, he answered: "since war [is] coming, it [is] only sensible to learn as much as possible about the art of waging it".[4] During 1938, Neave completed his third-class degree. By his own admission, while at Oxford University, he did only the minimum amount of academic work that was required of him by his tutors.
Neave transferred his territorial commission to theRoyal Engineers on 2 May 1938[5] and, following the outbreak of war, he was mobilised. Sent to France in February 1940 with1st Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery, he was wounded and captured by the Germansat Calais on 23 May 1940. He was imprisoned atOflag IX-A/H nearSpangenberg and, in February 1941, was moved toStalag XX-A nearThorn in German-occupied western Poland. Meanwhile, Neave's commission was transferred to theRoyal Artillery on 1 August 1940.[6]
In April 1941, he escaped from Thorn along with Norman Forbes. They were captured nearIlow while trying to enterSoviet-controlled Poland and were briefly held by theGestapo.[7] In May, they were both sent toOflag IV-C (often referred to asColditz Castle because of its location).[8]
While in Colditz, the French military prisoners asked the Germans to have the Jewish military prisoners separated from the gentile French military prisoners, which resulted in about 80 French Jewish military prisoners being confined in a crowded attic of the castle. Neave and many British officers were appalled at the French prisoners' request. In a demonstration of their solidarity with the French Jews, the British invited the French Jews to dinner in the British mess, where Neave made a speech denouncing the prejudice.[9]
Neave made his first attempt to escape from Colditz on 28 August 1941, disguised as a German NCO. He did not get out of the castle as his hastily contrived German uniform (made from a Polish army tunic and with a cap painted with scenery paint, accompanied with cardboard belt painted silver) was rendered bright green under the prison searchlights.[10] The disguise was so poor that guards came to see it; prison officialPaul Priem joked that "Corporal Neave is to be sent to theRussian front".[9]
Together with Dutch officerAnthony Luteyn, he made a second attempt on 5 January 1942, again in disguise. Better uniforms and escape route (they made a quick exit from a theatrical production using thetrapdoor beneath the stage) got them out of the prison; by train and on foot, they travelled toLeipzig andUlm and finally reached the border to Switzerland nearSingen. Via France, Spain, andGibraltar, Neave returned to England in April 1942. Neave was the first British officer to escape from Colditz Castle.[7]
On 12 May 1942, shortly after his return to England, he was decorated with theMilitary Cross.[11] He was subsequently promoted towar substantive captain and to the permanent rank of captain on 11 April 1945.[12]
A temporary major at war's end, he was appointed anMBE (Military Division) on 30 August 1945,[13] and awarded theDSO on 18 October.[14] Consequently, the earlier MBE appointment was cancelled on 25 October 1945.[15]
After his escape from the Germans and return to England, Neave was recruited as an intelligence officer forMI9, supporting underground escape organizations, such as thePat O'Leary Line and theComet Line in occupied Europe, with equipment, agents, and money. They were assisting downed Allied airmen and other Allied military personnel evade and escape capture by the Germans. In Western Europe, about five thousand British and American military personnel were rescued by the escape organizations and repatriated to the United Kingdom, beforeD-Day, mostly through neutral Spain. After D-Day, inOperation Marathon, Neave journeyed to France and Belgium and, with help from the Comet Line and the Resistance, rescued more than three hundred Allied airmen who had taken refuge in forest camps after being shot down.[16][17] While at MI9, he was the immediate superior of the future comedianMichael Bentine, also an Old Etonian.
Neave also served in the International Military Tribunal at theNuremberg trials, investigatingKrupp. He was supported by the work of his secretary Joan Tutte.[18] As a well-known war hero – as well as a qualified lawyer who spoke fluent German – he was honoured with the role of reading the indictments to theNazi leaders on trial.[19] He wrote several books about his war experiences including an account of the trials.[20]
A temporary lieutenant-colonel by 1947, he was appointed anOBE (Military Division) in that year'sBirthday Honours.[21] He was awarded theBronze Star by the US government on 20 July 1948,[22] and was promoted to lieutenant-colonel on 1 April 1950,[23] At the same time, his promotion to acting major was gazetted, with retroactive effect from 16 April 1948.[23] He entered the reserves on 21 September 1951.[24]
Neave stood for theConservative Party at the1950 election inThurrock and atEaling North in 1951.[25] He was elected forAbingdon in a by-election in June 1953, but his career was held back by aheart attack he suffered in 1959.
He was a Governor ofImperial College between 1963 and 1971 and was a member of the House of Commonsselect committee on Science and Technology between 1965 and 1970. He was on the governing body ofAbingdon School from 1953 to 1979.[26]
Edward Heath, whenChief Whip, was alleged to have told Neave that after he suffered his heart attack his career was finished[citation needed] but in his 1998 autobiography, Heath strongly denied ever making such a remark. He admitted that in December 1974 Neave had told him to stand down for the good of the party. During the final two months of 1974, Neave had askedKeith Joseph,William Whitelaw andEdward du Cann to stand against Heath, and said that in the case of any of them challenging for the party leadership, he would be theircampaign manager. When all three refused to stand, Neave agreed to be the campaign manager forMargaret Thatcher's attempt to become leader of the Conservative Party, which was eventually successful.[27]
When Thatcher was elected leader in February 1975, Neave was rewarded by becoming head of her private office. He was then appointedShadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and, at the time of his death, was poised to attain the equivalent Cabinet position in the event of the Conservatives winning thegeneral election of 1979. In opposition, Neave was a strong supporter ofRoy Mason, who had extended the policy ofUlsterisation.
Neave was author of the new and radical Conservative policy of abandoningdevolution inNorthern Ireland if there was no early progress in that regard, and concentrating on local government reform instead. This integrationist policy was hastily abandoned byHumphrey Atkins, who becameSecretary of State for Northern Ireland, the role Neave had shadowed.
PoliticianTony Benn records in his diary (17 February 1981) that a journalist from theNew Statesman,Duncan Campbell, told him that he had received information two years previously, from anintelligenceagent, that Neave had planned to have Benn assassinated if, following the election ofLabour government, Labour leaderJames Callaghan resigned and there was a possibility that Benn might be elected in his place. Campbell said that the agent was ready to give his name and theNew Statesman was going to print the story. Benn, however, discounted the validity of the story, writing in his diary: "No one will believe for a moment that Airey Neave would have done such a thing."[28] The magazine printed the story on 20 February 1981, naming the agent as Lee Tracey. Tracey said he had met Neave, who asked him to join a team of intelligence and security specialists which would "make sure Benn was stopped". A planned second meeting never took place because Neave was murdered with a car bomb.[29]
Neave was critically wounded on 30 March 1979 when acar bomb fitted with a tilt-switch exploded under hisVauxhall Cavalier[30] at 14:59 as he drove out of thePalace of Westminster car park.[31] He lost both legs in the explosion and died of his wounds atWestminster Hospital an hour after being rescued from the wrecked car. He was 63.
TheIrish National Liberation Army (INLA) afterwards claimed responsibility for the assassination. Neave had been pressing within Conservative Party circles and in Parliament throughoutthe Troubles for theBritish Government to abandon its strategy of containment (including "Ulsterisation") ofIrish republican paramilitarism withinNorthern Ireland, and switch to one of pursuing its military defeat. It is believed that this is what led to his being targeted.[citation needed]
Following his death, Conservative leaderMargaret Thatcher said of Neave:
He was one of freedom's warriors. No one knew of the great man he was, except those nearest to him. He was staunch, brave, true, strong; but he was very gentle and kind and loyal. It's a rare combination of qualities. There's no one else who can quite fill them. I, and so many other people, owe so much to him and now we must carry on for the things he fought for and not let the people who got him triumph.[32][33]
Labour Prime MinisterJames Callaghan said: "No effort will be spared to bring the murderers to justice and to rid the United Kingdom of the scourge of terrorism."[34]
The INLA issued a statement regarding the assassination in the August 1979 edition ofThe Starry Plough:[35]
In March, retired terrorist and supporter of capital punishment, Airey Neave, got a taste of his own medicine when an INLA unit pulled off the operation of the decade and blew him to bits inside the 'impregnable' Palace of Westminster. The nauseousMargaret Thatcher snivelled on television that he was an 'incalculable loss'—and so he was—to the British ruling class.
Neave's death came two days afterthe vote of no confidence which brought down Callaghan's government and a few weeks before the general election, which brought about a Conservative victory and saw Thatcher come to power as Prime Minister. Neave's wife Diana, whom he married on 29 December 1942, was subsequently elevated to theHouse of Lords asBaroness Airey of Abingdon.
Neave's biographerPaul Routledge met a member of theIrish Republican Socialist Party (the political wing of INLA) who was involved in the killing of Neave and who told Routledge that Neave "would have been very successful at that job [Northern Ireland Secretary]. He would have brought the armed struggle to its knees".[36]
As a result of Neave's assassination the INLA was declared illegal across the whole of the United Kingdom on 2 July 1979.[37]
Neave's killing has been the subject of conspiracy theories.[38]Enoch Powell claimed that his death was the result of a British-American conspiracy to secure a united Irish state that would be a part of NATO.[39][38]
Neave was portrayed by Geoffrey Pounsett inNuremberg (2000),Dermot Crowley inMargaret (2009),Nicholas Farrell inThe Iron Lady (2011) (in a piece ofdramatic licence Thatcher is shown in that film as an eyewitness to his death) andTim McInnerny inUtopia (2014).
In 2014, 35 years after Neave's death, a fictionalised account of Neave's murder was depicted in theChannel 4 dramaUtopia, where he was portrayed as a drinker who colluded with spies and whose assassination was perpetrated byMI5. This led to condemnation of the broadcaster, withNorman Tebbit, a friend and political colleague of Neave, saying "To attack a man like that who is dead and cannot defend himself is despicable".[40]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forAbingdon 1953–1979 | Succeeded by |
