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The Lord Parkinson | |
|---|---|
 Parkinson in 2015 | |
| Chairman of the Conservative Party | |
| In office 11 June 1997 – 1 June 1998 | |
| Leader | William Hague |
| Preceded by | Brian Mawhinney |
| Succeeded by | Michael Ancram |
| In office 14 September 1981 – 11 June 1983 | |
| Leader | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | The Lord Thorneycroft |
| Succeeded by | John Gummer |
| Secretary of State for Transport | |
| In office 24 July 1989 – 28 November 1990 | |
| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | Paul Channon |
| Succeeded by | Malcolm Rifkind |
| Secretary of State for Energy | |
| In office 13 June 1987 – 24 July 1989 | |
| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | Peter Walker |
| Succeeded by | John Wakeham |
| Secretary of State for Trade and Industry | |
| In office 12 June 1983 – 14 October 1983 | |
| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by |
|
| Succeeded by | Norman Tebbit |
| Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster | |
| In office 6 April 1982 – 11 June 1983 | |
| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | The Baroness Young |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Cockfield |
| Paymaster General | |
| In office 14 September 1981 – 11 June 1983 | |
| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | Francis Pym |
| Succeeded by | John Gummer |
| Minister of State for Trade | |
| In office 7 May 1979 – 14 September 1981 | |
| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | Michael Meacher |
| Succeeded by | Peter Rees |
| Member of theHouse of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| In office 29 June 1992 – 14 September 2015 Life Peerage | |
| Member of Parliament forHertsmere South Hertfordshire (1974-1983) Enfield West (1970-1974) | |
| In office 20 November 1970 – 16 March 1992 | |
| Preceded by | Iain Macleod |
| Succeeded by | James Clappison |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1931-09-01)1 September 1931 Carnforth,Lancashire, England |
| Died | 22 January 2016(2016-01-22) (aged 84) Marylebone, London, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | Emmanuel College, Cambridge |
Cecil Edward Parkinson, Baron Parkinson,PC[1] (1 September 1931 – 22 January 2016) was a BritishConservative Party politician and cabinet minister. Achartered accountant by training, he entered Parliament in November 1970, and was appointed a minister inMargaret Thatcher's first government in May 1979. He successfully managed the Conservative Party's1983 election campaign, and was rewarded with an appointment asSecretary of State for Trade and Industry, but was forced to resign following revelations that his former secretary,Sara Keays, was pregnant with his child, whom she later bore and named Flora Keays.[2] Flora was born with severe cerebral palsy.
Parkinson subsequently served asSecretary of State for Energy, and laterSecretary of State for Transport. He resigned that office in 1990, on the same day thatThatcher resigned as Prime Minister. He was created Baron Parkinson in 1992, and served in theHouse of Lords until his retirement in September 2015.[3][4]
Cecil Parkinson was born at 4 Edward Street,Carnforth,Lancashire, the son of Sydney Parkinson (13 April 1906 – 15 July 1995), a warehouseman for a corn dealer, later a railwayman, and his wife, Bridget, née Graham (29 January 1910 – 1991), who was from a Northern Irish family from Tyrone and Fermanagh but their roots were in Scotland. He had a younger sister, Norma (b. March 1933).[5] He was educated atLancaster Royal Grammar School, a state-run day and boarding school for boys, from 1943 to 1950 after passing hiseleven-plus from where he won a scholarship toCambridge University, where he read English atEmmanuel College, later switching to read law. He won aBlue as an athlete, competing over 220 and 440 yards. While at university, Parkinson was aLabour supporter and for a time was a member of that party. He even canvassed for them at the 1950 and 1951 General Elections. He didNational service as anNCO in theRoyal Air Force from 1950 to 1952.
After leaving university, Parkinson worked as a manager for theMetal Box Company, later becoming a consultant. He trained and qualified as achartered accountant, and founded Parkinson-Hart Securities in 1961.
In theJune 1970 general election Parkinson stood asConservative candidate forNorthampton, but was not elected. He was elected MP forEnfield West ata by-election in November 1970, following the death ofIain Macleod. When that constituency was abolished for theFebruary 1974 general election he was elected for the newSouth Hertfordshire constituency. Following the1979 general election he was made a junior trade minister. On 14 September 1981, he was appointedChairman of the Conservative Party as well asPaymaster General with a seat in the cabinet; he was given the added official title ofChancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in 1982. Despite his relatively junior status, he was a member of the small War Cabinet thatMargaret Thatcher set up to run theFalklands War.
He worked on the Conservative Party's1983 election campaign, standing in the newHertsmere constituency after South Hertfordshire's abolition. As a result of his success on the campaign, Thatcher had intended to promote him toForeign Secretary; however, before the election he warned her that this would be unwise, for his former secretary,Sara Keays, was pregnant with his child. Although Thatcher initially remonstrated with him thatAnthony Eden's womanising had been no bar on his being Foreign Secretary, she instead appointed him Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.[6]
Parkinson was forced to resign on 14 October 1983, after the news of Sara Keays's pregnancy had become public knowledge.[7] The child was born on New Year's Eve, and christened Flora Keays. Subsequently, as a result of a dispute overchild maintenance payments, Parkinson[citation needed] (with Keays's initial consent[citation needed]) was able to gain aninjunction in 1993, forbidding the British media from making any reference to their daughter. Following the birth, Parkinson released a statement in which he wished the baby "peace, privacy and a happy life".[8] Flora Keays haslearning difficulties andAsperger syndrome, and also underwent an operation to remove a brain tumour when she was four, although it is unknown whether this either caused or complicated her condition.[citation needed]
Thiscourt order was the subject of some controversy until Flora Keays reached the age of 18 at the end of 2001, when the court order expired. It was stated in the press that Parkinson had never met his child and presumably had no intention of doing so. While he had assisted with Flora's education and her financial upkeep, it was publicly pointed out that he had not even sent her abirthday card and that her mother assumed that Flora could not ever expect to receive one.[citation needed]
At the time of the revelation of Parkinson's relationship with Sara Keays, he made much of what he described as the volume of letters in support that he received. Many in the Conservative Party attacked Keays.Edwina Currie said on 7 October 1985, whilst herself having an affair withJohn Major, "I feel very very sorry for Cecil and his family. Most of my thoughts on Sara Keays are unprintable. Perhaps the most polite thing to say is she's a right cow".[9][10] By 2001, however, the media focused more upon Flora and her difficulties than on protecting Parkinson's reputation, so more voices were raised in criticism of Parkinson.
Following four years on the back benches, he was appointedSecretary of State for Energy in 1987 (having been tipped as a potentialChancellor of the Exchequer), and forTransport in the July 1989 reshuffle. One of the highlights during his tenure of the latter job was announcing new main-line rail tunnels across London, calledCrossrail. He resigned along with Margaret Thatcher when she was replaced by John Major and stood down from the House of Commons at the1992 general election.
Following the 1992 election, he was createdBaron Parkinson, of Carnforth, in the County of Lancashire, on 29 June 1992.[1]
That year, Parkinson also published his memoirs, in which he claimed that, with a determined campaign, Thatcher would have won the second ballot of the Conservative leadership election, when her Cabinet had warned her she would lose and thus persuaded her to stand down.
Parkinson returned to front-line politics when he was made Conservative Party Chairman again, byWilliam Hague, in June 1997. He retired from this role in 1998; afterwards he kept a low profile, although he was a vice-chairman of theConservative Way Forward group. He was also the Honorary President of Conservative Friends of Poland.[11]
Parkinson married Ann Mary Jarvis on 2 February 1957. They had three daughters: Mary, Emma and Joanna. Mary was found hanged in December 2017 following a period of depression after her father's death in 2016.[12][13]
As a result of an extra-marital affair with Sara Keays, his personal secretary, he fathered a daughter, Flora, whom he never met or acknowledged.
He was a supporter ofPreston North End,[14] and in November 1988 paid a tribute toTom Finney onThis Is Your Life.[15]
Parkinson was an activefreemason.[16]
Parkinson died fromcolorectal cancer atThe London Clinic in Marylebone, London, on 22 January 2016.[17] He left nothing in his will for his daughter Flora:[18] in April 2017, it was reported that Sara Keays was preparing to sue Parkinson's estate to continue to gain support for her daughter's 24-hour care, for regular payments had ceased a few months after Parkinson died.[19]
Parkinson's daughter, Mary, was found dead at her home inWandsworth on 10 December 2017, aged 57. Police did not treat the death as suspicious,[20] and it was later reported that she had taken her own life.
He was one of the three presidents of the UK-based charityAction on Addiction.[21]
Parkinson's affair with Sara Keays was a running joke in the satirical magazinePrivate Eye for over a decade (and on the satirical TV programmeSpitting Image for nearly as long), with the magazine seldom passing up an opportunity to portray Parkinson as having a voracious sexual appetite.[22] The relationship was the subject of a 2024Channel 5 television documentary,A Very British Sex Scandal: The Love Child & the Secretary, aired from 1 May.[23]
He was interviewed about the rise ofThatcherism for the 2006BBC TV documentary seriesTory! Tory! Tory!
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| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forEnfield West 1970–1974 | Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forSouth Hertfordshire 1974–1983 | |
| Member of Parliament forHertsmere 1983–1992 | Succeeded by | |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Paymaster General 1981–1983 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1982–1983 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded byas Secretary of State for Trade | Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 1983 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded byas Secretary of State for Industry | ||
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for Energy 1987–1989 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for Transport 1989–1990 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chairman of the Conservative Party 1981–1983 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman of the Conservative Party 1997–1998 | Succeeded by |
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