The Baroness Knight of Collingtree | |
|---|---|
 Knight in 1990 | |
| Member of theHouse of Lords | |
| Life peerage 23 September 1997 – 24 March 2016 | |
| Member of Parliament forBirmingham Edgbaston | |
| In office 31 March 1966 – 8 April 1997 | |
| Preceded by | Edith Pitt |
| Succeeded by | Gisela Stuart |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Joan Christabel Jill Christie (1923-07-09)9 July 1923 Bristol, England |
| Died | 6 April 2022(2022-04-06) (aged 98) West Northamptonshire, England |
| Party | Conservative |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
Joan Christabel Jill Knight, Baroness Knight of Collingtree,DBE (née Christie; 9 July 1923 – 6 April 2022) was a British politician. A member of theConservative Party, she served asMember of Parliament (MP) forBirmingham Edgbaston from 1966 to 1997. She was created alife peer as Baroness Knight of Collingtree, ofCollingtree in the County of Northamptonshire,in 1997 after she had stood down atthat year's general election, and retired from theHouse of Lords in 2016.
Joan Christabel Jill Christie was born inBristol on 9 July 1923,[1][2] although she later shaved several years off her age: when seeking election, she put her year of birth as 1930. Her parents divorced when she was a child. Her mother was a teacher and a graduate ofBristol University. Christie attendedFairfield Secondary and Higher Grade School in Bristol and theKing Edward Grammar School for Girls, Birmingham. In 1941, she joined theWomen's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF). Her unit served inAmiens, moving later toHamburg, following the British advance, performing ground control of aircraft. She also appeared onBritish Forces Network radio.[2]
Upon her return to the UK, she joined theYoung Conservatives in London. On 14 June 1947, she married James Montague "Monty" Knight (an optician, who had served in the war as a lieutenant in theRoyal Navy), and moved toNorthampton.[2]
She was elected as a councillor onNorthampton Borough Council, serving from 1956 to 1966, and became awhip. She unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary seat ofNorthampton at the1959 and1964 general elections for theConservative Party.[3][4] She was electedMember of Parliament (MP) forBirmingham Edgbaston in the1966 general election, and held that seat in successive elections for 31 years until she stood down at the 1997 election. She was one of thelongest serving female MPs in British history. The Conservative MP for Edgbaston, DameEdith Pitt, had died on 27 January 1966 and it was the first time that a female Member of Parliament had been succeeded by another woman.[5]
Knight was a member of theParliamentary Select Committee on Race Relations and Immigration, 1969–72. For more than two decades she was an active member of theConservative Monday Club and was an outspoken opponent of theIrish Republican Army. Following the February1972 Aldershot bombing by the IRA she called for legislation to outlaw the IRA, and attacked its supporters and sympathisers.
She was on theSelect Committee for theCouncil of Europe from 1977, theSelect Committee for Home Affairs from 1980 to 1983, Lady Chairman of the Lords and Commons All-Party Child and Family Protection Group from 1978, on the Conservative Back-bench Health and Social Services Committee from 1982 and Secretary to the1922 Committee from 1983 to 1987. Knight was President of the West Midlands Conservative Political Centre from 1980 to 1983, and Lady Chairman of theWestern European Union Relations with Parliaments Committee from 1984 to 1988. She also served on theCouncil of Europe (1977–88), and as Chairman of the BritishInter-Parliamentary Union (1994–97).
One slogan in the aftermath of theNew Cross house fire, which left 13 young Black Britons dead, read: "Dame Jill Knight Set The Fire Alight!";[citation needed] this was an apparent reference to a controversial speech by Knight which was widely interpreted as condoning or even encouragingdirect action against noisy parties.[6][7]
Knight was created aLife peer asBaroness Knight of Collingtree, ofCollingtree in the County of Northamptonshire in1997[8] after standing down at that year'sgeneral election, and retired from the House of Lords on 24 March 2016, the week of the 50th anniversary of her first election to Parliament.[9] She was Vice-Chairman of the Association of Conservative Peers from 2002 to 2005.[10]
Her memoirs,About the House, were published in 1995.[11] She was interviewed in 2012 as part ofThe History of Parliament's oral history project.[12][13]
Knight, along withDavid Wilshire, introduced theSection 28 amendment to theLocal Government Act 1988, which barred local authorities, including schools, from 'promoting' homosexuality.[14] While promoting the new clause, Knight claimed children under two had access to gay and lesbian books inLambeth, a claim which has never been substantiated.[15] She linked discussion of homosexuality in schools to the spread ofAIDS, also describing homosexuality as "perverted" and "desperately dangerous".[16] She was described as a key force behind the legislation and a "dedicated – not to say fanatical – anti-gay MP".[17]
In June 2013, Knight opposedsame-sex marriage legislation, arguing that Parliament cannot change the fact that "marriage is not about just love. It is about a man and a woman, themselves created to produce children, producing children. A man can no more bear a child, than a woman can produce sperm, and no law on earth can change that. This is not a homophobic view. It may be sad, it may be unequal, but it's true."[18] In the same year, she claimed it was wrong for the Conservative Prime MinisterDavid Cameron to apologise for the legacy of Section 28, while appearing to defend herself from accusations of homophobia by claiming that gay people are "very good at antiques".[19]
In 2018, when she was interviewed by formerAttitude magazine editorMatthew Todd, who confronted Knight about her role as an architect of and a main driving force behind Section 28, she said "I'm sorry if anything I did upset you. All I was trying to do was acting on what people wrote to me, said to me, what the papers said." Knight stated that her motivation had only been to maintain the welfare of children.[20]
From 1986 to 1995, Knight was Vice-President ofTownswomen's Guilds. She was director of Computeach International plc from 1991 to 2006 and Heckett Multiserv from 1999 to 2006. Knight has been President ofSulgrave Manor Trust since 2012; she was its Chairman from 2007 to 2012.[10]
Knight was appointed aMember of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in1964,[21] and elevated to aDame Commander in1985.[22][23] She was awarded an honoraryDSc byAston University in 1999. Knight was made aKentucky Colonel in 1973; aNebraska Admiral in 1980; and was made an honoraryTexas Ranger in 2014.[10]
Knight's husband, James Montague Knight, died in 1986. The couple had two children. Her recreations were music, reading, tapestry work, theatre-going and antique-hunting.[10] Knight died inWest Northamptonshire,[24] on 6 April 2022, at the age of 98.[25]
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| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forBirmingham Edgbaston 1966–1997 | Succeeded by |
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