Reginald Bevins | |
|---|---|
| Postmaster General | |
| In office 1959–1964 | |
| Preceded by | Ernest Marples |
| Succeeded by | Tony Benn |
| Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government | |
| In office 1957–1959 | |
| Preceded by | Enoch Powell |
| Succeeded by | Sir Keith Joseph |
| Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works | |
| In office 1953–1957 | |
| Preceded by | Hugh Molson |
| Succeeded by | Harmar Nicholls |
| Member of Parliament forLiverpool Toxteth | |
| In office 23 February 1950 – 25 September 1964 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency created |
| Succeeded by | Richard Crawshaw |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1908-08-20)20 August 1908 |
| Died | 16 November 1996(1996-11-16) (aged 88) |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
John Reginald Bevins (20 August 1908 – 16 November 1996) was a BritishConservative politician who served as aLiverpoolMember of Parliament (MP) for fourteen years. He served in the governments of the 1950s and 1960s, playing an important role in establishing independenttelevision.
Born inLiverpool,Lancashire, Bevins was one of five children. He was educated at the Dovedale Road School and then atLiverpool Collegiate School. He joined theinsurance business, and also became interested in politics: he joined theLabour Party. In 1935 he was elected toLiverpool City Council.
At the outbreak of theSecond World War, Bevins enlisted in theRoyal Artillery. He served as a gunner in 1940, and was stationed in the middle-east and in Europe. He completed his tour of duty as a Major in theRoyal Army Service Corps, and became a strong supporter of theConservative Party. At the conclusion of the war he immediately sought a Parliamentary nomination. He was chosen to run for theWest Toxteth division Labour-held seat; he lost by 4,814 votes, on a pro-Labour swing much less than the national average.
Bevins, who remained on the City Council after his change of parties, became a popular figure in the Liverpool Conservative Association. In 1947 he was chosen to fight theLiverpool Edge Hill division in aby-election. Although he did not win, he reduced the Labour majority to less than 2,000. Boundary changes announced the next year created a united seat inLiverpool Toxteth, and the sitting Member of Parliament for East Toxteth,Patrick Buchan-Hepburn, chose to move constituencies to Beckenham. Bevins was chosen to attempt to retain the new seat for the Conservatives.
He succeeded in the1950 general election by 2,620 votes. When the Conservative Party returned to office in 1951, Bevins was appointed asParliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of Housing and Local Government,Harold Macmillan. His knowledge of Liverpool municipal housing issues was valuable to the Minister who was leading a housing drive. In November 1953, he was brought into the government himself as Parliamentary Secretary to theMinistry of Works.
Macmillan became Prime Minister in January 1957 and moved Bevins back to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government. He had a key role in guiding through Parliament theRent Act 1957, which removed rent control and was highly controversial. After the1959 general election, Bevins was appointedPostmaster-General, placing him in control of a government department. Although the role was not in Macmillan's cabinet and rather low in the formal priorities, it had a higher public profile than this situation would suggest. Bevins was also appointed to thePrivy Council and became "The Right Honourable Reginald Bevins".
Among the responsibilities for the Postmaster General was television. Bevins was, like Macmillan, a supporter of commercial television, which many in the Conservative Party then regarded as un-British. He had guidance from a friend of Macmillan,Norman Collins, who was involved inAssociated TeleVision (ATV). Bevins had a delicate role as the potential profitability of the new entertainment medium was high; Bevins observed that whenLord Thomson said commercial television was "a licence to print money", he had been more indiscreet than inaccurate. In November 1962, Bevins was telephoned by journalists who asked him about the newBBC satire programmeThat Was The Week That Was; Bevins said he intended to do something about it. However, Macmillan immediately sent him a memo telling him to do nothing.
After theGreat Train Robbery in August 1963, Bevins was criticised for laxity in security as the robbery had happened on amail train. He moved to increase security, but resisted calls to have armed police guarding the trains. That October, Bevins was shocked at the choice of SirAlec Douglas-Home as the new Prime Minister (to replace Macmillan), as he thought Douglas-Home was part of the upper-class traditional leadership of the Conservatives who would find it difficult to win support from the electorate.
TheGeneral Post Office workers' pay negotiations of 1964 were particularly fraught. The government was running anincomes policy, but Bevins pressed for an offer of 5%; the Cabinet insisted on a lower offer, which resulted in a strike threat. The eventual settlement was 6·5%, and Bevins ended up taking the blame for fuelling wage inflation; he felt resentful, on the ground that his own approach would have led to a lower settlement.
At the1964 general election, Bevins lost his marginal seat. He immediately declared he would have no further political involvement until the upper-class establishment was removed from the Conservative leadership. Although supportingReginald Maudling, he was cheered byEdward Heath's election in 1965. He knew he would have no chance of a comeback in politics and wrote a book calledThe Greasy Pole, which laid bare his bitterness with his treatment. He also called for reforms of Parliamentary procedure to reduce the Parliamentary week to three days and to sit for only 20 weeks in the year.
Bevins worked for Francis Industries, an engineering company. His sonAnthony Bevins became a political journalist.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forLiverpool Toxteth 1950–1964 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works 1953–1957 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government 1957–1959 | Succeeded by SirKeith Joseph |
| Preceded by | Postmaster General 1959–1964 | Succeeded by |