Sir Raymond William WhitneyOBE (28 November 1930 – 15 August 2012^[1]) was a BritishConservative politician and diplomat. He served as themember of parliament forWycombe from 1978 to 2001.

Whitney was born inNorthampton on 28 November 1930. He was educated atWellingborough School and theRoyal Military Academy Sandhurst, before being commissioned into theNorthamptonshire Regiment.^[1]

He resigned in 1964 in order to join theDiplomatic Service and served from 1966 to 1968 as first secretary at theOffice of British Chargé d'Affaires in Peking during theCultural Revolution. He also served as deputy High Commissioner to Bangladesh between 1973 and 1976, and, in his final appointment, was head of theInformation Research Department, theForeign Office's counter-propaganda department.^[1]

Whitney was elected as (MP) forWycombe at aby-election in 1978 caused by the death ofSir John Hall. He served asparliamentary private secretary (PPS) toNigel Lawson andPeter Rees at theTreasury.

Following the1983 general election he was appointedParliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office, moving to occupy the same position at theDepartment of Health and Social Security from October 1984 to September 1986.^[1]The Independent characterized Whitney as someone who "combined strongly right-wing views with staunch support of Britishmembership of theEuropean Community."^[2]

Whitney stepped down at the2001 general election,^[3] and was succeeded byPaul Goodman.

• Hansard 1803–2005:contributions in Parliament by Sir Ray Whitney

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