The Lord Biffen | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byWalter Bird, 1965 | |
| Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal | |
| In office 11 June 1983 – 13 June 1987 | |
| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | The Baroness Young |
| Succeeded by | John Wakeham |
| Leader of the House of Commons | |
| In office 7 April 1982 – 13 June 1987 | |
| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | Francis Pym |
| Succeeded by | John Wakeham |
| Lord President of the Council | |
| In office 7 April 1982 – 11 June 1983 | |
| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | Francis Pym |
| Succeeded by | William Whitelaw |
| Secretary of State for Trade | |
| In office 5 January 1981 – 6 April 1982 | |
| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | John Nott |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Cockfield |
| Chief Secretary to the Treasury | |
| In office 4 May 1979 – 5 January 1981 | |
| Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | Joel Barnett |
| Succeeded by | Leon Brittan |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Industry | |
| In office 19 November 1976 – 4 May 1979 | |
| Leader | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | Michael Heseltine |
| Succeeded by | Eric Varley |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Energy | |
| In office 15 January 1976 – 19 November 1976 | |
| Leader | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded by | Patrick Jenkin |
| Succeeded by | Tom King |
| Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| In office 3 June 1997 – 14 August 2007 as alife peer | |
| Member of Parliament forNorth Shropshire Oswestry (1961–1983) | |
| In office 9 November 1961 – 8 April 1997 | |
| Preceded by | David Ormsby-Gore |
| Succeeded by | Owen Paterson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | William John Biffen (1930-11-03)3 November 1930 Bridgwater, England |
| Died | 14 August 2007(2007-08-14) (aged 76) Shrewsbury, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | |
| Alma mater | Jesus College, Cambridge |
William John Biffen, Baron Biffen,PC, DL (3 November 1930 – 14 August 2007), was a BritishConservative Party politician. He was amember of parliament from 1961 to 1997, and served inMargaret Thatcher's cabinet; he then served in theHouse of Lords.
The son of Victor William Biffen, a tenant farmer, of Hill Farm,Otterhampton,Bridgwater, Somerset, and his wife Edith Annie ('Tish'),[1] John Biffen was born in Bridgwater, Somerset, in 1930. He was educated firstly atCombwich village school, followed byDr. Morgan's Grammar School, Bridgwater.[2] He then earned a scholarship toJesus College, Cambridge, where he graduated with afirst class honours degree in history. From 1953 to 1960 he worked forTube Investments Ltd. In the 1960s he joined theMont Pelerin Society.[1]
Having previously stood unsuccessfully againstRichard Crossman atCoventry East in1959, Biffen was the member of parliament (MP) for the constituency ofOswestry, later renamedShropshire North, from the time of his election at aby-election in 1961 until his retirement at the1997 general election.[1]
In his early political career he was a disciple ofEnoch Powell, voting for him in theConservative leadership election of 1965.[1] Biffen was aEurosceptic and voted in aparliamentary division in 1972, opposing his own party, against the UK's entry into theEC. He championed tight fiscal policy and opposed state intervention in economic management. This stance barred his way to advancement underEdward Heath, but contributed to his promotion underMargaret Thatcher.[1]
Biffen served in Thatcher's government in the successive positions ofChief Secretary to the Treasury,Secretary of State for Trade, and asLeader of the House of Commons. Thatcher writes inThe Downing Street Years (1993) that "(Biffen) had been a brilliant exponent in Opposition of the economic policies in which I believed... But he proved rather less effective than I had hoped in the gruelling task of trying to control public expenditure."[3]
In 1981, he allowedRupert Murdoch to buyThe Times andThe Sunday Times without reference to theMonopolies Commission.[4] According toWoodrow Wyatt, who helped persuade Thatcher to ensure this, the Commission "almost certainly would have blocked it".[5]
As Leader of the House, Biffen used theguillotine to cut short debate on theEuropean Communities (Amendment) Act 1986.Edward Pearce has written that Biffen "was widely thought the best post-war floor leader".[6]
Biffen's image as an economic "dry" mellowed during his time in government, and he made blunt public calls for greater moderation in government policy. In 1980 he warned the country to prepare for "three years of unparalleled austerity".[1] In 1981 Biffen gave a speech to a fringe meeting at that year's Conservative Party Conference in which he argued the party was "within touching distance of the débâcles of1906 and1945". He further claimed that far from cutting public spending, the government had increased it by two per cent since 1979 and that the government was part of an all-party consensus in favour of the welfare state and public spending: "We are allsocial democrats now", Biffen concluded in his speech.[7]
On 9 February 1986, he said that Toryism was "not a raucous political faction"[1] and after the Conservative Party's losses in the 1986 local government elections, and poor performances in the two parliamentary by-elections held simultaneously, Biffen was interviewed onWeekend World byBrian Walden on 11 May as the government's spokesman. He called the results "Black Thursday", said the Conservatives needed to fight the next general election on a "balanced ticket" and that "no one seriously supposes that the Prime Minister would be Prime Minister throughout the entire period of the next Parliament".[8] This alienated him from Thatcher and resulted in his being dropped from the Cabinet after the1987 general election. His dismissal was no surprise, in that Thatcher's press secretaryBernard Ingham had already famously called him a "semi-detached" member of the Cabinet. Thatcher in her memoirs described Biffen's desire for a balanced ticket as "foolish" and "a recipe for paralysis."[9] Nevertheless, Thatcher later admitted that Biffen's departure from the Cabinet was "a loss in some ways", because of his Euroscepticism and his "sound instincts on economic matters".[10] In the month after his sacking Biffen likened Thatcher's governing style to that of a "Stalinist regime".[11]
Despite his right-wing views on economic policy, he was very much to the left of Thatcher on social policy. Similarly to Powell, he completely opposed capital punishment and was very supportive of equal gay rights but wanted less immigration. Biffen also opposed the tightening of laws restricting abortion and voted in 1990 to preserve the limit at 28 weeks.[12]
Brian Walden noted that Biffen was the "most honest" politician he had interviewed.[13]
On the backbenches Biffen voted against the Local Government Finance Act 1988 which introduced theCommunity Charge (the poll tax). He voted against theMaastricht Treaty and was in favour of areferendum on theEU Constitution so he could vote "No".[14]
On 3 June 1997 he was created alife peer, asBaron Biffen, of Tanat in the County ofShropshire.[15]
Biffen married Sarah Wood in 1979. He had one stepson, Nicholas Wood, a correspondent withThe New York Times andInternational Herald Tribune, and a stepdaughter, Lucy.[16] The family lived at Tanat House,Llanyblodwel.[17]
Biffen died fromheart failure atRoyal Shrewsbury Hospital on 14 August 2007, aged 76.[1] He had also suffered from kidney failure for many years.[18]
Biffen was portrayed byRoger Brierley in the 2004BBC production ofThe Alan Clark Diaries.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forOswestry 1961–1983 | Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forNorth Shropshire 1983–1997 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chief Secretary to the Treasury 1979–1981 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for Trade 1981–1982 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Lord President of the Council 1982–1983 | Succeeded by |
| Leader of the House of Commons 1982–1987 | Succeeded by | |
| Preceded by | Lord Privy Seal 1983–1987 | |
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