Howard Flight

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Howard Emerson Flight (born 16 June 1948) is a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom. He was Member of Parliament for Arundel and South Downs from 1997 to 2005. He held several Shadow posts: Shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury 1999-2001, Shadow Paymaster General to 2002, then Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Flight was educated at Brentwood School, Brentwood, Essex, Magdalene College in Cambridge University, and the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. From 1970 to 1998 he worked as an investment adviser and director in various banks. He stood unsuccessfully for Parliament for Bermondsey in the February and October 1974 general elections. He married his wife Christabel in 1974 and they have four children. Flight is author of All you Need to know about Exchange Rates (1989), and contributor to the book The City in Europe and the World (2005).

Flight resigned as Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party on March 24, 2005, following comments made at a Conservative Way Forward meeting that was being secretly recorded. In the meeting he stated that the Conservatives in office could make more spending cuts than they were promising in their campaign before the general election. Conservative leader Michael Howard then withdrew the party whip, and announced that Flight was no longer an approved candidate and could not contest the Arundel and South Downs seat as a Conservative party candidate at the 2005 general election. Flight refused to accept this, maintaining that only his local party branch has the right to deselect him. On March 29, 2005, he announced that he had an opinion from a Queen's Counsel, confirming his view. The Arundel and South Downs Conservative branch initially refused to seek a new candidate, though they reversed their position when threatened with the 'Slough treatment', referring to the suspension of that association for refusing to deselect Adrian Hilton. Amid speculation, Flight confirmed that he would not stand as an independent and would not oppose any decision by the local association to deselect him.

On April 6, he agreed to give up his attempts to continue as a Conservative candidate and his party began the process of selecting a new candidate. Anne Marie Morris, Laura Sandys and Nick Herbert put themselves forward for nomination as replacement candidates. The chosen candidate, Nick Herbert, won the seat at the election. He has been placed on the 'A-List' of Conservative Party candidates ahead of the next general election [1].