John Hill (UK politician)

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For other persons named John Hill, see John Hill (disambiguation).

John Edward Bernard Hill (born 13 November 1912) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as Member of Parliament for South Norfolk from 1955 to 1974, and from 1973-74 as one of the UK's first MEPs.

Hill was educated at Charterhouse School and Merton College, Oxford, where he gained a football Blue. He was a barrister, called to the Bar at Inner Temple in 1938, and a farmer. In World War II, he served with the 64th Field Brigade, Royal Artillery, with the Skiing Division of the 5th Battalion Scots Guards and as an air observation pilot. He was a councillor on Wainford Rural District Council, Suffolk and a senior member of various East Anglian river and flood defence boards, as well as a governor of Charterhouse School.

Hill won his seat in parliament on 13 January 1955 in a by-election caused by the expulsion of the sitting MP Peter Baker after Baker's conviction and imprisonment for uttering, forgery and fraud. He held then seat later that year at the 1955 general election, and was re-elected in four subsequent general elections (in 1959, 1964, 1966 and 1970). He did not stand in the February 1974 general election and was succeeded as MP by John MacGregor.

In Parliament, he served as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury (a government [whip (politics)|whip]]) 1960-64 and Opposition spokesman on education and science, 1965. When the United Kingdom joined the European Economic Community in 1973, Hill was appointed as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), and served from January 1973 until July 1974. At that time, MEPs were appointed by national parliaments, rather than being directly elected.