Bill Pitt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bill Pitt | |
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| In office 1981 – 1983 |
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| Preceded by | Robert Taylor |
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| Succeeded by | Humfrey Malins |
| Constituency | Croydon North West |
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| Born | 17 July 1937 Croydon, England |
| Political party | Liberal Party |
William Henry Pitt, commonly known as Bill Pitt, (born 17 July 1937) is a British politician. He was a Liberal Member of Parliament between 1981 and 1983, and was the first candidate elected to Parliament under the banner of the SDP-Liberal Alliance.
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[edit] Early life
Pitt was born in Croydon and attended Heath Clark School there, followed by the London Nautical School and South Bank Polytechnic. After National Service in the Royal Army Service Corps, he became a lighting engineer. His initial alliance in politics was with the Conservatives and he was Chairman of South Norwood Young Conservatives in 1959–60. However he joined the Liberal Party in the 1960s.
[edit] Liberal politics
In the 1970s, Pitt worked as a local government officer for the London Borough of Lambeth. He stood as Liberal candidate for Croydon North West in February where he obtained a creditable 25% of the vote and October 1974 in this election his vote, like that of most Liberal Candidates, fell and in the 1979 general election he, like 60% of candidates in London and 50% overall, lost his deposit., . He was, however, popular within the party and served as Chairman of the London Liberal Party and as a member of the Liberal Party National Executive Committee and the Party Council from 1977 till 1981
[edit] By-election
When the sitting Conservative MP for his seat died, Pitt was quickly chosen as the prospective Liberal candidate for the seat. As a bearded local government officer, he looked more representative of the old Liberal Party rather than the new Social Democratic Party which was in alliance with it. The choice of Pitt as byelection candidate was resisted by some senior members of the party who were keen to give the SDP a chance to win its first Parliamentary election (probably with Shirley Williams as the candidate), but Pitt and the local Liberal Association were insistent and there was no way to force them to cede the candidature. It should be noted that he had "nursed" the seat since 1974 and was the approved Candidate at National, Regional and Local level. Considerable pressure was put on the CNW Committee, especially on Leo Held - Chairman at the time - as well as the Regional Party. The Liberal Party Council of July 17th 1981 further endorsed Pitt and thus put an end to any speculation or manipulation
Pitt won the Croydon North West by-election on 22 October 1981 with a majority of 3,254 (standing as "Liberal with SDP support"). During the campaign, posters summed up the relationship between the two parties as "The Alliance" and the term stuck as the official name thereafter, although it had originally been intended as a stopgap slogan. His was one of a series of famous by-election triumphs during the unpopular start of Margaret Thatcher's government and the point of greatest unpopularity of the Labour Party. There is a still potent myth that Pitt famously made a complaint on live television that someone had popped a bottle of champagne all over him. "That's my new suit!" allegedly "his first and most famous words" were, in fact a complaint concerning his wife's suit - "That's my wife's new suit" bought at some expense in New York in preparation for victory. Actually, the champagne incident was a set up by his campaign team and ITV to make spurious news. What nobody thought to seek was the subject's opinion. In fact Pitt had, and still has, a to be fair some what irrational fear of any projectile coming towards him - which made him a lousy cricketer. After a long and tiring day, all he wanted was to get to the celebration party and relax. As he came out of the pedestrian underpass he saw at first what appeared to be some fool throwing something at him - no wonder he was less than enthusiastic. ITN used the clip without seeking any release or permission from Pitt and only finally stopped with threatened with legal action.
[edit] Parliament
He served in the House of Commons as Liberal Home Affairs Spokesman and led for the Alliance throughout the first Police and Criminal Evidence Bill, which fell when Margaret Thatcher called a General Election. Pitt lost his seat to the Conservative, Humfrey Malins, in the 1983 General Election. He fought two further elections for the Liberals in South Thanet in 1987 and 1992.
[edit] Later career
In 1996 Pitt joined the Labour Party, disillusoned with the Liberal Democrats and concerned to prevent Jonathan Aitken holding his seat in Thanet South. He campaigned for Labour in Thanet and for Malcolm Wicks in Croydon North Croydon in the 1997 general election. He retired from full time employment in August 2003 having been Head of Training for the Canary Wharf Group) and is now the Managing Director of Epec Management Services Limited - a Management and Environmental Advice Consultancy. In 2005 he became editor of the Norwood Review, the newsletter of the Norwood Society.
[edit] References
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by Robert Taylor |
Member of Parliament for Croydon North West 1981–1983 |
Succeeded by Humfrey Malins |
