Dudley Fishburn

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John Dudley Fishburn, known as Dudley Fishburn, (born June 8, 1946) is a British journalist and politician.

He studied at Eton and Harvard. He was a business journalist, serving as executive editor for The Economist for seven years.

He was elected Conservative Party member of Parliament for Kensington in the Kensington by-election of 1988, and kept his seat at the 1992 general election. Fishburn was an outspoken supporter of leasehold reform given the large number of leasehold properties in his constituency, and welcomed the passing of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act, 1993. He campaigned for a new form of housing tenure, commonhold, where leaseholders clubbed together to buy the freehold.

He also criticised the treatment of foreign domestic servants who entered the United Kingdom on their employers' passports and who were exploited by them in the knowledge that they would be deported from the United Kingdom if any complaint was made. In May 1995 the Boundary commission recommended changes to be brought in at the next general election which would see his constituency divided: the northern Labour-voting areas to form part of Regent's Park and Kensington North, while the southern Conservative-voting part was merged with Chelsea to make Kensington and Chelsea.

Fishburn had remained as a part-time business consultant while being a Member of Parliament, and in June 1995 it was revealed that he had advised his clients to build friendly relations with the Labour Party because it was "scenting a spell in government". He defended his advice while maintaining that it did not dampen his support for the Conservatives. Fishburn had been expected to fight for the selection in Kensington and Chelsea where the Chelsea MP Sir Nicholas Scott was seen as vulnerable, but in July 1995 he announced that he would instead stand down at the election. Fishburn said that MPs were underworked and becoming busybodies, and that he opposed the increased number of MPs proposed by the Boundary Commission.

He now holds various directorships, including Altria Group. Fishburn's wife is the sister of Nicholas Boles, a prominent Conservative candidate in the 2005 general election.