Neil Hamilton (politician)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other persons named Neil Hamilton, see Neil Hamilton (disambiguation).
Hamilton in March 2008.
Hamilton in March 2008.

Mostyn Neil Hamilton (born March 9, 1949) is a former barrister, teacher and Conservative Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom. Since leaving politics and subsequent bankruptcy, Hamilton and his wife Christine have become minor media celebrities.

Contents

[edit] Political career

Hamilton was born at Fleur-de-Lis, a Monmouthshire pit-village near Blackwood in March 1949, but in the 1950s moved to Ammanford as his father was an engineer for the National Coal Board. His grandparents and great-grandparents were coal miners. His father was also from Monmouthshire.

Following education at Ammanford Grammar School in West Wales, Hamilton studied economics at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth and Law at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge [1] [2]. He joined the Conservative party in the summer of 1964.

Whilst at university, he was a leading light in the Federation of Conservative Students and the ultra-right at Aberystwyth, renowned for doing impersonations of Enoch Powell. At the 1970 Conservative party conference he called for mass privatisation but first came to national attention after attending, as a delegate from the Young Conservatives, the 1973 conference of MSI, the Italian Fascist Party. [3]

At the February 1974 general election, Hamilton stood as the Conservative candidate in Abertillery and at the 1979 general election as a parliamentary candidate in Bradford North where in a selection speech and an election flyer he advocated "coloured" repatriation [4]

He worked as a teacher for a brief time in the mid 1970s, but went to Corpus Christi College, to study for a degree in law between 1975 and 1978. He taught constitutional law at Southsea college from September 1978 to the 1979 General Election. Between 1979 and 1983 he worked as a barrister, specialising in Taxation law. (However, after he lost his Parliamentary seat in 1997, he vowed never to return to "that constipated profession".) He was also European and Parliamentary Affairs Director of the Institute of Directors during this time.

Hamilton was finally elected to Parliament at the 1983 general election as the MP for the Tatton constituency. On 4 June 1983 he married Mary Christine Holman, now better known as Christine Hamilton, who would eventually become famous in her own right.

Despite holding very strong Thatcherite views, such as being anti-trade union, pro-free market, pro-capital punishment, pro-corporal punishment and anti-immigration (he also supported the freedom to smoke, the right of people to sell their organs and Welsh as a national language), he was not rapidly promoted, unlike many Thatcherites who entered the Commons in 1983 and throughout the 1980s Hamilton remained a backbencher. He was one of 10 MPs to vote against the government on an EEC bill in April 1986. A mid-1980s libel case with the BBC almost certainly slowed down his progress but, after winning it, he was appointed a Parliamentary Private Secretary to David Mitchell in December 1986.

In 1989, he won the Spectator parliamentary wit of the year award. He jokingly said that when he was told he had won the award, he thought he was given it for being the "Twit of the year"[1]. Margaret Thatcher made him a whip in July 1990.

[edit] Wins BBC libel case

Neil Hamilton and fellow MP Gerald Howarth, also one of his closest friends, successfully sued the BBC for libel in October 1986 after a Panorama programme, "Maggie's Militant Tendency", broadcast on January 30, 1984, stated that the MPs had links with far-right groups in Europe and in the UK. The two MPs' case, financed by Sir James Goldsmith, succeeded when the BBC withdrew, and the plaintiffs were awarded damages £20,000 each. During the court case, Hamilton described himself as being "The Mike Yarwood of the Tory Right"[2] and told the court that he frequently sent up public figures such as Frankie Howerd, Edward Heath and Enoch Powell. On October 16 Hamilton did an impression of Hitler whilst in the defence box and said that when Freddie Starr impersonates Hitler, no-one suggests that he is a fascist.

The BBC also had to pay the pair's legal costs and gave them a broadcast unreserved apology. The programme had alleged (not admitted as evidence in court, but Hamilton effectively confessed in The Sunday Times), that he gave a Nazi salute in Berlin while 'messing around' on a Parliamentary visit in August 1983.[5]

In a Sunday Times article on October 26, 1986, Hamilton defended his actions and denied that any malicious intent was behind the salute. He also pointed out that one of the party present, Julian Lewis, was a Jew himself and that a "number of his relatives were killed by the Nazis during the war"[3].

[edit] Monday Club

He was for some years a member of the staunchly right-wing Conservative Monday Club, and was one of those elected to its Executive Council as far back as 1972. Although he lapsed after his election as an MP, he continued his support for the Club.

Hamilton vehemently urged Thatcher to fight on to a second ballot in November 1990 during the leadership contest and was devastated when she resigned. Hamilton voted for John Major after Thatcher's resignation, (though Norman Tebbit persuaded him to do so as he and Christopher Chope (a close friend of Hamilton's) were going to write "Thatcher" on their ballot papers as a protest vote[4]. Hamilton had initially leaned towards Michael Heseltine for the ballot, as had a few other Right-wingers, because they took the view that "Heseltine had stabbed Thatcher in the front". For a while after Thatcher's resignation, Hamilton's enthusiasm for any Conservative government waned.

Hamilton was the Minister for deregulation and corporate affairs from April 1992 to October 1994 in John Major's government. Despite being a staunch Thatcherite, he remained loyal to Major's government, persuading several of right-wingers not to resign over various issues and remained loyal even after his resignation in October 1994, although he did vote for John Redwood in the June 1995 leadership contest and was bitterly disappointed when Michael Portillo did not challenge Major for the leadership.

[edit] Cash for Questions scandal

On October 20, 1994, The Guardian published an article claiming that Hamilton, and another minister, Tim Smith, had received money, paid in the form of cash in brown envelopes, from Harrods' owner Mohamed Al-Fayed, for asking questions on his behalf in the House of Commons. The subsequent furor became known as the "Cash-for-questions affair". Smith admitted his guilt and resigned immediately. Hamilton claimed innocence but was eventually forced to resign his position as Corporate Affairs Minister. He did so on 25 October. He sued The Guardian, along with Ian Greer and had a 300-year-old law changed so he could do so, which was the Defamation Bill - altering a 300-year-old Bill of Rights by allowing an MP to waive his Parliamentary privilege. It gained Royal Assent in July 1996. However, on 30 September 1996, a day before the libel trial was due to begin, a conflict of interest arose and both men dropped the trial as they said they could not afford to continue. They each paid £7,500 to The Guardian's legal costs and all the cash for questions evidence was sent to Sir Gordon Downey. On the evening of 1 October 1996, on Newsnight, Hamilton got involved in a memorable televised live debate with Alan Rusbridger, the editor of The Guardian.

During the election of 1997, Hamilton, still claiming his innocence, was determined to hold on to his parliamentary seat in what was then the fourth safest Conservative seat in the country. Conservative Central Office said that selection of candidates was purely a matter for the local party and refused to intervene. However, what Hamilton's supporters labelled the 'left-wing media' gave constant and entirely negative publicity to Hamilton's case and seriously undermined his position in the eyes of the general public.

The media's interest in unseating Hamilton appeared to be confirmed when the well-known BBC war correspondent Martin Bell decided to stand as an independent candidate in Hamilton's constituency, and the Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates stood down in order to give him a clear run against Hamilton, who was trounced when Bell won the seat with a majority of over 11,000 votes. The media coverage surrounding Hamilton along with other allegations of sleaze levelled at the Conservative Party, severely de-railed the Conservatives' election campaign and contributed to the worst defeat the Conservative Party had suffered for 150 years.

Hamilton was found guilty, along with Tim Smith, by Sir Gordon Downey on 3 July 1997. Both were severely criticised in the report, along with Michael Brown and Michael Grylls. The recommendation was that if Hamilton and Smith were still MPs they would have been given a substantial suspension from the House of Commons for their behaviour. Downey said that that the evidence that Hamilton took cash from Al-Fayed for asking questions was "compelling" and that he was unlikely to have taken less than £25,000 in cash from Al-Fayed. Hamilton rejected these findings. He launched an appeal on 14 October and appealed to a new committee, which on 6 November only partially endorsed Sir Gordon Downey's findings, but still criticised his behaviour whilst he was an MP.

After this, Hamilton decided to sue Al-Fayed for libel for what he had said in a Channel 4 Dispatches programme in January 1997. Al-Fayed had claimed that Hamilton had demanded and accepted cash payments, gift vouchers and a free holiday at the Paris Ritz, in return for asking parliamentary questions on behalf of Harrods.

Hamilton was given permission to sue on 31 July 1998 and money was raised, the late Lord Harris of High Cross being one of the chief fund raisers, along with the Earl of Portsmouth and Taki, a journalist. Another contributor to the fund was Simon Heffer, though he gave a relatively small amount.

Neil Hamilton took Mohamed Al-Fayed to court for libel in November 1999, but lost on 21 December after the 11 jurors determined that he had corruptly taken payments from Mobil Oil in 1989.[6]. He also lost the subsequent appeal in December 2000. [7]. In May 2001, unable to pay his legal fees and costs amounting to some £3m, he was declared bankrupt. He was discharged from bankruptcy in 2004.

He still has supporters who believe him to have been unfairly treated by the media and the courts. Former Granada journalist Jonathan Boyd Hunt[8] investigated the "Cash For Questions" affair, and declared in his book Trial By Conspiracy (ISBN 0-473-05123-0) that the case against Hamilton was untrue. The alleged conspiracy against Hamilton is also documented at Boyd Hunt's website, Guardian Lies [9].

In April 2002 Hamilton reportedly joined the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). However, in an interview with The Scotsman newspaper on 29 October that year he reportedly said he had no desire to return to Parliament and that he once had a love affair with the Conservative Party, but if he said that now, he would be accused of necrophilia.

[edit] After the scandal

Hamilton's career took an unusual turn in May 1997 when he and Christine appeared on the current affairs satire quiz Have I Got News For You a week after Neil lost his Tatton seat. Angus Deayton, the chairman of the panel game, wore a white suit instead of his usual brown one, in reference to Martin Bell, who wore such a suit throughout his election campaign (he had just unseated Neil). The programme was broadcast on 9 May.

Despite being the subject of numerous taunts about the scandal, including being given their "fee" in brown envelopes at the end of the show, the Hamiltons managed to come through the experience well. At one point Hamilton quipped, "I've found it's much better making political jokes than being one," and many felt that both Hamiltons had shown strong potential. Since then they have often appeared on chat shows. Christine's TV career has taken off more strongly than Neil's, but even he has been a panelist on a few game shows and has appeared on programmes such as The Weakest Link. The couple appeared together on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and in pantomime. In an appearance on a celebrity edition of Mastermind on Boxing Day 2004 Hamilton described himself as being "an object of professional curiosity."

On 10 August 2001 Neil and Christine Hamilton were arrested by police investigating an alleged rape, with an inevitable blaze of publicity. The investigation against them was dropped when it became apparent that the accusations were entirely false. The episode of their lives regarding the alleged rape was captured on film by Louis Theroux, who at that time was filming the Hamiltons for an episode of When Louis Met.... In June 2003 their accuser, Nadine Milroy-Sloan, was imprisoned for attempting to pervert the course of justice.[10] In February 2005 the publicist Max Clifford, who had acted for Milroy-Sloan, paid an undisclosed sum in damages to settle.

Neil and Christine Hamilton sold their house in Tatton in September 2003 and moved after 20 years of living there. They bought a house in Wiltshire in October 2004 and also have a flat in Battersea.

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Times - 22 October 1994
  2. ^ Daily Mirror - 17 October 1986
  3. ^ The Sunday Times - October 26 1986
  4. ^ Christine Hamilton's autobiography - 2005

[edit] External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
(new constituency)		 Member of Parliament for Tatton
1983–1997		 Succeeded by
Martin Bell