John Biffen

William John Biffen, Baron Biffen, PC, DL (3 November 1930 – 14 August 2007), was a Conservative member of the House of Lords, who previously spent 36 years in the House of Commons.

Early life

The son of a tenant farmer Victor Biffen and his wife 'Tish', John Biffen was born at Combwich, a small village on the River Parrett near Bridgwater, Somerset in 1930. He was educated firstly at Otterhampton village school followed by Dr. Morgan's Grammar School, Bridgwater. He then earned a scholarship to Jesus College, Cambridge where he graduated with a first class honours degree in History. From 1953 to 1960 he worked for Tube Investments Ltd.

Member of Parliament

Biffen was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Oswestry, later renamed Shropshire North, from the time of his election at a by-election in 1961 until his retirement at the 1997 general election. In the same year he was made a life peer, sitting as Baron Biffen, of Tanat in the County of Shropshire.

In his early political career he was a disciple of Enoch Powell, voting for him in the Conservative leadership election of 1965. Biffen was a Eurosceptic and voted against Britain's entry into the EEC in a parliamentary division in 1972 against his own party. Biffen championed tight fiscal policy and opposed state intervention in economic management.

In government

This stance barred his way to advancement under Edward Heath, but contributed to his promotion under Margaret Thatcher. He served in Thatcher's government in the successive positions of Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Secretary of State for Trade, and as Leader of the House of Commons. In the 1960s Biffen joined the Mont Pelerin Society.

In 1981, Biffen allowed Rupert Murdoch to buy The Times and The Sunday Times without reference to the Monopolies Commission.^[1] According to Woodrow Wyatt, who helped persuade Thatcher to ensure this, the Commission "almost certainly would have blocked it."^[2]

As Leader of the House Biffen used the guillotine to cut short debate on the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1986. Edward Pearce has written that Biffen "was widely thought the best post-war floor leader".^[3]

Biffen's image as an economic dry mellowed during his time in government and he made blunt public calls for greater moderation in government policy. In 1980 he warned the country to prepare for "three years of unparalleled austerity". In 1981 Biffen gave a speech to a fringe meeting at that year's Conservative Party Conference in which he claimed the party was "within touching distance of the débâcles of 1906 and 1945." He further claimed that far from cutting public spending, the government had increased it by two per cent since 1979 and that the government was part of an all-party consensus in favour of the welfare state and public spending: "We are all social democrats now", Biffen concluded in his speech.^[4]

On 9 February 1986 he claimed that Toryism was "not a raucous political faction" and after the Conservative Party's losses in the local government elections and in two by-elections in 1986 Biffen was interviewed on Weekend World by Brian Walden on 11 May as the government's spokesman. He called the results "Black Thursday", said the Conservatives needed to fight the next general election on a "balanced ticket" and that "no one seriously supposes that the Prime Minister would be Prime Minister throughout the entire period of the next Parliament".^[5] This alienated him from Thatcher and resulted in his being dropped from the Cabinet after the 1987 General Election. His axing was no surprise, in that Thatcher's press secretary Bernard Ingham had already famously called him a "semi-detached" member of the Cabinet. Thatcher in her memoirs described Biffen's desire for a balanced ticket as "foolish" and "a recipe for paralysis."^[6] In the month after his sacking Biffen criticised Thatcher's government as a "Stalinist regime".^[7]

Backbenches and retirement

On the backbenches Biffen voted against the Local Government Finance Act 1988 which introduced the Community Charge (the poll tax). He voted against the Maastricht Treaty and was in favour of a referendum on the EU Constitution so he could vote "No".^[8]

Personal life

Biffen married Sarah Wood in 1979. He had one stepson, Nicholas Wood, a correspondent with the New York Times and International Herald Tribune, and a stepdaughter, Lucy. ^[9]

Political views

Despite his right-wing views on economic policy, he was very much to the left of Margaret Thatcher on social policy: he completely opposed capital punishment, and was very supportive of equal gay rights whilst, conversely, agreeing with Powell on immigration.

Brian Walden noted that Biffen was the "most honest" politician he had interviewed.^[10]

Death

He died on 14 August 2007, aged 76, after a short illness, having suffered from kidney failure for many years.^[11] He was survived by his wife, stepson and stepdaughter.

In popular culture

Biffen was portrayed by Roger Brierley in the 2004 BBC production of The Alan Clark Diaries.

Notes

Bibliography

• John Biffen, Nation in Doubt (Conservative Political Centre, 1976).
• John Biffen, Political Office, or Political Power?: Six Speeches on National and International Affairs (Centre for Policy Studies, 1977).
• John Biffen, 'The Conservatism of Labour', in Maurice Cowling (ed.), Conservative Essays (Cassell, 1978), pp. 155–167.
• John Biffen, Inside Westminster (Andre Deutsch Ltd, 1996).

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by John Biffen
• Obituary, The Daily Telegraph, 15 August 2007
• Obituary, The Guardian, 15 August 2007
• Obituary, The Independent, 15 August 2007
• Obituary, The Times, 15 August 2007

Offices held