- Peter Thurnham
Peter Giles Thurnham (
21 August 1938 –10 May 2008 ) was a British politician. He wasMember of Parliament for Bolton North East from 1983 to 1997, originally as a Conservative before resigning to become an independent in February 1996 and then a Liberal Democrat in October 1996.Thurnham was born in
Staines, Middlesex . His father was atea planter inIndia , where he worked forBrooke Bond , and his mother was aphysiotherapist . Thurnham spent much of his early life in southern India, before being educated atEversley Preparatory School andOundle School . He won a scholarship to read engineering atPeterhouse, Cambridge , and received an advanced diploma in engineering fromCranfield Institute of Technology in 1967, and then anMBA fromHarvard Business School in 1969. He became a design engineer atNEI Parsons in Newcastle until 1966, and then a director atBritish Steam Specialties until 1972.He married his first wife in 1963, he moved to
Leicester in 1972 and established a refrigeration and air conditioning company, which grew to become the Wathes group of companies and later WR Group Holdings. He became a member ofSouth Lakeland Council in 1982, and was elected asMember of Parliament in the new constituency of Bolton North East at the 1983 general election, defeating the Labour candidate Ann Taylor who had until the election represented Bolton West. He lived inKendal while he was an MP, with his wife taking charge of his company. He was noted for his very strong support for theAbortion Act 1967 and for embryo research, and was a founder member of the Progress campaign group which promotesIVF . He becameParliamentary Private Secretary toSecretary of State for Employment Norman Fowler from 1987 to 1990, and was then PPS to bothEric Forth and Robert Jackson in 1991 to 1992, and finally toSecretary of State for the Environment Michael Howard (his contemporary at Peterhouse) from 1992 to 1993. He never secured ministerial office, but became a party whip.Bolton North East was a highly marginal seat, which Thurnham held by a wafer thin majority of 813 at the 1987 general election, reduced even further to only 185 at the 1992 general election, and subsequent boundary changes made his position worse. He first indicated that he would stand down at the next election, but instead put his name forward for the safer seat of Westmorland and Lonsdale. Thurnham was not interviewed, and Tim Collins - formerly an aide to
John Major - was selected as the Conservative candidate instead. Thurnham resigned the Conservative party whip in February 1996, reducingJohn Major 's majority in Parliament to two. At the time, Thurnham indicated that this was because of his dismay at theScott Report and theNolan Report , but subsequently chose tocross the floor to join theLiberal Democrats in October 1996. He did not contest the seat at the 1997 general election.After leaving the House of Commons, he was chairman of
WR Group Holdings . He also ran a convert|200|acre|km2|sing=on farm.He had a son and three daughters with his first wife, and they also adopted a son with
cerebral palsy . They were divorced in 2004. He died ofpancreatic cancer at home inBentham, North Yorkshire , hours after marrying his second wife, Carole Emery. He was aged 69.References
*Obituaries:
** [http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/display.var.2271282.0.former_bolton_mp_loses_cancer_battle.php "The Bolton News", 14 May 2008]
** [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1969386/Peter-Thurnham-Backbench-Tory-MP-in-Bolton-who-defected-to-the-Lib-Dems-in-the-dog-days-of-John-Major%27s-government.html "The Daily Telegraph", 16 May 2008]
** [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article4015660.ece "The Times", 28 May 2008]
** [http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jun/02/conservatives.liberaldemocrats "The Guardian", 2 June 2008]
** [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/peter-thurnham-tory-turned-lib-dem-mp-845070.html "The Independent", 12 June 2008]
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