Tony Marlow

Antony Rivers Marlow (born 17 June 1940), known as Tony Marlow, is a British Conservative former Member of Parliament (MP).

Early life

Born in Greenwich, London, Marlow was educated at Wellington College, RMA Sandhurst and St Catharine's College, Cambridge.

Marlow was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1960, retiring as a Captain in 1969. During his service in Germany he commanded the (then) only amphibious bridging troop.

Parliamentary career

Before he entered the House, Marlow unsuccessfully fought Normanton in February 1974 and Rugby in October 1974. He gained Northampton North at the 1979 election, defeating the Labour MP Maureen Colquhoun.

Subsequently, he had the most complete record of any MP in opposing the transfer of powers or monies to the EEC, as it then was, voting against the Single European Act and the Maastricht Treaty, as well as being one of only two MPs to vote against the entry of Spain and Portugal into the EEC [as being costly to the UK and therefore not in Britain's interest]. He was one of eight Conservatives who had the party whip withdrawn for opposing a confidence vote, called during the Maastricht process. Together with other 'whipless' Members, he supported a Labour amendment, securing its passage, which set the level of VAT on fuel at half the government's proposed level, a rate that remains to this day. Previously, he had with Nicholas Budgen led Conservative opposition to a part of the Nationality Bill, which, through a Government defeat, led to the introduction of the 'primary purpose rule' as a means of reducing bogus attempts at immigration. He caught the attention of the media in 1995 when he attended (in a colourful, stripy blazer) the press conference in which John Redwood announced his challenge for the Conservative Party leadership against Prime Minister John Major.

He was for many years Chairman of the UK Palestine All Party Group leading and organising delegations to meet Yasser Arafat and to visit Southern Lebanon, the West Bank and the Gaza strip. One delegation included John Major - before his ministerial career. He also led a delegation to Iraq, meeting Saddam Hussein with the consequential release of a British businessman, who had been held as a prisoner.

With Professor Alan Woodruff of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine campaigned against dog nuisance based on the dangers arising from toxicara canis, initiating the Parliamentary campaign through the introduction of a ten-minute rule bill.

In 1994 he was appointed Chairman of the House of Commons Private Bill Committee on the earlier Crossrail proposal. The Committee decide by a vote of three to one that the 'preamble had not been proven'. The Bill, thus, fell. The Committee [as with a jury] was required not to give its reasons for its decision. Although it was a stimulating, well developed and imaginative proposal, at the time there were questions as to whether there was sufficient traveler demand to justify the scheme. Computerisation was leading to back offices moving out of London, with consequent staff reductions. It was also doubtful, whether public money would be made available to fund such an ambitious project. If the Bill had been approved, there was a severe risk that large portions of East London would have become victim to serious development blight. The Private Bill system had been used as a means of deciding major developments of national importance, through Parliament, outside the normal planning procedures. This was the last time that it was put to use.

As candidate before his election to Parliament, Marlow twice addressed the Conservative party Conference. He predicted that the European Assembly (now the European Parliament) would have one overriding objective, and that was to secure ever more powers for itself. On the second occasion he ended his speech with the words - " the Prime Minister (Edward Heath) has told us to tell the people about the Government's economic policy, I would rather tell them about Conservative economic policy". He received a partial standing ovation, although the speech caused subsequent difficulties during his successful selection process for the Northampton North constituency.

Marlow lost his seat in the 1997 election to Labour's Sally Keeble.

Body, Budgen, Gill, Gorman, Marlow, Shepherd, Taylor and Wilkinson - the 'whipless eight' were the original progenitors of Brexit. It could be claimed in contradiction of Enoch Powell's famous dictum - that their political careers did NOT end in failure.

After Parliament

Since leaving parliament, Marlow has built and converted twenty five houses in Pembrokeshire, where he currently farms sheep and cattle. He is also active in forestry.

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References

• Times Guide to the House of Commons, Times Newspapers Limited, 1997 edition.

External links

• Northampton North Conservative Association