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Edward Leigh: The staunch Thatcherite taking centre stage as the new Father of the House

First elected as an MP in 1983, Sir Edward Leigh will take on his first prominent role as Father of the House, overseeing the election of the Speaker - a job he once had his eye on.

Jon Craig

Chief political correspondent @joncraig

Tuesday 9 July 2024 01:04, UK

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He’s the keeper of the Thatcherite flame in the House of Commons, even though he stood for election as Speaker five years ago.

And now the veteran Tory MP Sir Edward Leigh, first elected in 1983, takes centre stage as the Commons meets for the first time since the election.

After Sir Peter Bottomley was defeated in Worthing West in the election, Sir Edward, 74 later this month, is the new Father of the House, the longest serving MP.

It's a title that's largely symbolic, but its holder has one big job and moment of glory: taking the chair and presiding over the election of the Commons Speaker.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, victorious in the election for Speaker in 2019 in which Sir Edward won a derisory 12 votes in the first round of voting, is expected to be re-elected unopposed.

As it happens, Sir Edward isn't the only veteran MP in the new parliament first elected in 1983. So was Jeremy Corbyn, who was re-elected in Islington North as an independent.

But Sir Edward gets the title because he was sworn in earlier in 1983, in the lengthy process that will begin once again after Sir Lindsay is re-elected and resumes his seat in the Speaker's chair.

Adored by Thatcher, loathed by Major

MP for Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, Sir Edward is a long-time Brexiteer. He served in the Army, became a barrister and was then Margaret Thatcher's private secretary before becoming an MP.

In his long, colourful and often controversial career, he was adored by Mrs Thatcher and loathed by John Major. He was a leading Thatcher cheerleader and became a serial rebel under Major.

In 1990, on the night before Mrs Thatcher resigned, he was one of the true believers - she described them as "loyalists" in her memoirs - who visited her in her Commons office and urged her to fight on.

Of that group, which included Norman Tebbit and Michael Portillo, besides Sir Edward, only Sir Christopher Chope - another carrier of the Thatcherite flame - is still a Conservative MP.

After winning the 1992 general election, Major made Sir Edward a junior trade and industry minister but sacked him a year later over his opposition to the Maastricht Treaty, which brought in closer European integration.

In 1995, Sir Edward backed John Redwood's Tory leadership challenge against Major. And since then he has rebelled against every Tory prime minister from David Cameron to Rishi Sunak.

He chaired the Public Accounts Committee from 2001 until 2010 and the coalition government, when he welcomed Lib Dem Treasury chief secretary David Laws as "the return to the Treasury of stern, unbending Gladstonian Liberalism".

A Roman Catholic, Sir Edward is a social conservative who voted against civil partnerships, more liberal abortion laws and teaching about LGBT sex education in schools. He also voted against the Iraq war in 2003.

As Father of the House, he'll have a prominent role in the Commons: called to speak very early in debates, PMQs and statements.

But first comes his most prominent role, in charge of the election of the Speaker.