Cecil Edward Parkinson, Baron Parkinson, PC (born 1 September 1931 in Carnforth, Lancashire), is a British Conservative politician and former Cabinet Minister. He had humble origins, being the son of a railway worker and educated at Lancaster Royal Grammar School, from where he won a scholarship to Cambridge to read English, later switching to read Law. At University he was a Labour supporter. He did National Service as an NCO in the Royal Air Force. In the United Kingdom, the Chairman of the Conservative Party is responsible for running the party machine, overseeing Conservative Central Office. ... For other uses, see June (disambiguation). ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ... is the 336th day of the year (337th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... 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After University Parkinson worked as a manager for the MetalBox Company, later becoming a consultant.

Early Career

He was elected as MP for Enfield West at a by-election in 1970, following the death of Iain Macleod. When that constitituency was abolished for the February 1974 general election he was elected for the new South Hertfordshire constituency. After the 1979 General Election, he was made a junior trade minister. In September 1981 he was made Chairman of the Conservative Party, and Paymaster-General with a seat in the cabinet and in 1982 was given the added official title of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Despite his relatively junior status, he was a member of the small War Cabinet which Mrs Thatcher set up to run the Falklands Conflict. Enfield West was a constituency which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... A by-election or bye-election is a special election held to fill a political office when the incumbent has died or resigned. ... Year 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Iain Norman Macleod, PC (11 November 1913 – 20 July 1970) was a British Conservative Party politician and government minister. ... The UK general election of February 1974 was held on February 28, 1974. ... Hertfordshire South was a constituency in Hertfordshire which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... The United Kingdom general election of 1979 was held on 3 May 1979 and is regarded as a pivotal point in 20th century British politics. ... Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ... In the United Kingdom, the Chairman of the Conservative Party is responsible for running the party machine, overseeing Conservative Central Office. ... Paymaster-General is a ministerial position in UK. Former holders of this post include: Lord John Russell 1830-1834 Sir Edmund Knatchbull 1834-1835 Sir Henry Brook Parnell 1835-1841 Edward John Stanley 1841 Sir Edmund Knatchbull 1841-1845 William Bingham Baring 1845-1846 Thomas Babington Macaulay 1846-1848 The... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is, in modern times, a sinecure office in the British government. ...

Cabinet Departments

He worked on the Conservative Party's 1983 election campaign, standing in the new Hertsmere constituency after Hertfordshire South's abolition. As a result of his success on the campaign, Mrs Thatcher had intended to promote him to Foreign Secretary, but instead, after being forewarned of certain developments in his private life, she appointed him Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is currently the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), the largest in terms of public membership, and the oldest political party in the United Kingdom. ... The UK general election, 1983 was held on June 9, 1983 and gave the Conservatives and Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945. ... Hertsmere is a local government district and borough in Hertfordshire, England. ... The title of Foreign Secretary has been traditionally used to refer to the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. ... The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry is a cabinet position in the United Kingdom government. ...

Parkinson was forced to resign in October 1983 after it was revealed that his former secretary, Sara Keays, was bearing his child, Flora Keays. Subsequently, as a result of a dispute over child maintenance payments, Parkinson (with Keays' initial consent) was able to gain an injunction in 1993, forbidding the British media from making any reference to their daughter. Flora Keays suffers from learning difficulties and Asperger's Syndrome and had an operation to remove a brain tumour when she was four, which is thought to have caused her problems. This court order was the subject of some controversy, until Flora Keays reached her majority at the end of 2001, when the court order expired. Upon Flora turning 18, it was noted in the press that Parkinson had never met his child and presumably had no intention of doing so. While he had assisted with Flora's education, it was publicly pointed out that he had not ever sent her a birthday card and that her mother assumed that Flora could not ever expect to receive one. At the time of the revelation of Parkinson's relationship with Sara Keays in 1983, Parkinson made much of what he described as the volume of supportive letters which he had received. By 2001, however, the media focussed more upon Flora and her difficulties than in protecting Parkinson's reputation so more voices were raised in criticism of Parkinson. There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ... In many countries, child support or child maintenance is the ongoing obligation for a periodic payment made by a non-custodial parent to a custodial parent, caregiver or guardian, for the care and support of children of a relationship or marriage that has been terminated. ... Look up Injunction in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The term learning disability is used to refer to socio-biological conditions that affect a persons communicative capacities and potential to learn. ... Asperger described his patients as little professors. Aspergers syndrome (AS, or the more common shorthand Aspergers), is characterized as one of the five pervasive developmental disorders, and is commonly referred to as a form of high functioning autism. ... A brain tumor is any mass created by an abnormal and uncontrolled growth of cells either found in the brain (neurons, glial cells, epithelial cells, myelin producing cells, etc. ... A court order is an official proclamation by a judge (or panel of judges) that defines the legal relationships between the parties before the court and requires or authorizes the carrying out of certain steps by one or more parties to a case. ...

After four years on the back benches, he was appointed Secretary of State for Energy in 1987 (having been tipped as a potential Chancellor of the Exchequer), and for Transport in the July 1989 reshuffle. He resigned along with Margaret Thatcher when she was replaced by John Major; possibly because he was known as a favourite of Mrs. Thatcher - who was known to have a soft spot for handsome, charming men such as Parkinson and John Moore - a new Conservative leader would not keep him in the Cabinet anyway. He did not contest the 1992 general election. The Secretary of State for Energy was a UK cabinet position from 1974 to 1992. ... Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar). ... Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (née Roberts; born 13 October 1925) served as British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990 and leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 until 1990, being the first and only woman to hold either post. ... For other persons named John Major, see John Major (disambiguation). ...

He was created Baron Parkinson, of Carnforth in the County of Lancashire, after the 1992 elections. Shortly afterwards he made a daring appearance on the BBC topical panel show Have I Got News For You, which at the time - Edwina Currie apart - was still awaiting its first truly top-level Conservative guest who had some history to them. Parkinson, who partnered Paul Merton on the episode, took considerable ribbing (although the injunction prevented any reference to his major scandal) but emerged from the programme intact - even opposing captain and satirist Ian Hislop admitted afterwards that he had come across very well. Parkinson's appearance opened the floodgates for other very high-profile politicians to appear on the programme and display a lighter side to their personalities. Carnforth is a small town near Lancaster in the north of Lancashire, England, situated at the north-east end of Morecambe Bay, by the River Keer. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show; produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been running since 1990. ... Edwina Currie Jones née Cohen, (born 13 October 1946) is a former British Member of Parliament. ... Paul Merton (born Paul Martin 9 July 1957[1]) is an English actor, deadpan comedian and writer, who is best known as a panellist on the BBC TV show Have I Got News for You and Radio 4s Just a Minute, as well as Channel 4s Whose Line... 1867 edition of Punch, a ground-breaking British magazine of popular humour, including a good deal of satire of the contemporary social and political scene. ... Ian Hislop (born 13 July 1960) is the editor of British satirical magazine Private Eye, a team captain on the popular satirical current affairs quiz Have I Got News for You and a comedy scriptwriter. ...

Parkison also published his memoirs in 1992, in which he claimed that with a determined campaign Mrs Thatcher would have won the Second Ballot of the Conservative Leadership election in 1990, which her Cabinet had warned her she would lose in a successful bid to persuade her to stand down.

Shadow Cabinet

Parkinson returned to front-line politics when he was made Conservative Party Chairman again by William Hague in June 1997. He retired from this role in 1998 and has since kept a low profile, although he is a vice-chairman of the Conservative Way Forward group. William Jefferson Hague (born 26 March 1961) is a British politician, the Member of Parliament for Richmond, North Yorkshire, former leader of the Conservative Party, and current Conservative Shadow Foreign Secretary. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... Conservative Way Forward (CWF) is a campaigning group within the British Conservative Party. ...

Parkinson's affair with Sarah Keays was a running joke with the satirical magazine "Private Eye" for over a decade, with the magazine seldom passing up an opportunity to portray Parkinson as blessed with a voracious sexual appetite. In 1997, when William Hague promised to "bring Unity to the Party", the front cover showed Parkinson adding "she sounds like a splendid girl". In the late 1980s, when Parkinson had objected to Norman Tebbit's treatment of the issue on his memoirs ("Upwardly Mobile"), the front cover had shown each man telling the other "I told you not to stick it in". For many years the magazine had run a feature in which readers were invited to submit suggestive anagrams of Parkinson's name: one of the more memorable of these pointed out that "The Right Honourable Cecil Parkinson MP!" is an anagram of "Ror! I can bonk me posh piece all night thru", "bonk" being recently-coined slang for sexual intercourse. William Jefferson Hague (born 26 March 1961) is a British politician, the Member of Parliament for Richmond, North Yorkshire, former leader of the Conservative Party, and current Conservative Shadow Foreign Secretary. ...

References

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