Sir George Arthur Gardiner (3 March 1935 - 16 November 2002) was a United Kingdom politician who served as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Reigate from February 1974 to March 1997. He then resigned from the Conservative Party after being deselected by his local Party association. He had survived one deselection attempt, but an article where he compared Prime Minister John Major to a ventrilloquists dummy to the pro-European Chancellor Ken Clarke proved the final straw for his constituency party. After unsuccessfully challenging the decision in the courts, Sir George joined the Referendum Party with whom he contested the 1997 general election. The dignity of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. ... March 3 is the 62nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (63rd in leap years). ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... November 16 is the 320th day of the year (321st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 45 days remaining. ... For the Cusco album, see 2002 (album). ... A politician is an individual involved in politics to the extent of holding or running for public office. ... The Conservative Party is the largest political party on the right-of-centre in the United Kingdom and the most successful party in political history based on election victories. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to a parliament; in the Westminster system, specifically to the lower house. ... Reigate is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1974 calendar). ... 1997 (MCMXCVII in Roman) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Referendum Party were a single-issue party in the United Kingdom formed to contest the 1997 General Election. ... The UK general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997. ...

Gardiner was well known for his vehemently eurosceptic views and was allegedly one of the "bastards" that John Major referred to unwittingly on national television. Euroscepticism is scepticism about, or disagreement with, the purposes of the European Union, sometimes coupled with a desire to preserve national sovereignty. ... Illegitimacy was a term in common use for the condition of being born of parents who were not validly married to one another; the legal term was bastardy. ... Sir John Major, KG, CH, (born 29 March 1943) is a British politician who served in the Cabinets of Margaret Thatcher as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer, before succeeding Thatcher as Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister from 1990 to 1997. ...

For many years George Gardiner was a member of the Conservative Monday Club. In 1984 he was a member of the Club's National Executive Council, and was also Chairman of their Privatisation Policy Committee which produced, in September 1984, a Policy Paper entitled Killing the Dinosaur of State Ownership. He was on the editorial board which prepared the Club's October 1985 Conservative Party Conference issue of their newspaper, Right Ahead, and contributed an article:Why Margaret - Still?, in support of Margaret Thatcher. He continued writing for the Club, and in the October 1989 edition of Right Ahead contributed the leading front-page article entitled Murders that should lie on the conscience of MPs, calling for the return of Capital Punishment, In 1991, following the demise of his friend, David Storey, the Club's ousted chairman, Gardiner left the Club. The Conservative Monday Club (widely known as The Monday Club) is a British right-wing pressure-group with its origins in the Conservative Party. ... Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (b. ... // Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is governmental killing by execution as punishment for a crime often called a capital offense or a capital crime. ...

Sir George was always proudest of the role he played in the election of Margaret Thatcher as Conservative Party leader. Along with Thatcher, Norman Tebbit and Airey Neave he formed what was dubbed by Tribune newspaper "The Gang of Four" in her leadership race. As a former lobby journalist George Gardiner acted as the press officer for the team.

When, in 1990, Margaret Thatcher was on the verge of resignation, Sir George led a last gasp deputation of loyal MPs to Number 10 to try and persuade her to fight on. She listened politely to their pleas, but her mind was already made up and she anounced her departure from front-line politics the following day. George Gardiner was rewarded with a knighthood in her resignation honours list.

In attempt to keep the Thatcherite torch burning, Sir George was instrumental in setting up Conservative Way Forward - with the express aim of providing a focal point for Thatcherites in the party organisation and to support those seen as ideologically sympathetic in government - figures like Michael Portillo and John Redwood. Some credit the organisation with success in ensuring a shift to the right in the new prospective parliamentary candidates being selected within the party after 1992.