| Nicholas Ridley (politician) |
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Ridley was educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford . He became a Civil Engineer and company director. He served as secretary of the Canning Club , a councillor on Castle Ward Rural District Council and a member of the executive committee of the National Trust . In 1955, Ridley contested Blyth without success. He was elected Member Of Parliament for Cirencester And Tewkesbury in 1959 and became a Parliamentary Private Secretary in 1962. From 1964 he was a Select Committee member before joining the Front Bench . He was a strong supporter in the Party of Margaret Thatcher . In 1973, he formed the Selsdon Group , which was opposed to the abandonment of the radical 1970 manifesto by Edward Heath . The members of the group were seen as disloyal at the time but their ideas came to dominate the Thatcher years. Ridley became a member of Margaret Thatcher's Cabinet . In that role he played an important part in preparations for a possible Coal Strike , by way of stockpiling coal at Power Station s; this degree of foresight was an important factor in the UK Miners' Strike (1984-1985) . The Ridley Plan to reduce the UK's dependence on deep-mined coal for energy was a prototype of later developments. Formative on the attitudes behind these ideas was the occasion, early in the Thatcher administration, when the government backed down from a confrontation with the miners, mindful of the end of Edward Heath's time in office. It is reported that Ridley's advice on avoiding a repeat had a major effect on the subsequent approach. On July 14 , 1990 he was forced to resign as Secretary Of State For Trade And Industry after an interview published in '' The Spectator ''. He had described the proposed Economic And Monetary Union as "a German racket designed to take over the whole of Europe" and said that giving up Sovereignty to Europe was as bad as giving it up to Adolf Hitler . The interview was illustrated with a Cartoon depicting Ridley adding a Hitler moustache to a poster of the German Chancellor Helmut Kohl . While Ridley was not one of the most powerful government members, his departure was a significant break in the Thatcherite ranks; Margaret Thatcher herself had to resign less than six months later. Some commentators point to Ridley's resignation, its manner, and the European issue at its core, as leading indicators for the next decade of Conservative Party politics. An unrepentant chain smoker for much of his life, Ridley died of Lung Cancer relatively soon after leaving the cabinet. |
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