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David John Mellor QC (born 12 March 1949) is a British Conservative politician and barrister.
Political career
Educated at Swanage Grammar School, he attended Christ's College, Cambridge. He became a barrister in 1972, and a Queens Counsel in 1987. He became the MP for Putney in 1979, and was briefly Arts Minister before becoming Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 1990 in John Major's first Cabinet. In 1992 he was made Secretary of State for the newly created Department for National Heritage (during which period he was vernacularly known as 'Minister for Fun') but he was forced to resign in September of that year, amid media coverage of an extra-marital affair with actress Antonia de Sancha.
He contested the 1997 general election, but was defeated by Labour's Tony Colman. However, the election night was more memorable for Mellor's showdown with Referendum Party founder Sir James Goldsmith — Mellor was taunted by Goldsmith and a crowd of other candidates (who gave him a slow hand clap and shouted "Out! Out! Out!") during his speech. Mellor retorted:
- "... and Sir James ... you have nothing to be smug about ... I think we have shown tonight that the Referendum Party is dead in the water, and you can get back off to Mexico in the knowledge that your attempt to buy the British political system has failed".
Scandal
Mellor was involved in a kiss-and-tell scandal in which an actress called Antonia de Sancha sold her story of her affair with Mellor for £30,000. Their conversation had been recorded without his consent, but it turned out it was not illegal as it was not illegal to bug your own property. Max Clifford famously included an unfounded fact in the story that he asked her to make love in his Chelsea F.C. shirt, and used the story to play-on/foil John Major's "Back to Basics" initiative
This first controversy allowed Fleet Street and the tabloids to round on Mellor, with stores including a free holiday in August 1990 as the guest of a Palestinian Liberation Organisation official's daughter, and another paid for by the ruler of Abu Dhabi. Eventually Mellor was reportedly told after three weeks of revelations that he was becoming an embarrassment to John Major in a phone call from Sir Marcus Fox - chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee.
Mellor later suggested he was hounded out of office, but tabloid editors quickly rejected this. Bill Hagerty, editor of the People said: "This is the first time in ages that David Mellor has done the decent thing." *
After Parliament
He was chairman of the incoming Labour government's "Football Task Force" in August 1997 until its dissolution in 1999. He has also pursued a journalism career, and has written for the Evening Standard, The Guardian and The People, usually on sport or the arts. He regularly presented football-related programmes on BBC Radio 5 until 2001, as well as classical music programmes on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 3. He currently presents If You Like That, You'll Like This and The New CD Show on Classic FM.
Mellor currently lives with his partner, Penelope, Viscountess Cobham, in the Dockmaster's House, a 19th-century listed building at the gateway to the St Katharine Docks, east London. On 30 May 2006 it was reported that Mellor has spoken out against the proposed construction of a 17-storey block of flats in the St Katharine Docks. Mellor said:
- "There is no design involved. It would look tawdry down the wrong end of a beach in Torremolinos. This isn't a case of just not wanting it in my backyard. This area is historically significant with listed buildings and it's next to the Tower of London, which is a world heritage site." *
See also
External links
- Profile at Speakers International
- Punch Mellor a joke website
1949 births | Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge | British MPs | British Secretaries of State | Living people | Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom | UK Conservative Party politicians
"David Mellor"