Donald Williams (politician)
Encyclopedia
Donald Williams (17 October 1919 – 5 January 1990) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 chartered accountant and Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 politician.

Williams went to the Royal Grammar School
Royal Grammar School Worcester
The Royal Grammar School Worcester is an independent coeducational school in Worcester, United Kingdom. Founded before 1291, it is one of the oldest British independent schools....

 in Worcester
Worcester
The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...

. Before he could go out to work, the outbreak of the Second World War led him to join the Worcester Regiment. He was taken prisoner at Dunkirk and spent four and a half years in German prisoner-of-war camps, but escaped in January 1945 and went through Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 to get back to Britain in March 1945.

After the war he qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1949, and in April 1950 became a Partner in Kendall, Wadley and Company, based in Malvern, Worcestershire
Malvern, Worcestershire
Malvern is a town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, governed by Malvern Town Council. As of the 2001 census it has a population of 28,749, and includes the historical settlement and commercial centre of Great Malvern on the steep eastern flank of the Malvern Hills, and the former...

. At the 1966 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1966
The 1966 United Kingdom general election on 31 March 1966 was called by sitting Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson's decision to call an election turned on the fact that his government, elected a mere 17 months previously in 1964 had an unworkably small majority of only 4 MPs...

, he was the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 candidate in Dudley
Dudley (UK Parliament constituency)
Dudley was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Dudley, which was historically in Worcestershire, before being transferred into Staffordshire in 1966 and since 1974 has been in the West Midlands....

 against George Wigg
George Wigg
George Edward Cecil Wigg, Baron Wigg PC was a British politician who only served in relatively junior offices but had a great deal of influence behind the scenes, especially with Harold Wilson. Wigg served in the British Army for almost all his career up to his election as Member of Parliament...

.

When Wigg resigned, Williams was selected to fight the seat in the ensuing byelection
Dudley by-election, 1968
The Dudley by-election, 1968 was a by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Dudley in Worcestershire on 28 March 1968...

. This came at a time when Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...

's Labour government was very unpopular and Williams achieved a large swing to win the seat in March 1968. In Parliament, Williams was friendly with neighbouring MP Enoch Powell
Enoch Powell
John Enoch Powell, MBE was a British politician, classical scholar, poet, writer, and soldier. He served as a Conservative Party MP and Minister of Health . He attained most prominence in 1968, when he made the controversial Rivers of Blood speech in opposition to mass immigration from...

 and allied with the right, voting against the Race Relations Bill in 1968 and opposing House of Lords reform.

Williams lost his seat at the 1970 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1970
The United Kingdom general election of 1970 was held on 18 June 1970, and resulted in a surprise victory for the Conservative Party under leader Edward Heath, who defeated the Labour Party under Harold Wilson. The election also saw the Liberal Party and its new leader Jeremy Thorpe lose half their...

, with Labour regaining it, although the Conservatives ousted Labour from government at that election. Three years later he was elected to Hereford and Worcester County Council. He was an unsuccessful Conservative candidate for Dudley East
Dudley East (UK Parliament constituency)
Dudley East was a parliamentary constituency, centred on the town of Dudley in the West Midlands. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post system....

 at the 1979 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1979
The United Kingdom general election of 1979 was held on 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher ousted the incumbent Labour government of James Callaghan with a parliamentary majority of 43 seats...

. He had left his previous accountancy firms, and became a company director of a food company and an electronic engineering company.

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