John Biggs-Davison
Encyclopedia
Sir
John Alec Biggs-Davison (7 June 1918 – 17 September 1988) was a Conservative
Member of Parliament
in the United Kingdom
for Chigwell
from 1955 and then, after boundary changes in 1974, Epping Forest
until his death. He was a leading figure in the Conservative Monday Club
.
, John Alec Biggs-Davison was raised a Roman Catholic and educated at Clifton College
, and Magdalen College, Oxford
. While at university, he was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain
.
, and they had two sons and four daughters . He served briefly in the Royal Marines.
opposing conscription
at the Oxford Union
debate held on 27 April 1939. His early career was in the Indian Civil Service and the Pakistan Administrative Service. He was the Conservative candidate for Coventry South in 1951 general election. He became a Conservative Party Member of Parliament in 1955 but resigned the Conservative Whip and sat as an Independent 1957-58 in opposition to the government's withdrawal from Suez
following direct pressure from the US and Soviet governments. He subsequently resumed the Conservative Whip.
Despite wariness of the United States, he supported the setting up of an American-style broadcasting system in the UK; shortly before the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act
became law in 1967, he was heard on the offshore station Radio 270
stating that "a voice of freedom will have been silenced when Radio 270 goes off the air" (ref. The Times
, 11 August 1967).
When some Labour Party members called for his old friend Enoch Powell
to be prosecuted under the Race Relations Act (see Letter-to-the-Editor, Daily Telegraph 22 November 1968), John Biggs-Davison leapt to Powell's defence in an acrimonious House of Commons
debate during which Harold Wilson
was accused of being an enemy of free speech.
In late January 1975, he gave a warning that the Azores
could become a Soviet naval base instead of American because of the revolution in Portugal
. That year, during a House of Commons
debate on the Trades Union Congress
invitation to Alexander Shelepin
, the former Soviet
KGB
Chief, to visit Britain, Biggs-Davison compared him to Heinrich Himmler
.
He was the Conservative Party's Opposition Shadow Cabinet
Spokesman for Northern Ireland
, 1976–78, and was also Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party's Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Committee, and a member of the 1922 Committee
Executive. He was made a Knight Bachelor
in 1981. The Primrose League
Gazette carried an obituary in the form of a tribute to Biggs-Davison in their November/December 1988 edition.
from 1962 until his death. He spoke on their behalf on many occasions both inside and out of the House of Commons
, and wrote numerous papers for the Club, and forewords to others. He was one of the principal speakers at Duncan Sandys
' "Peace with Rhodesia
" rally in Trafalgar Square
in January 1967, which was broadcast. The Club held a 'Law and Liberty' May Day
Rally in 1970, again in Trafalgar Square, at which Biggs-Davison was a main speaker. He likened the suspension and subsequent abolition of the Parliament of Northern Ireland
to "someone sawing away the branch he bestraddles". He was re-elected a member of the Club's Executive Council on 5 June 1972.
In July 1972, he called for tough action in Northern Ireland to clean up the 'No-Go' areas, and was one of the main speakers at the Club's "Halt Immigration Now!" meeting in Westminster Central Hall
in September 1972, at the end of which a resolution was passed calling on the government to halt all immigration, repeal the 1968 Race Relations Act, and start a full repatriation scheme. This was delivered to the Prime Minister
, Edward Heath
, who stated that the government had no intention of repealing the Act.
In the House of Commons
in March 1973, Sir Alec Douglas-Home
rejected a suggestion from John Biggs-Davison that Britain should deduct aid funds from Zambia
and Tanzania
sufficient to compensate victims in Rhodesia
of armed attacks mounted from those countries. In October that year, he called for the Provisional Irish Republican Army
to be also proscribed in the island of Great Britain
, as it already was in the whole of Ireland. At the end of 1973, Biggs-Davison's book, The Hand is Red was published, which traces the history of Ireland, notably in the 20th century. He claimed that the Provisional IRA was infiltrated by Communists and Trotskyists, and part of an international subversion and terrorist network.
In January 1974, Biggs-Davison asked Edward Heath
if the Monday Club's latest policy document would be given proper consideration by the party, to which Heath replied that "due consideration would be given to it". In April 1974, John Biggs-Davison attacked the amnesty for illegal immigrants, supported by Harold Soref
who said it was "making restrospectively what was a crime a legal act". In May 1974, Biggs-Davison was re-elected unopposed as Chairman of the Monday Club.
That month, Robert Taylor
, Patrick Wall
and John Biggs-Davison tabled a motion in the House of Commons deploring the Labour government's decision to cancel the visit to Cape Town
by the Royal Yacht Britannia
. The same month, again in the Commons, Biggs-Davison raised the issue of left-wing students and the National Union of Students and their efforts to suppress free speech, saying that "[s]ome university authorities behaved with the utmost cowardice in banning Monday Club speakers". He subsequently spoke at Essex University, but had to have police protection, while a mob outside demonstrated singing The Red Flag. In June, he raised the matter of the IRA's London march with the Home Secretary
and asked why it had not been banned under the Public Order Act
.
When Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
's book, "The Gulag Archipelago
", was banned from United Nations
bookstalls in Geneva
, on the grounds that it was offensive to a member nation, John Biggs-Davison asked James Callaghan
, then Foreign Secretary, if he was satisfied that nothing offensive to the United Kingdom
was sold at UN headquarters.
Following the Conservative Party's defeat in the February 1974 general election
, Biggs-Davison, writing in the Daily Telegraph said "to win back the voters, to revive Tory democracy among the industrial workers, our appeal must be practical and patriotic, not 'progressive' and 'permissive'".
In November 1974, he was elected Chairman of the Conservative Parliamentary Northern Ireland Committee, the Daily Telegraphs headline being "Hardliner Heads Tory Team". Biggs-Davison attacked the ITV
interview with IRA leader Dáithí Ó Conaill
the same month. Winding up the House of Commons debate on Northern Ireland in December, he said "I do not believe the people of Northern Ireland want independence; still less do they want some sort of federation with the republic". In a letter to the press in January 1975, he referred to sectarian murders in Ulster and said that "the conflict is not now between two religions or cultures, but between society and its enemies". He called for reciprocity over extradition with the Republic.
During a further debate in March, on immigration from the Indian sub-continent, he told Home Office
Minister Alexander Lyon that "your attitude feeds the fears of people in Britain, and this was very bad for harmony between the races".
He was one of a number of prominent speakers at the Monday Club two-day Conference in Birmingham
in March 1975, the title of which was The Conservative Party and the Crisis in Britain. He was elected National Club Chairman the following May, for a two-year term.
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
John Alec Biggs-Davison (7 June 1918 – 17 September 1988) was a Conservative
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...
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
in the United Kingdom
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...
for Chigwell
Chigwell (UK Parliament constituency)
Chigwell was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1955 to 1974. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
from 1955 and then, after boundary changes in 1974, Epping Forest
Epping Forest (UK Parliament constituency)
Epping Forest is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...
until his death. He was a leading figure in the Conservative Monday Club
Conservative Monday Club
The Conservative Monday Club is a British pressure group "on the right-wing" of the Conservative Party.-Overview:...
.
Early years
The son of Major John Norman Biggs-Davison, RGA, (d. 1972), of SomersetSomerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, John Alec Biggs-Davison was raised a Roman Catholic and educated at Clifton College
Clifton College
Clifton College is a co-educational independent school in Clifton, Bristol, England, founded in 1862. In its early years it was notable for emphasising science in the curriculum, and for being less concerned with social elitism, e.g. by admitting day-boys on equal terms and providing a dedicated...
, and Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...
. While at university, he was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
.
Family
In 1948, he married Pamela, daughter of Ralph Hodder-Williams, MCMilitary Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
, and they had two sons and four daughters . He served briefly in the Royal Marines.
Political career
As an Oxford undergraduate, he was seconder to Basil Liddell HartBasil Liddell Hart
Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart , usually known before his knighthood as Captain B. H. Liddell Hart, was an English soldier, military historian and leading inter-war theorist.-Life and career:...
opposing conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
at the Oxford Union
Oxford Union
The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, Britain, whose membership is drawn primarily but not exclusively from the University of Oxford...
debate held on 27 April 1939. His early career was in the Indian Civil Service and the Pakistan Administrative Service. He was the Conservative candidate for Coventry South in 1951 general election. He became a Conservative Party Member of Parliament in 1955 but resigned the Conservative Whip and sat as an Independent 1957-58 in opposition to the government's withdrawal from Suez
Suez
Suez is a seaport city in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez , near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boundaries as Suez governorate. It has three harbors, Adabya, Ain Sokhna and Port Tawfiq, and extensive port facilities...
following direct pressure from the US and Soviet governments. He subsequently resumed the Conservative Whip.
Despite wariness of the United States, he supported the setting up of an American-style broadcasting system in the UK; shortly before the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act
Marine Broadcasting Offences Act
The Marine, &c., Broadcasting Act 1967 c.41, shortened to Marine Broadcasting Offences Act, became law in the United Kingdom at midnight on Monday, August 14, 1967 and was repealed by the...
became law in 1967, he was heard on the offshore station Radio 270
Radio 270
Radio 270 was a pirate radio station serving Yorkshire and the North East of England from 1966 to 1967. It broadcast from a converted Dutch lugger called Oceaan 7 positioned in international waters off Scarborough, North Yorkshire.-Origins :...
stating that "a voice of freedom will have been silenced when Radio 270 goes off the air" (ref. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, 11 August 1967).
When some Labour Party members called for his old friend 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...
to be prosecuted under the Race Relations Act (see Letter-to-the-Editor, Daily Telegraph 22 November 1968), John Biggs-Davison leapt to Powell's defence in an acrimonious House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
debate during which 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...
was accused of being an enemy of free speech.
In late January 1975, he gave a warning that the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
could become a Soviet naval base instead of American because of the revolution in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. That year, during a House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
debate on the Trades Union Congress
Trades Union Congress
The Trades Union Congress is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in the United Kingdom, representing the majority of trade unions...
invitation to Alexander Shelepin
Alexander Shelepin
Alexander Nikolayevich Shelepin was a Soviet state security officer and party statesman. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and its Politburo and was the head of the KGB from 25 December 1958 to 13 November 1961.Shelepin was born in Voronezh...
, the former Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
Chief, to visit Britain, Biggs-Davison compared him to Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
.
He was the Conservative Party's Opposition Shadow Cabinet
Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (UK)
The Official Loyal Opposition Shadow Cabinet are, in British parliamentary practice, senior members of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition who scrutinise their corresponding office holders in the Government, develop alternative policies, and hold the Government to account for its actions and responses...
Spokesman for Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, 1976–78, and was also Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party's Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Committee, and a member of the 1922 Committee
1922 Committee
In British politics, the 1922 Committee is a committee of Conservative Members of Parliament. Voting membership is limited to backbench MPs although frontbench Conservative MPs have an open invitation to attend meetings. While the party was in opposition, frontbench MPs other than the party leader...
Executive. He was made a Knight Bachelor
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
in 1981. The Primrose League
Primrose League
The Primrose League was an organisation for spreading Conservative principles in Great Britain. It was founded in 1883 and active until the mid 1990s...
Gazette carried an obituary in the form of a tribute to Biggs-Davison in their November/December 1988 edition.
Monday Club
Biggs-Davison was an active member of the Conservative Monday ClubConservative Monday Club
The Conservative Monday Club is a British pressure group "on the right-wing" of the Conservative Party.-Overview:...
from 1962 until his death. He spoke on their behalf on many occasions both inside and out of the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
, and wrote numerous papers for the Club, and forewords to others. He was one of the principal speakers at Duncan Sandys
Duncan Sandys
Edwin Duncan Sandys, Baron Duncan-Sandys CH PC was a British politician and a minister in successive Conservative governments in the 1950s and 1960s...
' "Peace with Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
" rally in Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
in January 1967, which was broadcast. The Club held a 'Law and Liberty' May Day
May Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
Rally in 1970, again in Trafalgar Square, at which Biggs-Davison was a main speaker. He likened the suspension and subsequent abolition of the Parliament of Northern Ireland
Parliament of Northern Ireland
The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended...
to "someone sawing away the branch he bestraddles". He was re-elected a member of the Club's Executive Council on 5 June 1972.
In July 1972, he called for tough action in Northern Ireland to clean up the 'No-Go' areas, and was one of the main speakers at the Club's "Halt Immigration Now!" meeting in Westminster Central Hall
Westminster Central Hall
The Westminster Central Hall or Methodist Central Hall is a Methodist church in the City of Westminster. It occupies the corner of Tothill Street and Storeys Gate just off Victoria Street in London, near the junction with The Sanctuary next to the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre and facing...
in September 1972, at the end of which a resolution was passed calling on the government to halt all immigration, repeal the 1968 Race Relations Act, and start a full repatriation scheme. This was delivered to the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
, Edward Heath
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath, KG, MBE, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as Leader of the Conservative Party ....
, who stated that the government had no intention of repealing the Act.
In the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
in March 1973, Sir Alec Douglas-Home
Alec Douglas-Home
Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel, KT, PC , known as The Earl of Home from 1951 to 1963 and as Sir Alec Douglas-Home from 1963 to 1974, was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1963 to October 1964.He is the last...
rejected a suggestion from John Biggs-Davison that Britain should deduct aid funds from Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
and Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
sufficient to compensate victims in Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
of armed attacks mounted from those countries. In October that year, he called for the Provisional Irish Republican Army
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
to be also proscribed in the island of Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, as it already was in the whole of Ireland. At the end of 1973, Biggs-Davison's book, The Hand is Red was published, which traces the history of Ireland, notably in the 20th century. He claimed that the Provisional IRA was infiltrated by Communists and Trotskyists, and part of an international subversion and terrorist network.
In January 1974, Biggs-Davison asked Edward Heath
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath, KG, MBE, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as Leader of the Conservative Party ....
if the Monday Club's latest policy document would be given proper consideration by the party, to which Heath replied that "due consideration would be given to it". In April 1974, John Biggs-Davison attacked the amnesty for illegal immigrants, supported by Harold Soref
Harold Soref
Harold Benjamin Soref was twice a Conservative parliamentary candidate before being elected Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom for Ormskirk, Lancashire, in the 1970 General Election. He subsequently lost that seat to Labour in February 1974...
who said it was "making restrospectively what was a crime a legal act". In May 1974, Biggs-Davison was re-elected unopposed as Chairman of the Monday Club.
That month, Robert Taylor
Robert Taylor (UK politician)
Robert George Taylor was Conservative Member of Parliament for Croydon North West, South London from 1970 until his death in 1981, which triggered the Croydon North West by-election in which the Tories lost the seat to Liberal MP Bill Pitt.- External links :...
, Patrick Wall
Patrick Wall
Major Sir Patrick Henry Bligh Wall KBE , MC, VRD was a British senior commando in the Royal Marines during World War II and later a Conservative politician. He was Member of Parliament for Haltemprice, East Yorkshire and subsequently for Beverley...
and John Biggs-Davison tabled a motion in the House of Commons deploring the Labour government's decision to cancel the visit to Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
by the Royal Yacht Britannia
HMY Britannia
Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia is the former Royal Yacht of the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. She was the 83rd such vessel since the restoration of King Charles II in 1660. She is the second Royal yacht to bear the name, the first being the famous racing cutter built for The Prince of Wales...
. The same month, again in the Commons, Biggs-Davison raised the issue of left-wing students and the National Union of Students and their efforts to suppress free speech, saying that "[s]ome university authorities behaved with the utmost cowardice in banning Monday Club speakers". He subsequently spoke at Essex University, but had to have police protection, while a mob outside demonstrated singing The Red Flag. In June, he raised the matter of the IRA's London march with the Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
and asked why it had not been banned under the Public Order Act
Public Order Act 1936
The Public Order Act 1936 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed to control extremist political movements in the 1930s such as the British Union of Fascists ....
.
When Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was aRussian and Soviet novelist, dramatist, and historian. Through his often-suppressed writings, he helped to raise global awareness of the Gulag, the Soviet Union's forced labor camp system – particularly in The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of...
's book, "The Gulag Archipelago
The Gulag Archipelago
The Gulag Archipelago is a book by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn based on the Soviet forced labor and concentration camp system. The three-volume book is a narrative relying on eyewitness testimony and primary research material, as well as the author's own experiences as a prisoner in a gulag labor camp...
", was banned from United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
bookstalls in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, on the grounds that it was offensive to a member nation, John Biggs-Davison asked James Callaghan
James Callaghan
Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC , was a British Labour politician, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980...
, then Foreign Secretary, if he was satisfied that nothing offensive to the United Kingdom
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...
was sold at UN headquarters.
Following the Conservative Party's defeat in the February 1974 general election
United Kingdom general election, February 1974
The United Kingdom's general election of February 1974 was held on the 28th of that month. It was the first of two United Kingdom general elections held that year, and the first election since the Second World War not to produce an overall majority in the House of Commons for the winning party,...
, Biggs-Davison, writing in the Daily Telegraph said "to win back the voters, to revive Tory democracy among the industrial workers, our appeal must be practical and patriotic, not 'progressive' and 'permissive'".
In November 1974, he was elected Chairman of the Conservative Parliamentary Northern Ireland Committee, the Daily Telegraphs headline being "Hardliner Heads Tory Team". Biggs-Davison attacked the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
interview with IRA leader Dáithí Ó Conaill
Dáithí Ó Conaill
Dáithí Ó Conaill was an Irish republican, a member of the IRA Army Council, vice-president of Sinn Féin and Republican Sinn Féin. He was also the first chief of staff of the Continuity IRA.-Joins IRA:...
the same month. Winding up the House of Commons debate on Northern Ireland in December, he said "I do not believe the people of Northern Ireland want independence; still less do they want some sort of federation with the republic". In a letter to the press in January 1975, he referred to sectarian murders in Ulster and said that "the conflict is not now between two religions or cultures, but between society and its enemies". He called for reciprocity over extradition with the Republic.
During a further debate in March, on immigration from the Indian sub-continent, he told Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
Minister Alexander Lyon that "your attitude feeds the fears of people in Britain, and this was very bad for harmony between the races".
He was one of a number of prominent speakers at the Monday Club two-day Conference in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
in March 1975, the title of which was The Conservative Party and the Crisis in Britain. He was elected National Club Chairman the following May, for a two-year term.
Publications
- Biggs-Davison, John, MP, The Uncertain Ally, London, 1957.
- Biggs-Davison, John, MP, with Jeremy Harwood and the Hon. Jonathan Guinness, Ireland - Our Cuba?, published by the Monday Club, 1970, (P/B).
- Biggs-Davison, John, MP, The Hand is Red, London, 1973.
- Biggs-Davison, John, MP, with Julian Amery, MP, Stephen Hastings, MC,MP, Harold SorefHarold SorefHarold Benjamin Soref was twice a Conservative parliamentary candidate before being elected Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom for Ormskirk, Lancashire, in the 1970 General Election. He subsequently lost that seat to Labour in February 1974...
(former MP), and Patrick WallPatrick WallMajor Sir Patrick Henry Bligh Wall KBE , MC, VRD was a British senior commando in the Royal Marines during World War II and later a Conservative politician. He was Member of Parliament for Haltemprice, East Yorkshire and subsequently for Beverley...
, MC,MP, Rhodesia and the Threat to the West, published by the Monday Club, London, 1976, (P/B). - Biggs-Davison, John, MP, The Cross of St. Patrick - The Catholic UnionistCatholic UnionistA Catholic Irish Unionist is either a Roman Catholic in Northern Ireland who supports continuing ties between Northern Ireland and Great Britain...
Tradition in Ireland, London, 1985. - Biggs-Davison, John, MP, Peace and Freedom, in the Primrose LeaguePrimrose LeagueThe Primrose League was an organisation for spreading Conservative principles in Great Britain. It was founded in 1883 and active until the mid 1990s...
Gazette, vol.89, no.3, Nov/Dec 1985, London.