Nigel Forman
Encyclopedia
Francis Nigel Forman, known as Nigel Forman, (born 25 March 1943) is a British
Conservative
politician
. After working in the Conservative Research Department
from 1968 to 1976 he was elected as an MP
. He became a prominent backbench MP and was appointed to the position of Minister of Higher Education in April 1992. In December 1992 he resigned from this post “for personal reasons”. During his time as an MP he was considered to be on the left-wing of the Conservative Party and he was often described as "donnish" and a "europhile".
He lost his seat in Parliament in the 1997 general election
and since then has worked as a lecturer, writer and instructor. After leaving Parliament he started to use the title “doctor” and is now commonly known as Doctor Nigel Forman. He is married to Susan (‘Susie’) Forman and the couple have no children
, New College, Oxford
, the College of Europe
(Bruges), Harvard University
and Sussex University. He obtained various degrees from these institutions including an Master of Public Administration
from Harvard, a Certificate of Advanced European Studies
(equivalent to a master's degree) from the College of Europe and a Ph.D from Sussex University. His first significant job was from 1967 to 1968 as an information officer at the Confederation of British Industry
.
In 1968 he joined the Conservative Research Department ('CRD' - the research operation of the Conservative Party) and began the quest to find himself a seat in Parliament. He progressed rapidly in the CRD, acting as ‘external affairs adviser’ to Edward Heath
while the latter was leader of the opposition. He served Margaret Thatcher
in the same capacity from 1975 to 1976. He achieved the rank of assistant director with special responsibility for European affairs,
He contested the Coventry North East constituency for the Conservatives in the February 1974 general election but was not elected. After the elevation of Robert Carr
MP to the peerage in 1976, Forman was adopted as the Conservative candidate for the parliamentary seat (Carshalton) that Carr was vacating.
as Member of Parliament
(MP) for Sutton, Carshalton
at a by-election
on 11 March 1976. He took the seat with a 10,000 majority over Labour, compared with Carr’s 4,000 majority in October 1974. When constituency boundaries were revised for the 1983 election
, his seat was renamed Carshalton and Wallington.
His Carshalton parliamentary seat was part of the London Borough of Sutton
and was very mixed in character. It contained large estates of Council housing and areas with expensive detached houses. All three major parties (Conservative, Labour and Liberal) had significant support in the seat and Forman’s position was therefore always potentially vulnerable to tactical voting
. His constituency Conservative party and the Conservative leaders of Sutton Borough Council soon showed themselves to be resistant to concepts of modernisation that Forman sought to promote. Sutton was one the few remaining councils in the UK that had retained selective education and council meetings were unusual in that Conservative councillors wore ceremonial robes in order to “give dignity” to the proceedings.
Forman soon established himself as a bright and enthusiastic MP. During his first three months in the House he asked 64 formal questions of Ministers in the Labour government. His particular areas of interest were nuclear power, incomes policy
, education policy and ministerial patronage.
After the Conservatives returned to government in 1979, it was widely expected that Forman would soon obtain ministerial office. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary
(PPS) first to Lord Carrington in the Foreign Office and later to Douglas Hurd
in the Home Office. However, promotion beyond that was slow in coming.
Forman soon became known as a left-wing Conservative MP who differed with the policy of the Thatcher government on a number of key issues. In 1980 he spoke in favour of substantially increasing child benefits, he opposed reduction in the time limit for abortions, opposed hanging and spoke in favour of James Prior’s attempt to secure compulsory ballots in trade union votes through voluntary agreement with unions. He also expressed alarm at the manner in which unemployment was spiralling upwards as a result of the government’s economic policies. He frequently used the code word “one nation” in his speeches and writings – indicating disapproval of government policies which were perceived to be divisive. He favoured closer integration of Britain with the European Union
.
In February 1981, Labour MPs cheered him in the House when he asked Chancellor Howe to act in order to halt the rise in unemployment. Forman advocated employment and economic policies which were broadly consistent with those pursued by the previous Labour government. He acquired the image of being a Conservative opponent of Thatcherism
. All this raised his profile in the House but it did not enhance his promotion prospects. In a 1983 Times article, the senior Labour MP Gerald Kaufman
noted that Forman had been overlooked for promotion and that his obvious abilities were not being used.
In 1984 Forman stood for the Chairmanship of the Conservative backbench finance committee as a left-wing “one nation” Tory – against incumbent right-winger Sir William Clark. Forman lost but had become clearly identified with “wets” and the one-nation
group of Conservative MPs. In 1985, Forman published a pamphlet titled “Work to be done : employment policy for 1985 and beyond”. This was deeply critical of current government policy and advocated a package of measures to stimulate employment.
Forman’s progressive views did not endear him to the leadership of his constituency Conservatives in Carshalton. Many of them regarded him as disloyal to Margaret Thatcher and a traitor. There were repeated attempts to deselect him. Matters came to a head in 1986 after the Liberal SDP Alliance took control of Sutton Borough Council from the Conservatives. Forman publicly attributed this to the shortcomings of the local Conservative leadership
The matter is described in the following extract from an article in the Times dated 21 May 1987 :
“The Carshalton Conservative Association suffers from bigots and zealots who indulge in internecine warfare. Not Labour smear tactics, nor Alliance innuendo, but the words of its Conservative MP, Mr Nigel Forman. Several attempts to deselect Mr Forman failed. But when the election was called last week, five of the seven senior officers took their revenge on the beleaguered MP by resigning.” – the Times, May 1987
However, Forman comfortably held his seat in the 1987 general election
. His radical image tended to prevent Labour and Liberal supporters indulging in tactical voting (that is, jointly backing his strongest opponent) in order to turn him out. Forman appeared to be more popular in Carshalton than was the local Conservative party and his political fortunes seemed to be in the ascendant.
“Has Chancellor Nigel Lawson gone soft? Yesterday he appointed as his PPS a Tory so wet he drips. As recently as last year, Nigel Forman, vice-chairman of the party's backbench finance committee, was publicly calling on the Chancellor to 'give top priority to the unemployment challenge'. The year before, in Mastering British Politics, he wrote: 'Occasionally, in the course of its long history, the Conservative party has been swept along on the wave of some particular ideology, but such periods have not usually lasted or brought enduring political success'.” – ‘Rising Damp’, the Times, June 1987
After Mrs Thatcher was forced from office in late 1990 it was considered only a matter of time before Forman would be promoted.
Forman was appointed Under Secretary of State for Education (with the job title Minister of Higher and Further Education) under Education Secretary John Patten
. During his tenure of office, Forman dealt with high profile issues such as the financing of student unions, student loans and the quality assurance of degrees issued by the new universities.
Forman unexpectedly resigned from his ministerial post on 11 December 1992 for “personal reasons”. The nature of those personal reasons was never disclosed. Colleagues commented that Forman was “a very private man” and nobody claimed to know why he had resigned.
Thereafter, Forman’s political career went into decline. His political interests appeared to become more theoretical in nature. In January 1996 the Demos 'think tank'
published a paper written by him on reform of the income tax system. Demos was generally considered to be closely associated with New Labour. At the 1997 general election
, Forman lost his seat to the Liberal Democrat
candidate Tom Brake
. Forman's 10,000 vote majority in the 1992 general election
was converted into a 2,000 vote Liberal Democrat majority with a 12% swing from Conservative to Lib Dem. That was an exceptionally bad result for the Conservatives even by the standards of the 1997 election.
, the UK (Oxfordshire) campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University
(‘FDU’). FDU is a private university
based in New Jersey, USA. It specialises in delivering short courses in all areas of management and public administration.
Forman has also delivered courses for ‘Westminster Explained’, Parliament’s own in-house training facility which provides courses to members of both Houses and the wider public service. His recent publications include “Constitutional Change in the UK” (Routledge, 2004 – a study of recent change introduced by New Labour) and “Mastering British Politics”, (4th edition, update of a standard text, Macmillan, 1999). He has been a visiting lecturer at Essex University and is an honorary research fellow at University College London
.
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...
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...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
. After working in the Conservative Research Department
Conservative Research Department
The Conservative Research Department is part of the central organisation of the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom. It operates alongside other departments of Conservative Campaign Headquarters at 30 Millbank, London SW1....
from 1968 to 1976 he was elected as an MP
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,...
. He became a prominent backbench MP and was appointed to the position of Minister of Higher Education in April 1992. In December 1992 he resigned from this post “for personal reasons”. During his time as an MP he was considered to be on the left-wing of the Conservative Party and he was often described as "donnish" and a "europhile".
He lost his seat in Parliament in the 1997 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
and since then has worked as a lecturer, writer and instructor. After leaving Parliament he started to use the title “doctor” and is now commonly known as Doctor Nigel Forman. He is married to Susan (‘Susie’) Forman and the couple have no children
Early career
Forman was educated at Shrewsbury SchoolShrewsbury School
Shrewsbury School is a co-educational independent school for pupils aged 13 to 18, founded by Royal Charter in 1552. The present campus to which the school moved in 1882 is located on the banks of the River Severn in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England...
, New College, Oxford
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...
, the College of Europe
College of Europe
The College of Europe is an independent university institute of postgraduate European studies with the main campus in Bruges, Belgium...
(Bruges), Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and Sussex University. He obtained various degrees from these institutions including an Master of Public Administration
Master of Public Administration
The Master of Public Administration is a professional post-graduate degree in Public Administration. The MPA program prepares individuals to serve as managers in the executive arm of local, state/provincial, and federal/national government, and increasingly in nongovernmental organization and...
from Harvard, a Certificate of Advanced European Studies
Certificate of Advanced European Studies
The Certificate of Advanced European Studies is a postgraduate qualification, equivalent to a master's degree, that was awarded by the College of Europe, a postgraduate elite school in Bruges, Belgium, from its foundation in 1949 until the late 1980s, upon completion of its 1-year programme...
(equivalent to a master's degree) from the College of Europe and a Ph.D from Sussex University. His first significant job was from 1967 to 1968 as an information officer at the Confederation of British Industry
Confederation of British Industry
The Confederation of British Industry is a British not for profit organisation incorporated by Royal charter which promotes the interests of its members, some 200,000 British businesses, a figure which includes some 80% of FTSE 100 companies and around 50% of FTSE 350 companies.-Role:The CBI works...
.
In 1968 he joined the Conservative Research Department ('CRD' - the research operation of the Conservative Party) and began the quest to find himself a seat in Parliament. He progressed rapidly in the CRD, acting as ‘external affairs adviser’ to 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 ....
while the latter was leader of the opposition. He served Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
in the same capacity from 1975 to 1976. He achieved the rank of assistant director with special responsibility for European affairs,
He contested the Coventry North East constituency for the Conservatives in the February 1974 general election but was not elected. After the elevation of Robert Carr
Robert Carr
Leonard Robert Carr, Baron Carr of Hadley, PC is a British Conservative politician.Robert Carr was educated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge where he read Natural Sciences, graduating in 1938....
MP to the peerage in 1976, Forman was adopted as the Conservative candidate for the parliamentary seat (Carshalton) that Carr was vacating.
Backbench MP, 1976 to 1992
Forman was elected to the House of CommonsBritish 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...
as 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,...
(MP) for Sutton, Carshalton
Carshalton (UK Parliament constituency)
Carshalton was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Carshalton suburb of London, in what is now the London Borough of Sutton. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
at a by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
on 11 March 1976. He took the seat with a 10,000 majority over Labour, compared with Carr’s 4,000 majority in October 1974. When constituency boundaries were revised for the 1983 election
United Kingdom general election, 1983
The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...
, his seat was renamed Carshalton and Wallington.
His Carshalton parliamentary seat was part of the London Borough of Sutton
London Borough of Sutton
The London Borough of Sutton is a London borough in South London, England and forms part of Outer London. It covers an area of and is the 80th largest local authority in England by population. It is one of the southernmost boroughs of London...
and was very mixed in character. It contained large estates of Council housing and areas with expensive detached houses. All three major parties (Conservative, Labour and Liberal) had significant support in the seat and Forman’s position was therefore always potentially vulnerable to tactical voting
Tactical voting
In voting systems, tactical voting occurs, in elections with more than two viable candidates, when a voter supports a candidate other than his or her sincere preference in order to prevent an undesirable outcome.It has been shown by the Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem that any voting method which is...
. His constituency Conservative party and the Conservative leaders of Sutton Borough Council soon showed themselves to be resistant to concepts of modernisation that Forman sought to promote. Sutton was one the few remaining councils in the UK that had retained selective education and council meetings were unusual in that Conservative councillors wore ceremonial robes in order to “give dignity” to the proceedings.
Forman soon established himself as a bright and enthusiastic MP. During his first three months in the House he asked 64 formal questions of Ministers in the Labour government. His particular areas of interest were nuclear power, incomes policy
Incomes policy
Incomes policies in economics are economy-wide wage and price controls, most commonly instituted as a response to inflation, and usually below market level.Incomes policies have often been resorted to during wartime...
, education policy and ministerial patronage.
After the Conservatives returned to government in 1979, it was widely expected that Forman would soon obtain ministerial office. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary
Parliamentary Private Secretary
A Parliamentary Private Secretary is a role given to a United Kingdom Member of Parliament by a senior minister in government or shadow minister to act as their contact for the House of Commons; this role is junior to that of Parliamentary Under-Secretary, which is a ministerial post, salaried by...
(PPS) first to Lord Carrington in the Foreign Office and later to Douglas Hurd
Douglas Hurd
Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell, CH, CBE, PC , is a British Conservative politician and novelist, who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major between 1979 and his retirement in 1995....
in the Home Office. However, promotion beyond that was slow in coming.
Forman soon became known as a left-wing Conservative MP who differed with the policy of the Thatcher government on a number of key issues. In 1980 he spoke in favour of substantially increasing child benefits, he opposed reduction in the time limit for abortions, opposed hanging and spoke in favour of James Prior’s attempt to secure compulsory ballots in trade union votes through voluntary agreement with unions. He also expressed alarm at the manner in which unemployment was spiralling upwards as a result of the government’s economic policies. He frequently used the code word “one nation” in his speeches and writings – indicating disapproval of government policies which were perceived to be divisive. He favoured closer integration of Britain with the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
.
In February 1981, Labour MPs cheered him in the House when he asked Chancellor Howe to act in order to halt the rise in unemployment. Forman advocated employment and economic policies which were broadly consistent with those pursued by the previous Labour government. He acquired the image of being a Conservative opponent of Thatcherism
Thatcherism
Thatcherism describes the conviction politics, economic and social policy, and political style of the British Conservative politician Margaret Thatcher, who was leader of her party from 1975 to 1990...
. All this raised his profile in the House but it did not enhance his promotion prospects. In a 1983 Times article, the senior Labour MP Gerald Kaufman
Gerald Kaufman
Sir Gerald Bernard Kaufman is a British Labour Party politician, who has been a Member of Parliament since 1970, first for Manchester Ardwick, and then subsequently for Manchester Gorton...
noted that Forman had been overlooked for promotion and that his obvious abilities were not being used.
In 1984 Forman stood for the Chairmanship of the Conservative backbench finance committee as a left-wing “one nation” Tory – against incumbent right-winger Sir William Clark. Forman lost but had become clearly identified with “wets” and the one-nation
One Nation Conservatism
One nation, one nation conservatism, and Tory democracy are terms used in political debate in the United Kingdom to refer to a certain wing of the Conservative Party...
group of Conservative MPs. In 1985, Forman published a pamphlet titled “Work to be done : employment policy for 1985 and beyond”. This was deeply critical of current government policy and advocated a package of measures to stimulate employment.
Forman’s progressive views did not endear him to the leadership of his constituency Conservatives in Carshalton. Many of them regarded him as disloyal to Margaret Thatcher and a traitor. There were repeated attempts to deselect him. Matters came to a head in 1986 after the Liberal SDP Alliance took control of Sutton Borough Council from the Conservatives. Forman publicly attributed this to the shortcomings of the local Conservative leadership
The matter is described in the following extract from an article in the Times dated 21 May 1987 :
“The Carshalton Conservative Association suffers from bigots and zealots who indulge in internecine warfare. Not Labour smear tactics, nor Alliance innuendo, but the words of its Conservative MP, Mr Nigel Forman. Several attempts to deselect Mr Forman failed. But when the election was called last week, five of the seven senior officers took their revenge on the beleaguered MP by resigning.” – the Times, May 1987
However, Forman comfortably held his seat in the 1987 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1987
The United Kingdom general election of 1987 was held on 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the British House of Commons. The election was the third consecutive election victory for the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the 2nd...
. His radical image tended to prevent Labour and Liberal supporters indulging in tactical voting (that is, jointly backing his strongest opponent) in order to turn him out. Forman appeared to be more popular in Carshalton than was the local Conservative party and his political fortunes seemed to be in the ascendant.
“Has Chancellor Nigel Lawson gone soft? Yesterday he appointed as his PPS a Tory so wet he drips. As recently as last year, Nigel Forman, vice-chairman of the party's backbench finance committee, was publicly calling on the Chancellor to 'give top priority to the unemployment challenge'. The year before, in Mastering British Politics, he wrote: 'Occasionally, in the course of its long history, the Conservative party has been swept along on the wave of some particular ideology, but such periods have not usually lasted or brought enduring political success'.” – ‘Rising Damp’, the Times, June 1987
After Mrs Thatcher was forced from office in late 1990 it was considered only a matter of time before Forman would be promoted.
Minister of Higher Education, April 1992 to December 1992
“The omission of Nigel Forman, from successive ministerial reshuffles over the past few years has surprised many at Westminster when several apparently less talented politicians have secured top posts. But after 16 years in the Commons, he has become an under-secretary at the education department” – the Times, 15 April 1992Forman was appointed Under Secretary of State for Education (with the job title Minister of Higher and Further Education) under Education Secretary John Patten
John Patten
John Patten is the name of:*John Patten , American soldier and politician from Delaware*John Patten , British Conservative politician*Jack Patten, Australian Aboriginal leader-See also:...
. During his tenure of office, Forman dealt with high profile issues such as the financing of student unions, student loans and the quality assurance of degrees issued by the new universities.
Forman unexpectedly resigned from his ministerial post on 11 December 1992 for “personal reasons”. The nature of those personal reasons was never disclosed. Colleagues commented that Forman was “a very private man” and nobody claimed to know why he had resigned.
Thereafter, Forman’s political career went into decline. His political interests appeared to become more theoretical in nature. In January 1996 the Demos 'think tank'
Demos (UK think tank)
- History :Demos was founded in 1993 by former Marxism Today editor Martin Jacques, and Geoff Mulgan, who became its first director. It was formed in response to what Mulgan, Jacques and others saw as a crisis in politics in Britain, with voter engagement in decline and political institutions...
published a paper written by him on reform of the income tax system. Demos was generally considered to be closely associated with New Labour. At the 1997 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
, Forman lost his seat to the Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
candidate Tom Brake
Tom Brake
Thomas Anthony Brake, known as Tom Brake, British Liberal Democrat politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Carshalton and Wallington.-Early life:Tom Brake was born in Melton Mowbray, moving to France when he was eight...
. Forman's 10,000 vote majority in the 1992 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1992
The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...
was converted into a 2,000 vote Liberal Democrat majority with a 12% swing from Conservative to Lib Dem. That was an exceptionally bad result for the Conservatives even by the standards of the 1997 election.
After Parliament
Forman made no attempt to continue or resume his political career. He initially developed a portfolio of lecturing and writing work. In 1999 he joined the faculty of Wroxton CollegeWroxton Abbey
Wroxton Abbey is a Jacobean house in Oxfordshire, with a 1727 garden partly converted to the serpentine style between 1731 and 1751. It is west of Banbury, off the A422, in Wroxton St. Mary. It is now the English campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University....
, the UK (Oxfordshire) campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university founded as a junior college in 1942. It now has several campuses located in New Jersey, Canada, and the United Kingdom.-Description:...
(‘FDU’). FDU is a private university
Private university
Private universities are universities not operated by governments, although many receive public subsidies, especially in the form of tax breaks and public student loans and grants. Depending on their location, private universities may be subject to government regulation. Private universities are...
based in New Jersey, USA. It specialises in delivering short courses in all areas of management and public administration.
Forman has also delivered courses for ‘Westminster Explained’, Parliament’s own in-house training facility which provides courses to members of both Houses and the wider public service. His recent publications include “Constitutional Change in the UK” (Routledge, 2004 – a study of recent change introduced by New Labour) and “Mastering British Politics”, (4th edition, update of a standard text, Macmillan, 1999). He has been a visiting lecturer at Essex University and is an honorary research fellow at University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
.