Constituency : Dumfriesshire 1945-63 ( Liberal National, from 1950 Liberal National and Conservative )
Niall provided the Liberal Nationals with a new face by holding on to Dumfriesshire in succession to Henry Fildes. He won despite a challenge from a Liberal candidate who came third.
Niall was the nephew of former Liberal minister Lord Strathcaron. He was educated at Fettes College and Oxford. He had business interests in Turkey.He joined the Cameron Highlanders and served in Africa during World War One. He reached the rank of Major.
Niall was Scottish whip for the Tory-National Liberal alliance from 1950 to 1955 when Eden appointed him a junior Scottish minister. In 1960, he became Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade. In 1963 he became Minister of Pensions and National Insurance then Joint Minister of State for Trade and was elevated to the peerage as Baron Drumalbyn. He was Minister without Portfolio throughout Ted Heath's government. He held other public appointments.
After 1945, Niall had a series of easy elections, defeating Labour in straight fights. He was supported by the local Liberal paper and held his surgeries in its offices. He fell out with the editor over his support for the Suez intervention and contrived to have him sacked, an incident which Labour used to embarrass the government. Niall always insisted that he was a Liberal but the interests of Tories and Liberals were identical in resisting socialism.
He died in 1987 aged 79.
No comments:
Post a Comment