Constituency : Norfolk South 1945-50, Woolwich East 1951-74 ( Labour ) , 1974
After the February result was known, Ted Heath called in Jeremy Thorpe for talks but was unable to offer any real concessions on electoral reform and so Harold Wilson took office once more.
Just a few months later, the Liberal ranks were swelled when Christopher Mayhew became the first MP since 1915 to defect from Labour to Liberal citing the growth of extremism in Labour ranks.
Christopher was the son of a baronet. He was educated at Halleybury and Oxford where he became President of the Union. In World War Two he was a Major in the Intelligence Corps. He was elected for Norfolk South in 1945 and became under-secretary of state at the Foreign Office where he worked under Ernest Bevin. He lost his seat in 1950 then succeeded Bevin at Woolwich East in a by-election. Christopher's communication skills were used as the presenter of party political broadcasts and a commentator on television. In 1955 he famously agreed to try a hallucinogenic drug for Panorama but the results were not broadcast at the time. He was a fierce opponent of unilateral nuclear disarmament . He was shadow war secretary from 1960 to 1961 then moved on to foreign affairs. He became Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Defence in 1964 but resigned in 1966 over aircraft policy. Christopher was also a prominent Anti-Zionist and in 1973 made a financial challenge to anyone who could produce a genuine genocidal statement by an Arab leader, an offer that eventually landed him in court although he won the case
Christopher had little time to get to know his new colleagues as Wilson went to the country again in October. The Liberals generously passed him a winnable seat in Bath and though he improved their vote against the trend he was unable to unseat the Tory. He tried again in 1979 but fell further behind.
In 1981 Christopher was elevated to the peerage as Baron Mayhew and became defence spokesman in the Lords.
Christopher published several works on the Middle East and an autobiography, Time to Explain.
He died in 1997 aged 81.
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