Constituency : Croydon North West 1981-83
Bill's victory was the first by-election victory for the Alliance, a remarkable result in many respects. After ducking the challenge of Warrington, Shirley Williams was all set to stand but the local Liberals objected, wanting to persevere with Bill, their previous candidate. David Owen tartly noted that the local party could fit in Bill's front room. He was also almost a caricature of the unattractive Liberal candidate, a short bearded anarchist. The dispute was all played out in public but despite all this, Bill managed to take the seat from the Tories.
Bill was born in Brixton. He was educated at Heath Clark School and South Bank Polytechnic.He was originally a Young Conservative but moved over to the Liberals in the 1960s. He became a housing officer for Lambeth Council and held office in NALGO. He stood for Croydon North West in both 1974 elections and 1979, his vote going down each time. He took over the editorship of Radical Bulletin when Peter Hain moved to Labour. He was a member of the party's national executive committee and sometime chairman of the London Liberal party. He was a Methodist.
Bill became the Liberals' Home Affairs spokesman. He was defeated in 1983, the Liberals' only loss on the night. Michael Meadowcroft's obituary claimed he had been complacent about his chances. He went to the Polytechnic of North London studying classics and Philosophy. He then became Head of Training for the Canary Wharf Goup.
Bill switched to Thanet South in 1987, coming second to Jonathan Aitken. He slipped to third in 1992. He defected to Labour in 1996 but could not get elected as a councillor there.
Bill retired in 2003 but found new roles as Chairman of the Occupational Pensioners Alliance and a presenter on Academy FM Thanet.
Bill was very keen on music and active in a number of choral societies.
He died in 2017 aged 80.
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