Constituency : Eastborne 1990-92
After the 1987 election, all hell broke loose as David Steel initiated a move towards merger, a process that David Owen was determined to resist. After 9 highly acrimonious months which destroyed the Alliance in the opinion polls, the merger took place in March 1988 but the new Social and Liberal Democrat party faced competition from two "continuing" parties. The merged party consistently finished ahead of the SDP in by-elections except when it mattered in the 1988 Richmond by-election when the SDP picked the better candidate and split the former Alliance vote, allowing William Hague to get into Parliament for the Tories. There were predictions of a new pact but Ashdown held his nerve and the SDP collapsed after the Bootle by-election in May 1990.
Six months later David became the first person to be elected as a Liberal Democrat when he took Eastborne from the Tories following the assassination of Tory hard man Ian Gow by the IRA. It was widely expected that the Tories would retain the seat but their unpopularity over the poll tax over-rode the circumstances. Within a month Margaret Thatcher had been ousted.
David was educated at the Exeter School and the University of Sussex. He became a local councillor. He first contested Eastborne where the Liberals had consistently come second since 1964 in 1979 . In 1983 and 1987, he contested Lewes.
David was noted for quickly acquiring political cunning in the House. However he was defeated in 1992.
David regained his council seat in East Sussex and became chairman of Sussex Police Authority. He contested East Sussex and Kent South in the 1994 European elections coming a close second.
David offered to help Brighton and Hove Albion find a new stadium and as a result was offered the position of Chief Executive at the club by the new chairman Bill Archer. He also had the title of Deputy Chairman though he had no shareholding in the club. At first he was popular through sacking Brian Lloyd and appointing Liam Brady but the sale of the Goldstone Ground to pay off debts without a realistic plan for a new stadium changed all that. A change to the club's Articles of Association which potentially allowed Archer to benefit from the sale made things worse although Archer claimed it was a clerical error. The protests escalated with feelings exacerbated by David's unwise instruction to "stop whining".
Fans were determined to stop him sitting down and enjoying the matches and he was regularly chased out of the stand. Brady resigned and put together a hostile consortium to take over the club with the backing of the Football Association. Eventually Archer capitulated and David had to leave the club. His last act was to arrange a ground share with Gillingham and he went to work for Gillingham FC on a lottery bid.
With Brighton fans actively trying to obstruct his political career in Sussex, David moved to Bath and worked for the local party and local MP Don Foster. He was elected to Bath and North East Somerset Council in 2003 and was council chairman in 2008/09 .
He died in 2015 aged 71 after a long illness.
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