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Your support makes all the difference.Thomas Gray Boardman, businessman and politician: born Daventry, Northamptonshire 12 January 1919; MC 1944; chairman, Chamberlain Phipps 1958-72; MP (Conservative) for Leicester South-West 1967-74, for Leicester South 1974; Minister for Industry, Department of Trade and Industry 1972-74; President, Association of British Chambers of Commerce 1977-80; Chief Secretary to the Treasury 1974; chairman, Steetley Co 1978-83; created 1980 Baron Boardman; Honorary Treasurer, Conservative Party 1981-82; chairman, National Westminster Bank 1983-89; chairman, Heron International 1993-95; married 1948 Deirdre Chaworth-Musters (née Gough; two sons, one daughter); died Welford, Northamptonshire 10 March 2003.
Tom Boardman was a highly successful businessman, whom Edward Heath brought into his government as Minister for Industry in 1972 to help take forward the industrial expansion programme damned by its Tory critics as a U-turn.
He had come into the House at a by-election five years earlier as MP for Leicester South-West. His success as a minister was confirmed by promotion to be Chief Secretary to the Treasury in the dying days of the Heath government, but a long career on the front bench was denied him by the defeat of the Government in the February 1974 election and the loss of his own seat. Boardman had been a well-liked and respected Member of Parliament, but, with his party doomed to opposition, he clearly (and rightly) saw his future lying in business and, in the Thatcher years, he spent six years as chairman of the National Westminster Bank.
Thomas Gray Boardman was born just after the end of the First World War and was therefore of the generation that served throughout the Second World War. He was educated at Bromsgrove School in Worcestershire and was qualifying as a solicitor when war was declared. He had enlisted in the Northamptonshire Yeomanry as a trooper in 1938, was commissioned and served with them throughout and after the war. In 1944 he won the Military Cross. He was subsequently to be promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and to command them in 1956.
He qualified as a solicitor in 1947 but his sound judgement made him a valued contributor to business as director. He became the Finance Director of Allied Breweries and chaired Chamberlain Phipps from 1958 to 1972. His interest in Conservative politics brought his adoption as the Conservative candidate for Leicester South-West, where he fought Labour's Chief Whip, Herbert Bowden, in the 1964 and 1966 elections.
When Bowden went to the Lords in 1967, Boardman won the subsequent by-election, turning a Labour majority into a Conservative majority of 3,939 (15.7 per cent). It was a period of considerable Conservative success, but Boardman consolidated his hold on the seat and in 1970 he beat off a fierce Labour challenge by just 106 votes. By then, his fellow Conservatives had already elected him to the executive of the 1922 Committee and he was chairman of the parliamentary panel of the Institute of Directors.
In April 1972 Boardman was brought into the Government as Minister of Industry, part of a major rejigging of the Department of Trade and Industry to carry through the Industrial Expansion Act and the regeneration of British industry prior to entry into the EEC. His wide managerial experience was seen as the major reason for his appointment. Peter Walker, who subsequently took over as Secretary of State, has spoken warmly of Boardman's "considerable charm and considerable ability". His only trouble, Walker added, was that "he worked too hard and worried too much" and he recalled his difficulty during the energy crisis of 1973/74 in getting Boardman to take enough sleep.
Boardman had already shown his steel when he refused the gas workers a court of inquiry over their industrial dispute against Stage II of the prices and incomes policy: "There is nothing to inquire into," he told the Commons. He ran energy policy during the first great oil shock until Heath, against the wishes of both Walker and Boardman, decided that there should be a new energy ministry.
Although others have criticised the National Coal Board for offering the miners too much too soon, Boardman always defended them, believing that the legislation made that inevitable and that any concessions would have to be found outside the code. He was also clear that if the mineworkers were made a special case, other unions would have been forced to exploit it. He had in mind Frank Chapple at the EETPU, who told him bluntly that, "if those buggers get a farthing more" than his own workers, he could stop the country in 48 hours. Boardman took part in the talks with the miners and he evidently impressed Heath. As a result he was promoted to Chief Secretary of the Treasury when Heath created the Department of Energy, but shortly afterwards the February 1974 election was called and his government was out.
Boardman won the newly created seat of Leicester South by 1,766 votes in February 1974 and took up a place on the Public Accounts Committee. He was also re-elected to the 1922 Executive. But a 2.7 per cent swing in the October 1974 election was enough to unseat him and end his parliamentary career. Instead he returned to industry. He had served on the board of Allied Breweries from 1968 until 1972 and he was reappointed in 1974, becoming vice-chairman in 1975-76. He stood down in 1977 and in the following year became chairman of Steetley Industries (he had been a director since 1975).
In 1979 Boardman added the chairmanship of the eastern region of the National Westminster, serving on the main board. He succeeded Robin Leigh-Pemberton as chairman of NatWest in 1983 and served until 1989, chairing the Committee of London and Scottish Bankers in the last two years of a very successful term of office. Boardman was created a life peer in 1980 and served in 1981-84 and 1991-95 on the executive of the Association of Conservative peers. He also served briefly as one of the Treasurers of the Conservative Party, 1981-82.
John Barnes
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