The death has occurred of Sir David Laidlaw Knox, (92), who was Biddulph MP for 27 years.
Sir David was elected as Conservative Member of Parliament for Leek in 1970, overturning a majority of 7,761 and winning a seat that his party had held only once in the previous 50 years.
Although its name was changed to Staffordshire Moorlands half way through his term of office, he held the seat for the next 27 years. Charlotte Atkins took the seat for Labour in 1997 when Sir David retired.
Born on 30th May 1933 in Lockerbie, he was educated at Lockerbie and Dumfries Academies before obtaining an honours degree in economics at London University.
After national service in the Royal Air Force, he trained in the printing business and held management positions in the industry before being engaged in the management services in the motor industry.
He was always interested in politics. In the 1964 and 1966 general elections he contested the Stechford Division of Birmingham against Roy Jenkins, and in 1967 fought a Parliamentary by-election in Nuneaton.
He achieved his greatest ambition when he was elected as MP for Leek in in 1970.
In Parliament, he acted as Parliamentary private secretary to Sir Ian Gilmour, minister and secretary of state for defence; was a vice chairman the Conservative Party; a chair of the Parliamentary Group for World Government and was a vice chair of the Conservative Group for Europe.
In addition he served 14 years as chairman of Standing Committees of the House of Commons. His main interests were the economy and Europe and served for more than 20 years on the European Legislation Select Committee.
His proudest moment in Parliament was to vote for British membership of the European Economic Community, later the European Union.
Entering Parliament, he had joined what was to become the Macleod Group led by Nicholas Scott, considered to be a home for Conservative MPs who were pro-European and progressive on social issues. He was noted as strongly supporting Britain’s entry to the EEC.
He protested against a decision to allow the Palestine Liberation Organization to open an office in London. Sir David was knighted in the 1993 Birthday Honours.
In 1980 he married Eva, who was also born in Lockerbie, and enjoyed 35½ happy years married to her.
She died on 5th January 2016, a day Sir David described as by far the worst day of his life. He had nursed his wife as her primary carer for the last five years of her life, fighting Parkinson’s.
In his retirement Sir David served as chairman of the London Union of Youth Clubs and deputy chairman of London Youth. He was also a member of the Drama Panel at Buxton Opera House. He enjoyed a daily walk in and around Alstonefield, where he still lived in his former constituency, and attended football and cricket matches in Derby. He was an avid reader and his interest in politics never waned.
He died on 14th September.
Staffordshire Moorlands Conservative Party posted on social media: “We offer our heartfelt thanks to Sir David for his decades of devoted service to the Staffordshire Moorlands and to the Conservative Party.”
Conservative councillor Joe Porter posted a tribute on social media, prompting one person to comment: “Although we did not share political views, he was a damn good constituency MP and got me info on student finance that even the NUS didn’t have in the early 90s.
“They don’t make them like that any more.”
