Nicholas Budgen
Nicholas Budgen (1938-1998) was the Conservative Party MP for Wolverhampton South West, following Enoch Powell's resignation from the Conservative Party months before the general election of 1974. A noted maverick and intellectual, who was educated at St.Edwards School(Oxford) and Cambridge University and became a barrister before entering Parliament. Also a successful businessman, who wrote for a regular column for Horse and Hound. Described as "the late,great Nicholas Budgen" by the Daily Telegraph.
He resigned as a whip in 1983 as he opposed the Conservative Governments policy on Northern Ireland. He lost the Conservative Party Whip as one of the 12 Maastricht Rebels. He was the second most rebellious backbencher in Parliament between 1979 and 1997 in terms of voting record.It was his long service on the Treasury Select Committee that led to his decision that the Bank of England must be indepedent of political interference. In 1996 he attempted to put through a Private Members Bill to make the Bank of England independent; this became law in 1997 as one of the first things the The Labour Party (UK)Labour government did. He lost his seat in the Labour landslide of 1997, he considered entering the european parliament but his health prevented him.
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