David Mellor
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The Right Honourable David Mellor (born 12 March, 1949) is a British Conservative politician and barrister.
Political Career
He attended Christ's College, Cambridge. He became a barrister in 1972. He became the MP for Putney in 1979, and was made Queen's Counsel in 1987, before becoming Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 1990. In 1992 he was made Secretary of State for the newly created Department for National Heritage, but he was forced to resign in September of that year, amid media coverage of an extra-marital affair with actress Antonia de Sancha.
He contested the 1997 general election, but was defeated by Labour's Tony Colman. However, the election night was more memorable for Mellor's showdown with Referendum Party founder Sir James Goldsmith — Mellor was taunted by Goldsmith and a crowd of other candidates during his vote of thanks. Mellor retorted:
- "... and Sir James ... you have nothing to be smug about ... I think we have shown tonight that the Referendum Party is dead in the water, and you can get back off to Mexico in the knowledge that your attempt to buy the British political system has failed!".
After Parliament
He was chairman of the incoming Labour government's "Football Task Force" in August 1997 until its dissolution in 1999. He has also pursued a journalism career, and has written for the Evening Standard, The Guardian and The People, usually on sport or the arts. He regularly presented football-related programmes on BBC Radio 5 until 2001, as well as classical music programmes on Radio 2 and Radio 3. He currently presents If You Like That, You'll Like This on Classic FM.
| Preceded by: — | Secretary of State for National Heritage 1992 | Succeeded by: Peter Brooke |