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| Teresa Gorman obituary | Teresa Gorman obituary |
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| ‘I am Florence Nightingale to the middle-aged woman; the St Teresa of the menopause,” proclaimed Teresa Gorman, the former Conservative MP for Billericay, in Essex, who has died aged 83. Politically, she was best known as a Eurosceptic opposed to the EU integration envisaged in the Maastricht treaty. What she was very much in favour of, and campaigned extensively for, was hormone replacement therapy. | |
| It was HRT, she argued, that got her into parliament in the first place. Having been elected to Westminster city council in 1982, she was rejected in eight constituencies (three of them in Essex) in her search for a parliamentary seat. When she went to Billericay, she declared herself to have been born in 1941. In fact, the year had been 1931, but, gratifyingly, it did not show: this was a joint blow for HRT and against ageism, endearing her to people who might otherwise sometimes be wearied by a bright, assertive voice proclaiming the universal virtue of all markets over all restraints. | It was HRT, she argued, that got her into parliament in the first place. Having been elected to Westminster city council in 1982, she was rejected in eight constituencies (three of them in Essex) in her search for a parliamentary seat. When she went to Billericay, she declared herself to have been born in 1941. In fact, the year had been 1931, but, gratifyingly, it did not show: this was a joint blow for HRT and against ageism, endearing her to people who might otherwise sometimes be wearied by a bright, assertive voice proclaiming the universal virtue of all markets over all restraints. |
| A supporter of capital punishment, she was a natural for that part of the Essex electorate, often from the risen working class, among whom support for the free market and retribution flourished. Gorman fitted that outlook exactly: she was born Teresa Moore in Putney, south-west London, where her mother was a tearoom waitress and her father a self-made demolition contractor, having started out as a builder’s labourer. | |
| She left Fulham County school at the age of 16, and in 1951 both qualified as a teacher at Brighton College of Education and married Jim Gorman, a former major in the Royal Marines. After gaining a first in biology from London University in 1961 she became a science teacher, and an exchange year at a school in New York (1965-66) inspired her and her husband to set up their own business, Banta, its name an acronym for the biological and nursing teaching aids that they exported to developing countries with great success. | |
| In 1974 she founded and became chairman of the Alliance of Small Firms and Self-Employed People, and stood as an anti-Edward Heath Independent in the October general election. In 1986 she launched the Amarant Trust, to help women going through the menopause and promote treatments that included HRT. That year, too, a Sunday newspaper carried stories of Billericay’s Tory MP, Harvey Proctor, being involved in the spanking and caning of young male prostitutes. Since the age of consent at the time was 21, he admitted four charges of gross indecency, and did not stand at the 1987 general election. This provided Gorman with her opportunity. | In 1974 she founded and became chairman of the Alliance of Small Firms and Self-Employed People, and stood as an anti-Edward Heath Independent in the October general election. In 1986 she launched the Amarant Trust, to help women going through the menopause and promote treatments that included HRT. That year, too, a Sunday newspaper carried stories of Billericay’s Tory MP, Harvey Proctor, being involved in the spanking and caning of young male prostitutes. Since the age of consent at the time was 21, he admitted four charges of gross indecency, and did not stand at the 1987 general election. This provided Gorman with her opportunity. |
| Once in the Commons, she showed herself to be an articulate and compulsive campaigner. As a libertarian, she introduced, in 1988, a Small Firms (Liberation) bill, “to remove all administrative and legislative obstacles” to their growth. As a feminist, she was militantly against the Liberal MP David Alton’s Catholic-inspired opposition to abortion. | Once in the Commons, she showed herself to be an articulate and compulsive campaigner. As a libertarian, she introduced, in 1988, a Small Firms (Liberation) bill, “to remove all administrative and legislative obstacles” to their growth. As a feminist, she was militantly against the Liberal MP David Alton’s Catholic-inspired opposition to abortion. |
| Never bothered by respectability, she considered the ticket touts of the Wimbledon tennis fortnight to be “enterprising brokers and risk takers”, performing a public service. But one intrusion she did support was a requirement for rear seat belts in cars for children. | Never bothered by respectability, she considered the ticket touts of the Wimbledon tennis fortnight to be “enterprising brokers and risk takers”, performing a public service. But one intrusion she did support was a requirement for rear seat belts in cars for children. |
| The style was, furiously, the woman. Conscious that to many genteel Tories and middle-class Labour members she must be “that ghastly vulgar woman”, she worked hard at provocative self-parody, dressing to blind in “a stunning saffron yellow or a nice, bright pink that I ran up”. She saw herself as “the enemy of the old, wet Tories who think they were born to rule”, and was keen to catch the Speaker’s eye and any available publicity. | The style was, furiously, the woman. Conscious that to many genteel Tories and middle-class Labour members she must be “that ghastly vulgar woman”, she worked hard at provocative self-parody, dressing to blind in “a stunning saffron yellow or a nice, bright pink that I ran up”. She saw herself as “the enemy of the old, wet Tories who think they were born to rule”, and was keen to catch the Speaker’s eye and any available publicity. |
| Gorman also campaigned against John Major’s administration during the discussions around the Maastricht treaty and its ratification in 1992. She detailed the pressure she was put under by fellow Tory MPs and whips in her book The Bastards: Dirty Tricks and the Challenge to Europe (1993), its title coming from Major’s term for the rebels. | |
| It was reasonable that convinced anti-Europeans should oppose legislation that would strengthen the ties of member states with the EU. But the Conservative government had a small and shrinking majority; it needed quiet and restraint while the economy mended, and in 1994 it lost patience with Conservative Eurosceptics who voted against the European Communities (Finance) bill. Gorman and seven others had the whip withdrawn, and Sir Richard Body resigned it in sympathy, to give a total of nine, who went on to support John Redwood’s leadership challenge the following year. | It was reasonable that convinced anti-Europeans should oppose legislation that would strengthen the ties of member states with the EU. But the Conservative government had a small and shrinking majority; it needed quiet and restraint while the economy mended, and in 1994 it lost patience with Conservative Eurosceptics who voted against the European Communities (Finance) bill. Gorman and seven others had the whip withdrawn, and Sir Richard Body resigned it in sympathy, to give a total of nine, who went on to support John Redwood’s leadership challenge the following year. |
| The Labour general election victory of 1997 left Gorman with a greatly reduced majority, and three years later she was suspended for a month for misleading the Commons’ standards and privileges committee about properties that she and her husband owned in south London. After Jim fell ill with cancer in 2001, she left the Commons at the general election; he died in 2007. | |
| In recent years Gorman became a supporter of Ukip, for which she voted in this year’s election. In 2012 she was still extolling the virtues of HRT, in an interview for the Daily Mail. | In recent years Gorman became a supporter of Ukip, for which she voted in this year’s election. In 2012 she was still extolling the virtues of HRT, in an interview for the Daily Mail. |
| She is survived by her second husband, Peter Clarke, whom she married in 2010. | She is survived by her second husband, Peter Clarke, whom she married in 2010. |
| • Teresa Ellen Gorman, politician and businesswoman, born 30 September 1931; died 28 August 2015 | • Teresa Ellen Gorman, politician and businesswoman, born 30 September 1931; died 28 August 2015 |