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| The former Tory cabinet minister John Moore, Lord Moore of Lower Marsh, who has died aged 81, had a brief, meteoric cabinet career in the last phase of the Thatcher administration, during which he was for a time seen – perhaps even saw himself – as a potential future prime minister. But if that was ever the case his timing and talent were awry – maybe his career could be better seen as soaring like a firework rocket and coming to earth like the stick – and when the time came, the poisoned chalice of succeeding Margaret Thatcher fell to Moore’s steadier former deputy John Major. | The former Tory cabinet minister John Moore, Lord Moore of Lower Marsh, who has died aged 81, had a brief, meteoric cabinet career in the last phase of the Thatcher administration, during which he was for a time seen – perhaps even saw himself – as a potential future prime minister. But if that was ever the case his timing and talent were awry – maybe his career could be better seen as soaring like a firework rocket and coming to earth like the stick – and when the time came, the poisoned chalice of succeeding Margaret Thatcher fell to Moore’s steadier former deputy John Major. |
| Moore, by contrast, left the Commons, all but forgotten as a former minister, at the time of Major’s greatest triumph in the 1992 general election and went off to make money in the City of London, consoled with a valedictory life peerage instead. He was perceived, even by his friends, to have been defeated in trying to reform both the National Health Service and the social security budget and his political reputation never recovered. | Moore, by contrast, left the Commons, all but forgotten as a former minister, at the time of Major’s greatest triumph in the 1992 general election and went off to make money in the City of London, consoled with a valedictory life peerage instead. He was perceived, even by his friends, to have been defeated in trying to reform both the National Health Service and the social security budget and his political reputation never recovered. |
| This would not have been predicted in the mid-1980s when Moore was riding high as an ardent Thatcherite. He seemed to have all the credentials for future leadership: blond, square-jawed and as handsome as a US presidential candidate, fluent, loyal, diligent and ambitious, well off but with an interesting and non-privileged, meritocratic background of the sort that the prime minister admired. | This would not have been predicted in the mid-1980s when Moore was riding high as an ardent Thatcherite. He seemed to have all the credentials for future leadership: blond, square-jawed and as handsome as a US presidential candidate, fluent, loyal, diligent and ambitious, well off but with an interesting and non-privileged, meritocratic background of the sort that the prime minister admired. |
| It was, in fact, strikingly similar to that of Major: Moore, like him, came from an impoverished south London family – he would later take the title of his peerage from Lower Marsh, the area near Waterloo station where his grandfather had once sold fish. Moore’s father, Edward, was a bartender and his mother a waitress, so he qualified for a scholarship to the Licensed Victuallers’ school in Slough (now LVS Ascot). He played for the local town soccer team and, following school, went straight into national service, winning a commission in the Royal Sussex regiment and leading a machine gun patrol in postwar Korea (1955-57). | It was, in fact, strikingly similar to that of Major: Moore, like him, came from an impoverished south London family – he would later take the title of his peerage from Lower Marsh, the area near Waterloo station where his grandfather had once sold fish. Moore’s father, Edward, was a bartender and his mother a waitress, so he qualified for a scholarship to the Licensed Victuallers’ school in Slough (now LVS Ascot). He played for the local town soccer team and, following school, went straight into national service, winning a commission in the Royal Sussex regiment and leading a machine gun patrol in postwar Korea (1955-57). |
| Returning to study politics at the London School of Economics (LSE), Moore was active in both the nascent anti-apartheid movement and the school’s Conservative Association, becoming president of the student union (1959-60). Alongside economic liberal teachers such as Lionel Robbins and Karl Popper, one of his tutors was Ralph Miliband, and more than 50 years later he would come to the defence of Ed Miliband’s father’s reputation when the Daily Mail denounced him as a traitor. | Returning to study politics at the London School of Economics (LSE), Moore was active in both the nascent anti-apartheid movement and the school’s Conservative Association, becoming president of the student union (1959-60). Alongside economic liberal teachers such as Lionel Robbins and Karl Popper, one of his tutors was Ralph Miliband, and more than 50 years later he would come to the defence of Ed Miliband’s father’s reputation when the Daily Mail denounced him as a traitor. |
| In a very rare public intervention, Moore pronounced his old tutor to have been an inspiring and objective teacher: “I had profound respect for his integrity. It beggars belief that the Daily Mail can accuse him of lacking patriotism … [it] is telling lies about a good man.” | In a very rare public intervention, Moore pronounced his old tutor to have been an inspiring and objective teacher: “I had profound respect for his integrity. It beggars belief that the Daily Mail can accuse him of lacking patriotism … [it] is telling lies about a good man.” |
| In 1962 Moore married an American fellow LSE student, Sheila Tillotson – he reputedly proposed on their first date. After graduation the couple had moved to the US, where for four years (1961-65) he learned the rudiments of banking and stockbroking and became involved in Democratic party politics, working in Illinois for the election of Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and absorbing some of the techniques of US campaigning. | In 1962 Moore married an American fellow LSE student, Sheila Tillotson – he reputedly proposed on their first date. After graduation the couple had moved to the US, where for four years (1961-65) he learned the rudiments of banking and stockbroking and became involved in Democratic party politics, working in Illinois for the election of Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and absorbing some of the techniques of US campaigning. |
| Back in south London he worked in the City as a company chair for an American stockbroking firm and was a Lloyd’s underwriter, while Sheila became a lecturer at Birkbeck College (now Birkbeck, University of London). His political involvement began as a councillor in Merton, south-west London (1971-74), and then, with only brief experience of local politics, at the February 1974 election he became the Conservative MP for Croydon Central. | Back in south London he worked in the City as a company chair for an American stockbroking firm and was a Lloyd’s underwriter, while Sheila became a lecturer at Birkbeck College (now Birkbeck, University of London). His political involvement began as a councillor in Merton, south-west London (1971-74), and then, with only brief experience of local politics, at the February 1974 election he became the Conservative MP for Croydon Central. |
| Moore rapidly came to the attention of Thatcher, the new leader, always susceptible to handsome acolytes, who made him a vice-chair of the party (1975-79) with special responsibility for attracting the youth vote. He also became involved in the rightwing thinktank the Centre for Policy Studies, under his guru Keith Joseph. | Moore rapidly came to the attention of Thatcher, the new leader, always susceptible to handsome acolytes, who made him a vice-chair of the party (1975-79) with special responsibility for attracting the youth vote. He also became involved in the rightwing thinktank the Centre for Policy Studies, under his guru Keith Joseph. |
| By now Moore was resolutely convinced that market principles contributed to economic efficiency and could be applied wholesale across social policy. Despite his background, such views made him a ruthless, unsympathetic reformer, convinced that poor people could pull themselves up by their own efforts and that Thatcherite economics was bracingly eliminating poverty. | By now Moore was resolutely convinced that market principles contributed to economic efficiency and could be applied wholesale across social policy. Despite his background, such views made him a ruthless, unsympathetic reformer, convinced that poor people could pull themselves up by their own efforts and that Thatcherite economics was bracingly eliminating poverty. |
| In office from the Tories’ general election victory in 1979, he served for four years at the Energy department, with junior ministerial responsibility for the coal industry, before moving to the Treasury under Nigel Lawson, first and briefly as economic secretary and then as financial secretary (1983-86), working on the government’s developing privatisation policies. Later it would be said, by Tory MPs, that he had been overawed by Lawson and, as secretary of state for social security, failed to defend the department’s budget against Treasury cuts, with disastrous effects. | In office from the Tories’ general election victory in 1979, he served for four years at the Energy department, with junior ministerial responsibility for the coal industry, before moving to the Treasury under Nigel Lawson, first and briefly as economic secretary and then as financial secretary (1983-86), working on the government’s developing privatisation policies. Later it would be said, by Tory MPs, that he had been overawed by Lawson and, as secretary of state for social security, failed to defend the department’s budget against Treasury cuts, with disastrous effects. |
| Moore entered the cabinet as transport secretary in 1986, preparing the privatisation of British Airways and, after the Tories’ third election victory the following year, was given the social services portfolio: a huge, unwieldy brief at the time encompassing both the NHS and social security budgets. This was a significant mark of Thatcher’s approval, entrusting him as a rising star insouciantly with the overhaul and reform of both parts of the department. | Moore entered the cabinet as transport secretary in 1986, preparing the privatisation of British Airways and, after the Tories’ third election victory the following year, was given the social services portfolio: a huge, unwieldy brief at the time encompassing both the NHS and social security budgets. This was a significant mark of Thatcher’s approval, entrusting him as a rising star insouciantly with the overhaul and reform of both parts of the department. |
| Moore did not discourage speculation about himself as Thatcher’s possible successor, but that clearly irked her | Moore did not discourage speculation about himself as Thatcher’s possible successor, but that clearly irked her |
| Now he was being talked of as Thatcher’s possible successor – speculation that he did not discourage, even though his ministerial achievements to date were limited, but that clearly irked her. | Now he was being talked of as Thatcher’s possible successor – speculation that he did not discourage, even though his ministerial achievements to date were limited, but that clearly irked her. |
| In the developing reform programme he received only cautious and limited support from the prime minister, pragmatically nervous of the political risks involved, and little from the Treasury, reluctant to disburse the money that would be needed for limited short-term financial benefits. Moore needed to fight harder for resources for the reforms than he did with his Treasury and monetarist background, and there were soon murmurings of Tory alarm and revolt as the shortcomings and newsworthy consequences, such as cutbacks in child heart operations, came to light. | |
| Moore floundered in the face of the opposition to his NHS reforms, his inexperience and uncertainty in the Commons ruthlessly exploited by Labour’s sprightly and remorseless spokesman Robin Cook. | Moore floundered in the face of the opposition to his NHS reforms, his inexperience and uncertainty in the Commons ruthlessly exploited by Labour’s sprightly and remorseless spokesman Robin Cook. |
| His maladroit claims that the Tories were eliminating poverty and, conversely, his insistence that poor people were to blame for their poverty because they bought alcohol and tobacco were greeted with growing incredulity. He appeared to be “a frightened rabbit mesmerised by car headlights” according to one Tory MP. And then in the autumn of 1988 Moore, always a fitness enthusiast, went down with viral pneumonia, leaving his position to be filled temporarily by his deputy, Major, then beginning his precipitous ministerial ascent. | His maladroit claims that the Tories were eliminating poverty and, conversely, his insistence that poor people were to blame for their poverty because they bought alcohol and tobacco were greeted with growing incredulity. He appeared to be “a frightened rabbit mesmerised by car headlights” according to one Tory MP. And then in the autumn of 1988 Moore, always a fitness enthusiast, went down with viral pneumonia, leaving his position to be filled temporarily by his deputy, Major, then beginning his precipitous ministerial ascent. |
| Moore never really recovered either his ministerial position or his enthusiasm for the inevitable rough and tumble of politics and its effect on family life. The following year the department was split, the more glamorous NHS part given to Kenneth Clarke to reform, leaving Moore to wrestle with tackling the social security budget. | Moore never really recovered either his ministerial position or his enthusiasm for the inevitable rough and tumble of politics and its effect on family life. The following year the department was split, the more glamorous NHS part given to Kenneth Clarke to reform, leaving Moore to wrestle with tackling the social security budget. |
| In 1989 he was reshuffled out of the cabinet altogether, and three years later he stood down from parliament at the age of 54, announcing that he had had “a marvellous run” but that it was time to look forward. | In 1989 he was reshuffled out of the cabinet altogether, and three years later he stood down from parliament at the age of 54, announcing that he had had “a marvellous run” but that it was time to look forward. |
| He accumulated directorships including Credit Suisse and at Rolls-Royce, where he eventually became chair, and sat on the governing councils of the Institute of Directors and the LSE. | He accumulated directorships including Credit Suisse and at Rolls-Royce, where he eventually became chair, and sat on the governing councils of the Institute of Directors and the LSE. |
| Sheila died in 2008. They had a daughter and two sons. | Sheila died in 2008. They had a daughter and two sons. |
| • John Edward Michael Moore, Lord Moore of Lower Marsh, politician, born 26 November 1937; died 20 May 2019 | • John Edward Michael Moore, Lord Moore of Lower Marsh, politician, born 26 November 1937; died 20 May 2019 |
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