Edward du Cann

Sir Edward Dillon Lott du Cann (28 May 1924 – 31 August 2017) was a British politician and businessman. He was a member of Parliament (MP) from 1956 to 1987 and served as Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1967 and as chairman of the party's 1922 Committee from 1972 to 1984.

Early life Du Cann was born in Beckenham in 1924, the son of barrister and writer Charles du Cann, and Martha Janet (née Murchie) du Cann. He was educated at Colet Court, Woodbridge School and St John's College, Oxford, At the end of the war, he became a company director.

That was soon followed by a more public meeting of the executive at du Cann's offices at Keyser Ullman, on Milk Street, where it was decided that the committee would press Heath to hold a leadership election. The location of this meeting led to Fleet Street nicknaming the attendees the "Milk Street Mafia". As Alec Douglas-Home, at Heath's request, considered the procedures for a leadership election, there was some speculation that du Cann would himself stand as a representative of the party's right wing against Heath.

By the time Douglas-Home reported in December 1974, however, events had intervened. The devastating collapse of the banking boom had swept up du Cann's firm, Keyser Ullman, in its path. He was criticized as "incompetent" by a 1974 Department of Trade and Industry report regarding the bankrupt Keyser Ullman bank, of which he was a director. Du Cann did not put himself forward as a candidate in the leadership contest. This released key support for Margaret Thatcher, especially as another potential right-wing candidate, Keith Joseph, withdrew from any leadership attempt following a series of controversial speeches on social policy. Consequently, after defeating Heath in the first round, Thatcher emerged triumphant in the second round in early 1975, defeating a number of other candidates who would play significant roles in her subsequent premiership.

In the last week of the 1975 referendum on British membership of the European Economic Community, du Cann came out against British membership. He was chairman of the Public Accounts Committee from 1974 to 1979.

Post-political retirement Du Cann retired from the House of Commons in 1987, selling his home Cothay Manor in 1993 and returning to live in London. He was instrumental in creating a scholarship programme for rugby league players at the University of Oxford.

Du Cann succeeded Duncan Sandys as chairman of Lonrho, a position from which he was forced to resign due to his role as deputy chairman of Homes Assured, a finance company which crashed. Du Cann was involved in several legal disputes over debts; his Somerset estate was repossessed in 1992 and his London flat was repossessed in 1993. He later had a bankruptcy order served against him.

He was a board member of E-Clear, a British payment processing company, which went into administration in January 2010.

Personal life He married three times; first, in 1962, to Sallie (a cousin), whom he divorced in 1987, then to Jennifer (the widow of Robert Cooke, former MP for Bristol West), whom he married in 1990 and was with until her death in 1995. He was declared bankrupt in 1993 and lived for several years in Alderney. As of 2013 he was a resident of Lemona in Cyprus. He died from cancer in Cyprus on 31 August 2017 and is survived by his third wife, Maureen Hope-Wynne.