Fred Silvester

Frederick John Silvester (20 September 1933 – 5 July 2025) was a British Conservative Party politician.

Life and career The son of William Thomas Silvester and Kathleen Gertrude (née Jones), Silvester was born in Hackney, London on 20 September 1933. He was educated at Sir George Monoux Grammar School, Walthamstow, and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he achieved a first class in Part I of the history tripos and a lower second in Part II of the law tripos, graduating in 1954. He was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1957, and became a Conservative member of Walthamstow Borough Council four years later. He was returned to Parliament at the February 1974 general election as MP for Manchester Withington, and held that seat but he was defeated at the 1987 general election by Labour's Keith Bradley.

As an Opposition Whip during Harold Wilson's second government (1974–76),