Jerry Wiggin

Sir Alfred William Wiggin (24 February 1937 – 12 March 2015), known as Jerry Wiggin, was a British Conservative Party politician.

Early life Alfred William "Jerry" Wiggin was born in Worcester, England, on 24 February 1937, the son of Colonel Sir William Wiggin KCB, DSO and Bar, who had led the charge against the Ottoman forces at the Battle of Huj in 1917 (the last British cavalry charge against enemy guns). Jerry Wiggin was educated at Eton College, followed by Trinity College, Cambridge. He left Cambridge without a degree and became a farmer in Clevelode in his native Worcestershire, as well as in Peeblesshire. Though he was not involved in student politics at Cambridge, Wiggin joined the Young Conservatives in 1955. He also served in the Territorial Army, rising to the rank of major in the Royal Yeomanry after his election to Parliament.

Parliamentary career Wiggin contested the Montgomeryshire constituency in the 1964 and 1966 general elections, losing to incumbent Liberal MP Emlyn Hooson on both occasions. Wiggin became Member of Parliament (MP) for Weston-super-Mare in the 1969 by-election after the death of David Webster. He defeated Tom King in the Conservative selection contest for the by-election. Once elected, Wiggin quickly gained a reputation at Westminster for his enthusiastic promotion of the Armed Forces and for his right-wing views. He was a member of the Monday Club until 1971 and a lifelong supporter of capital punishment. He was also one of the early defenders of the Rhodesian leader Ian Smith. In 1986, when Foreign Office minister Lynda Chalker reported to the Commons on a meeting with Oliver Tambo, acting head of the ANC, Wiggin accused her of "treating with terrorists". Later, as a former chairman of the British Shooting Sports Council, Wiggin was prominent in the campaign against the tighter controls on guns introduced in the wake of the Dunblane school massacre in 1996. Conversely, Wiggin held some views at odds with the traditional Conservative right—he was an early crusader for compulsory seat belts; he opposed efforts to tighten the rules on abortion; and he later supported embryonic research.

During the Heath administration of 1970–74, Wiggin served as a parliamentary private secretary at the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office. In 1979, Margaret Thatcher appointed him as a junior minister at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Wiggin was then a junior Armed Forces minister from 1981 to 1983 and defended the withdrawal of HMS Endurance from the South Atlantic which, according to The Times, was seen as the trigger for the 1982 Falklands War. Wiggin was compelled to apologise to the House of Commons for his actions. William Rees-Mogg nonetheless described Wiggin as "a shrewd politician—though perhaps closer to the intellectual tone of the rugby XV than of All Souls".