Nicholas Scott

Sir Nicholas Paul Scott (5 August 1933 – 6 January 2005), also known as Nick Scott, was a British Conservative Party politician.

He was a liberal, pro-European Conservative who became President of the Tory Reform Group. During his time in the House of Commons he served in various ministerial roles including for social security and Northern Ireland.

Early life Scott was born in Edmonton, Middlesex , to an English father, Percival John Scott, a Metropolitan Police officer, and an Irish Catholic mother, Teresa Mary Scott ( Murphy). Nicholas was raised Catholic and attended Catholic schools.

In comparison to many Young Conservatives of Scott's generation who later made it into the cabinet, he stood out as not having gone to Oxbridge. His education was modest: at St Andrew's Catholic Primary in Streatham, then Clapham College, and then, part-time, at the City of London College and the City Literary Institute. He later secured jobs as a salesman, executive or director, first with Shell, then in the printing trade.

Political career

1956–1970 Scott began his political career serving as a councillor on Holborn Borough Council 1956–59 and 1962–65.

Scott contested Islington South West at the 1959 general election and at the 1964 election.

Scott was made national chairman of the Young Conservatives in 1963. He entered the House of Commons on his third attempt, at the 1966 general election. He was returned as Member of Parliament (MP) for the Paddington South constituency, defeating Labour's Conrad Russell.

Scott quickly became one of the stand-out liberal Tory MPs, speaking out against discrimination of foreign students and demanding more nursery education. In 1968 when Labour home secretary James Callaghan proposed immigration limits on the entry of East African Asians with UK passports, Scott swam against the tide and refused to join the Conservative shadow government in supporting the limits. He was one of the first Conservative MPs to speak out against Enoch Powell's 1968 anti-immigration speech.

1975–1986 Scott's prospects were greatly curtailed when Margaret Thatcher won the Conservative Party Leadership race. Thatcher was a proponent of a 'tougher', less liberal Conservatism. Scott was offered a more junior position, he refused to serve and became a rallying point for the "wets" within the party. He did little to appease Thatcher, opposing sending sports teams to apartheid South Africa, he was also a proponent of Proportional Representation, and abstained on new immigration restrictions.

1987–1996 In 1987 Scott was moved sideways to the Department of Social Security, and soon became Minister for the Disabled as well. The autonomy he had enjoyed in Northern Ireland away from Thatcher did not continue in this role. Scott made no secret of his disquiet at some of the reforms he was forced to put through. His period as Minister for the Disabled saw him come under attack from many campaigners, including his own daughter, a disability campaigner with RADAR, when on behalf of the Government he 'talked out' the Civil Rights (Disabled Persons) Bill, a private member's bill which aimed to outlaw discrimination on grounds of disability. Despite this he could point to provisions for disabled people being over a quarter greater than they had been at the start of the Thatcher government.

Personal life Scott was twice married. His first marriage to Elizabeth Robinson, by whom he had a son and two daughters, lasted from 1964 to their divorce in 1976. He married secondly to Hon. Cecilia Ann Tapsell, daughter of Bladen Hawke, 9th Baron Hawke, and had another son and daughter Patrick (Paddy) and Amber.

Scott died in London on 6 January 2005, aged 71. At the time of his death, he had Alzheimer's disease.