Tony Durant

Sir Robert Anthony Bevis Durant (9 January 1928 – 18 February 2016), also known as Tony Durant, was a British Conservative Party politician.

Political career Durant stood unsuccessfully for Rother Valley in the 1970 general election; the seat was retained by Labour's Peter Hardy. In 1971 Durant supported Margaret Thatcher's decision to end free school milk on the grounds that many children did not like it.

He was the Member of Parliament for Reading North from 1974 to 1983. After Reading's constituencies underwent boundary changes, he was the Member of Parliament for Reading West from 1983 to 1997. During his time in the Commons, he acted as a Whip. Announced in the 1991 New Year Honours, he was knighted on 14 February 1991.

In 1994, he successfully campaigned for the lowering of the homosexual age of consent.

Durant served as president of the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust and the River Thames Society, chairman of the Sports Aid Foundation’s southern region, as a governor of the British Film Institute, and a Freeman of the City of London and the Watermen and Lightermen’s Company.