Tom Hooson (Q63502)

Tom Ellis Hooson was Conservative MP for Brecon and Radnor from 1979 until his death in 1985. He was educated at Rhyl Grammar School, University College, Oxford and Gray's Inn. His early interests in politics started when he was a member of the Conservative Bow Group. In 1957, he founded the Welsh Farm News and contested the safe Labour seat of Caernarvonshire in the 1959 General Election. He was Chairman of the Bow Group and Bow Publications, 1960-1961, before joining the advertising agencies in London. He was senior Vice-President of Benton and Bowles Group Inc., 1961-1976, with responsibilities for European Operations, 1971-1976. He joined the Conservative Central Office as Director of Communications, 1976-1978, and Director-General of the Periodical Publishers Association, from 1978 until his death. It was Margaret Thatcher who suggested he should fight Brecon and Radnor. In 1979, he won a four-cornered fight with a majority of 3027 votes in a constituency which had been represented since 1935 by Labour Party MPs. He held on to the seat in the 1983 General Election with a strong majority, and continued to represent the constituency until his death. He was the first cousin of former Welsh Liberal leader and MP of Montgomery, Lord Hooson. He avidly opposed all forms of income tax and once proposed the creation of a state lottery to fund public spending. In 1980, he introduced a failed Private Members' Bill to allow tenant farmers to shoot rabbits at night. The Bill was later included in the Countryside Act. He was born on 16 March 1933 and died, aged 52, on 8 May 1985.