Antony Kirby Speller[1] (12 June 1929 – 15 February 2013) was a British Conservative politician.[2] Speller was born in Exeter on 12 June 1929, the son of Captain John Speller, director of posts and telegraphs for India, who later returned to take over the city's Bystock Hotel. He was educated at Exeter School, before graduating in Economics from the University of London and in Social Studies from Exeter University.[3]

On his second attempt, in the 1979 general election, he defeated former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe to become MP for North Devon, which effectively ended Thorpe's political career. Speller held the seat until 1992 when he lost to the Liberal Democrat Nick Harvey.

Speller married first, in 1950, Margaret Lloyd-Jones; they had two sons and a daughter before divorcing in 1958. In 1960, he married Maureen McLellan, with whom he had a son and a daughter.[3]

Sources

  1. ^ Aspinwall, Jack (Summer 2013). "Order, Order!" (PDF). Association of Former Members of Parliament. p. 15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 November 2013.
  2. ^ "Former North Devon Conservative MP Tony Speller dies aged 83". This is North Devon. 18 February 2013. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
  3. ^ a b Tony Speller Obituary The Daily Telegraph, 5 March 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2014.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom Preceded byJeremy Thorpe Member of Parliament for North Devon 1979 – 1992 Succeeded byNick Harvey


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