John Stradling Thomas

Sir John Stradling Thomas (10 June 1925 – 29 March 1991) was a Welsh Conservative Party politician. He was also a farmer, company director and broadcaster.

Biography
Thomas was educated at Rugby School and the University of London. He served as a councillor on Carmarthen Borough Council between 1961 and 1964.

Thomas contested the parliamentary constituency of Aberavon in 1964 and Cardiganshire in 1966. He was Member of Parliament for Monmouth from 1970 until he died in office in 1991. He held various ministerial posts during the Heath and Thatcher administrations, including government Whip, Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, Treasurer of HM Household and in the Welsh Office, the later as a result of the premature death of Michael Roberts MP in February 1983. During his time as an whip, the government of the day often came close to losing divisions in the House of Commons as their majority was small. Stradling-Thomas was involved in one such instance, which was recalled by Joe Ashton MP: "We had a tied vote and Leslie Spriggs was brought to the House in an ambulance having suffered a severe heart attack. The two Whips went out to look in the ambulance and there was Leslie laid there as though he was dead. John Stradling Thomas said to Joe Harper, 'How do we know that he is alive?' So [Joe] leaned forward, turned the knob on the heart machine, the green light went around, and he said, 'There, you've lost-it's 311' [the vote had been tied 310-310]."

In his final years he lived at Dolphin Square in Pimlico, London.

Other sources

 * The Times Guide to the House of Commons, Times Newspapers Ltd, 1966, 1987 & 1992