Talk:Peter Bottomley

TASS joke
Claiming never to have done worse than second to the House of Lords in sporting events, reminds me of the joke about TASS. The joke goes that a loss to the U. S. Ambassador to the United Nations by the U. S. S. R. Ambassador to the United Nations in a sprint down 1st Avenue in Manhattan would have been reported as follows: "In a race between ambassadors, the Permanent Representative of the Soviet Union to the United Nations finished second; the ambassador from the United States finished next to last." The Brooklyn boy in me congratulates the gall. Eddieuny (talk) 03:32, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Whitewash
This article reads to me like a whitewash. Why is there no description of Bottomley's infamous reign as the Minister of Roads and Traffic (1986 to 1989)? This resulted in a petition against him organised by the British Motorcyclists Federation (BMF) which very likely lead to Thatcher pushing him over to the Northern Ireland Office. A letter published in the BMF's magazine Rider at the time asked, "Against which visible minority will the Government's next hate campaign be directed?" (I wrote the letter.) HairyWombat 07:46, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Father's Details
I have rephrased his father's occupational details to reflect the fact that Peter was born as early in his lifetime as 1944 BEFORE he entered diplomatic service. The sentence as I found it may give misleading impression Peter was born after his father retired from the Foreign Office.Cloptonson (talk) 19:45, 12 July 2013 (UTC)

New Photo Desired
It would be a useful project for someone to seek an importable free photo image of Sir Peter to supersede the present one, preferably bareheaded. The cycle helmeted version does his features an injustice without a view of his head top, he looks too much like (the politically antithetical) Sir Tony Robinson!Cloptonson (talk) 11:52, 13 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Thankyou whoever put up the present photo image; it looks more up to date and does his hair justice!Cloptonson (talk) 21:44, 26 December 2018 (UTC)

Oscar Romero - clarification needed
This appears in subsection "On the Backbenches":

In 1978 as a member of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group, he campaigned to help delay the anticipated assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero and represented the British Council of Churches at the funeral in El Salvador in 1980 when 14 people died around him.

I have seen no reference to Bottomley in the wikipedia article on Romero, and am baffled at the statement "he campaigned to delay the anticipated assassination" of Romero. This suggests he was privy to a decision to do away with Romero and that he advised the would-be assassins against doing so. This needs clarification.Cloptonson (talk) 13:47, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

Monday club
" He was for some years a member of the Conservative Monday Club despite disagreeing with their policies on immigration, race relations, Rhodesia and South Africa." - This surely deserves elaboration. In particular: was he in agreement with most or all of their policies when he first joined, and changed his views over time, and then left at some point after changing his views, or did he join despite disagreeing with them on everything they were known for (in which case did he join for tactical reasons to curry favour with that wing of the party)? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.180.195.241 (talk) 22:15, 7 February 2017 (UTC)


 * After a few years in parliament, he was once asked "What has surprised you about being an MP?" and he replied that he had not been asked to join the Freemasons or the Monday Club. An invitation from the Monday Club then arrived, saying that he had not previously been invited because they thought he did not agree with them on some key issues.  He replied saying that he agreed with them on some points (such as supporting the Conservative Party into government) and disagreed with them on others (such as those listed) and that if they were prepared to accept him as a member on that basis then he was prepared to be a member.  The Monday Club then started listing him as a member. Neither he nor the Monday Club substantially changed their views over time, and he was not trying to curry favour - this was just the kind of maverick behaviour for which he is well known. He was also a member of the TGWU despite disagreeing with them politically. As far as I know, he has never claimed to be a freemason. Rumping (talk) 18:11, 19 January 2019 (UTC)

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Clarification needed

"...and represented the British Council of Churches at the funeral in El Salvador in 1980 when 14 people died around him.[citation needed]"

Who were these 14 people? Did they die at the funeral or what? I'm genuinely confused by this statement. 86.171.17.94 (talk) 02:30, 7 November 2019 (UTC)

Father of the House wording
I wonder if the wording "After re-election in the 2019 general election he became the longest-serving MP and thus Father of the House" could perhaps be clearer. The Father of the House is the MP with the longest unbroken service. There are several historic cases where MPs have had longer service than the Father of the House, but it has been broken (eg Winston Churchill was the MP with longest and earliest service long before he became Father of the House). I am aware of at least one MP, Margaret Beckett, who was elected prior to Sir Peter, but who has broken service (Margaret Becket was elected for Lincoln in October 1974, but lost the seat in 1979 and was returned for her current seat of Derby South in 1983). Dunarc (talk) 22:04, 2 February 2020 (UTC)