Marcus Fox

Fox had a twin sister with whom he attended dancing lessons. At those lessons, he met Betty Boothroyd, later to become the Speaker of the House of Commons.[1] He attended Wheelwright Grammar School for Boys (now a campus of Kirklees College) in Dewsbury.

Fox served in the Duke of Wellington's Regiment as a Lieutenant, a detail which he was sometimes known to mention in after-dinner speeches. Fox left the Army and began his political career with his election to Dewsbury Council in 1956, remaining there until 1963. He then became a bank clerk, a sales manager for Woolworths and for Terry's in York, and then a company director.[2] He unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary seat of Dewsbury in 1959, followed by Huddersfield West in 1966, before eventually being elected for Shipley in 1970.

After Fox's election to parliament as the MP for Shipley, he served as a whip under Edward Heath, and then was a junior minister under Margaret Thatcher. He was moved back to the back-benches in 1981, and started ascending the pole to become chairman of the 1922 Committee, becoming vice-chairman in 1983 and chairman in 1994. He received an MBE in 1963 for political services in Yorkshire,[3] was knighted in 1986 for political service,[4] and became a member of the Privy Council in 1996.[5]

Fox lost his seat at the general election in 1997 to Chris Leslie, the Labour candidate. He then retired from politics to his Yorkshire home, where he remained until his death, aged 74.

He married Ann Tindall in 1954; they had a son and a daughter.

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Marcus Fox
• Portraits of Marcus Fox at the National Portrait Gallery, London