Editing Airey Neave

{{Short description|British politician, military officer and lawyer (1916–1979)}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2011}}
{{use British English|date=May 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific_prefix = [[Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant Colonel]]
| birthname = Airey Middleton Sheffield Neave
| honorific-suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DSO|OBE|MC|TD}} 
| image = AireyNeave.jpg
| caption = Neave between May 1940 and May 1941
| office = [[Shadow Secretary of State for Northern&nbsp;Ireland]]
| term_start = 4 March 1974
| term_end = 30 March 1979
| leader = {{ubl|[[Edward Heath]]|[[Margaret Thatcher]]}}
| preceded = [[Francis Pym]]
| succeeded = [[Alec Jones]]
| office1 = [[Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Air]]
| term_start1 = 16 January 1959
| term_end1 = 16 October 1959
| primeminister1 = [[Harold Macmillan]]
| preceded1 = [[Ian Orr-Ewing]]
| succeeded1 = [[Sir William Taylor, 1st Baronet|William Taylor]]
| office2 = [[Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport]]
| term_start2 = 18 January 1957
| term_end2 = 16 January 1959
| primeminister2 = [[Harold Macmillan]]
| preceded2 = [[Hugh Molson]]
| succeeded2 = [[John Hay (Henley MP)|John Hay]]
| constituency_MP3 = [[Abingdon (UK Parliament constituency)|Abingdon]]
| parliament3 = UK
| majority3 =
| predecessor3 = [[Ralph Glyn, 1st Baron Glyn|Sir Ralph Glyn]]
| successor3 = [[Thomas Benyon]]
| term_start3 = 30 June 1953
| term_end3 = 30 March 1979
| birth_date = {{birth date|1916|01|23|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Knightsbridge]], London, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1979|03|30|1916|01|23|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Westminster]], London, England
| death_cause = [[Assassination of Airey Neave|Assassination]] {{avoid wrap|(car bomb attack)}}
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Diana Neave, Baroness Airey of Abingdon|Diana Giffard]]|1942}}
| party = [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]
| relatives =
| children = 3
| parents = [[Sheffield Airey Neave]] (father)<br>{{#ifexist:Dorothy Neave|Dorothy Middleton}}
| residence =
| alma_mater = [[Merton College, Oxford]]
| occupation = {{hlist|Politician|Soldier}}
| profession = Barrister
| signature =
| nickname =
| allegiance = {{flag|British Empire}}
| branch = {{army|United Kingdom}}
| serviceyears = 1935–1951
| rank = [[Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant colonel]]
| unit = [[Royal Artillery]]
| commands =
| battles = {{tree list}}
* Second World War
**[[Battle of France]]
***[[Siege of Calais (1940)|Siege of Calais]] {{POW}}{{tree list/end}}
| awards =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}

[[Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant Colonel]] '''Airey Middleton Sheffield Neave''', {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|sep=,|size=100%|DSO|OBE|MC|TD}} ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɛər|i|_|ˈ|n|iː|v}}) (23 January 1916 – 30 March 1979) was a British soldier, lawyer and [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) from [[1953 Abingdon by-election|1953]] until [[Assassination of Airey Neave|his assassination]] in 1979.

During the Second World War he was the first British [[prisoner-of-war]] to succeed in escaping from [[Oflag IV-C]] at [[Colditz Castle]], and later worked for [[MI9]]. After the war he served with the [[International Military Tribunal]] at the [[Nuremberg trials]]. He later became [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] MP for [[Abingdon (UK Parliament constituency)|Abingdon]].

Neave was assassinated in a [[car bomb]] attack at the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]]. The [[Irish National Liberation Army]] claimed responsibility.

==Early life==
Neave was the son of [[Sheffield Airey Neave]] CMG, OBE (1879–1961),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/42606/pages/1649|title=The London Gazette, 23 February 1962}}</ref> an [[entomologist]], who lived at [[Ingatestone]], [[Essex]], and his wife Dorothy, the daughter of Arthur Thomson Middleton. His father was the grandson of [[Sheffield Neave]], the third son of Sir Thomas Neave, 2nd Baronet (see [[Neave baronets]]).

The family came to prominence as merchants in the West Indies during the 18th century and were raised to the baronetage during the life of [[Sir Richard Neave, 1st Baronet|Richard Neave]], [[Governor of the Bank of England]]. Neave spent his early years in [[Knightsbridge]] in London, before he moved to [[Beaconsfield]]. Neave was sent to [[St. Ronan's School]], [[Worthing]], and from there, in 1929, he went to [[Eton College]]. He went on to [[Reader (academic rank)|read]] [[Jurisprudence]] at [[Merton College, Oxford]].<ref name="MCreg">{{cite book|editor1-last=Levens|editor1-first=R. G. C.|title=Merton College Register 1900–1964|date=1964|publisher=Basil Blackwell|location=Oxford|pages=257–258}}</ref>

While at Eton, Neave composed a prize-winning essay in 1933 that examined the likely consequences of [[Adolf Hitler]]'s rise to supreme power in [[Germany]], and Neave predicted then that another widespread war would break out in Europe in the near future. Neave had earlier been on a visit to Germany, and he witnessed the [[Nazi German]] methods of grasping political and military power. At Eton, Neave served in the school cadet corps as a cadet [[lance corporal]], and received a [[Army Reserve (United Kingdom)|territorial]] commission as a [[second lieutenant]] in the [[Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry]] on 11 December 1935.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/34230/pages/7956|title=The London Gazette, 10 December 1935}}</ref>

When Neave went to [[Oxford University]], he purchased and read the entire written works of the general and military theorist [[Carl von Clausewitz]]. When Neave was asked why, he answered: "since war [is] coming, it [is] only sensible to learn as much as possible about the art of waging it".<ref>{{cite book |page=35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yabg2_QNuXIC |title=Public Servant, Secret Agent: The elusive life and violent death of Airey Neave |author=Paul Routledge |publisher=Fourth Estate |year=2002 |isbn=9781841152448 |access-date=16 March 2016 |archive-date=25 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725013148/https://books.google.com/books?id=yabg2_QNuXIC |url-status=live }}</ref> During 1938, Neave completed his third-class degree. By his own admission, while at Oxford University, he did only the minimum amount of academic work that was required of him by his tutors.

==Second World War==
Neave transferred his territorial commission to the [[Royal Engineers]] on 2 May 1938<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/34513/pages/3355|title=The London Gazette, 24 May 1938|access-date=6 November 2013|archive-date=1 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201170943/http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/34513/pages/3355|url-status=live}}</ref> and, following the outbreak of war, he was mobilised. Sent to France in February 1940 with [[1st Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery]], he was wounded and captured by the Germans [[Siege of Calais (1940)|at Calais]] on 23 May 1940. He was imprisoned at [[Oflag IX-A/H]] near [[Spangenberg]] and, in February 1941, was moved to [[Stalag XX-A]] near [[Toruń|Thorn]] in German-occupied western Poland. Meanwhile, Neave's commission was transferred to the [[Royal Artillery]] on 1 August 1940.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/35121/supplements/1885|title=The London Gazette, 1 April 1941|access-date=6 November 2013|archive-date=1 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201170946/http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/35121/supplements/1885|url-status=live}}</ref>

In April 1941, he escaped from Thorn along with Norman Forbes. They were captured near [[Ilow]] while trying to enter [[Soviet]]-controlled Poland and were briefly held by the [[Gestapo]].<ref name='Escape'>{{cite web|url=http://www.arcre.com/archive/mi9/neave|title=IS9 Historical Report – Airey Neave Escape Report – Arcre|first=Lee|last=Richards|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150207231619/http://www.arcre.com/archive/mi9/neave|archive-date=7 February 2015}}</ref> In May, they were both sent to [[Oflag IV-C]] (often referred to as [[Colditz Castle]] because of its location).<ref name="Story of Colditz">{{cite web|url=http://uktv.co.uk/yesterday/item/aid/595034%7CUKTV|title=Home – Yesterday Channel|access-date=24 March 2017|archive-date=22 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200422051743/https://yesterday.uktv.co.uk/|url-status=live}}</ref>

While in Colditz, the French military prisoners asked the Germans to have the Jewish military prisoners separated from the gentile French military prisoners, which resulted in about 80 French Jewish military prisoners being confined in a crowded attic of the castle. Neave and many British officers were appalled at the French prisoners' request. In a demonstration of their solidarity with the French Jews, the British invited the French Jews to dinner in the British mess, where Neave made a speech denouncing the prejudice.<ref name=macintyre2022>{{cite book |last=MacIntyre |first=Ben |author-link=Ben MacIntyre |date=2022|title=Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle |location=New York |publisher=Penguin Random House |isbn=978-0241408520 |page=47-48, 58-59 }}</ref>

Neave made his first attempt to escape from Colditz on 28 August 1941, disguised as a German NCO. He did not get out of the castle as his hastily contrived German uniform (made from a Polish army tunic and with a cap painted with scenery paint, accompanied with cardboard belt painted silver) was rendered bright green under the prison searchlights.<ref name=Exits>Airey Neave, ''They Have Their Exits'' (Beagle Books, Inc., 1971) pp. 69–76.</ref> The disguise was so poor that guards came to see it; prison official [[Paul Priem]] joked that "Corporal Neave is to be sent to the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Russian front]]".{{r|macintyre2022}} 

Together with Dutch officer [[Anthony Luteyn]], he made a second attempt on 5 January 1942, again in disguise. Better uniforms and escape route (they made a quick exit from a theatrical production using the [[trapdoor]] beneath the stage) got them out of the prison; by train and on foot, they travelled to [[Leipzig]] and [[Ulm]] and finally reached the border to Switzerland near [[Singen]]. Via France, Spain, and [[Gibraltar]], Neave returned to England in April 1942. Neave was the first British officer to escape from Colditz Castle.<ref name='Escape'/> 

On 12 May 1942, shortly after his return to England, he was decorated with the [[Military Cross]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/35556/supplements/2072|title=The London Gazette, 8 May 1942|access-date=6 November 2013|archive-date=13 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113142550/http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/35556/supplements/2072|url-status=live}}</ref> He was subsequently promoted to [[Military rank#Types of rank|war substantive captain]] and to the permanent rank of captain on 11 April 1945.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/37335/supplements/5381|title=London Gazette, 6 November 1945|access-date=6 November 2013|archive-date=13 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113142551/http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/37335/supplements/5381|url-status=live}}</ref> 

A temporary major at war's end, he was appointed an [[Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|MBE]] (Military Division) on 30 August 1945,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/37244/supplements/4371|title=Page 4371 – Supplement 37244, 28 August 1945 – London Gazette – The Gazette|access-date=6 November 2013|archive-date=13 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113142958/http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/37244/supplements/4371|url-status=live}}</ref> and awarded the [[Distinguished Service Order|DSO]] on 18 October.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/37310/supplements/5098|title=The London Gazette, 18 October 1945|access-date=6 November 2013|archive-date=13 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113142415/http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/37310/supplements/5098|url-status=live}}</ref> Consequently, the earlier MBE appointment was cancelled on 25 October 1945.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/37321/supplements/5213|title=The London Gazette, 25 October 1945|access-date=6 November 2013|archive-date=13 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113143001/http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/37321/supplements/5213|url-status=live}}</ref>

After his escape from the Germans and return to England, Neave was recruited as an intelligence officer for [[MI9]], supporting underground escape organizations, such as the [[Pat O'Leary Line]] and the [[Comet Line]] in occupied Europe, with equipment, agents, and money. They were assisting downed Allied airmen and other Allied military personnel evade and escape capture by the Germans. In Western Europe, about five thousand British and American military personnel were rescued by the escape organizations and repatriated to the United Kingdom, before [[D-Day]], mostly through neutral Spain. After D-Day, in [[Operation Marathon (World War II)|Operation Marathon]], Neave journeyed to France and Belgium and, with help from the Comet Line and the Resistance, rescued more than three hundred Allied airmen who had taken refuge in forest camps after being shot down.<ref>Neave, Airey (1970), ''The Escape Room'', New York: Doubleday, pp. viii–xiv, 288–295</ref><ref>Clutton-Brock, Oliver (2009), ''RAF Evaders'', London: Grub Street, pp. 424–426.</ref> While at MI9, he was the immediate superior of the future comedian [[Michael Bentine]], also an Old Etonian.

Neave also served in the International Military Tribunal at the [[Nuremberg trials]], investigating [[Krupp]]. He was supported by the work of his secretary Joan Tutte.<ref>{{Cite web|last=thewomenwhomademe|date=2017-07-04|title=Joan T's story|url=https://thewomenwhomademe.wordpress.com/2017/07/04/joan-ts-story/|access-date=2020-11-20|website=The Women Who Made Me|language=en|archive-date=20 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201120093537/https://thewomenwhomademe.wordpress.com/2017/07/04/joan-ts-story/|url-status=live}}</ref> As a well-known war hero – as well as a qualified lawyer who spoke fluent German – he was honoured with the role of reading the indictments to the [[Nazi]] leaders on trial.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sereny |first=Gitta |author-link=Gitta Sereny |date=1995 |title=Albert Speer: His Battle With Truth  |location=London |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=0333645197 |page=567 }}</ref> He wrote several books about his war experiences including an account of the trials.<ref name='Nuremburg'>{{cite book|title=Nuremberg|first=Airey|last=Neave|date=1 October 1982|publisher=Hodder & Stoughton Ltd|id={{ASIN|0340254505|country=uk}}}}</ref>

A temporary lieutenant-colonel by 1947, he was appointed an [[Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|OBE]] (Military Division) in that year's [[Birthday Honours]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The London Gazette, 12 June 1947 |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/37977/supplement/2579 |page=2579}}</ref> He was awarded the [[Bronze Star]] by the US government on 20 July 1948,<ref>{{cite web |title=The London Gazette, 20 July 1948 |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/38359/page/4190 |page=4190}}</ref> and was promoted to lieutenant-colonel on 1 April 1950,<ref name=Gazette04071950>{{cite web |title=The London Gazette, 4 July 1950, supplement 38958 |pages=3442–3 |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/38958/supplement/3442 |access-date=26 July 2014 |archive-date=9 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809124528/https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/38958/supplement/3442 |url-status=live}}</ref> At the same time, his promotion to acting major was gazetted, with retroactive effect from 16 April 1948.{{r|Gazette04071950}} He entered the reserves on 21 September 1951.<ref>{{cite web |title=The London Gazette, 20 November 1951 |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/39385/supplement/6041 |page=6041}}</ref>

==Political career==
Neave stood for the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] at the [[1950 United Kingdom general election|1950 election]] in [[Thurrock (UK Parliament constituency)|Thurrock]] and at [[Ealing North]] in 1951.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Catton |first=Jonathan |date=29 February 2016 |title=Down Memory Lane – Our famous candidate |work=Thurrock Gazette |url=https://www.thurrockgazette.co.uk/news/14305750.down-memory-lane-our-famous-candidate/ |access-date=21 November 2023}}</ref> He was elected for [[Abingdon (UK Parliament constituency)|Abingdon]] in a by-election in June 1953, but his career was held back by a [[heart attack]] he suffered in 1959.

He was a Governor of [[Imperial College]] between 1963 and 1971 and was a member of the House of Commons [[Select committee (United Kingdom)|select committee]] on Science and Technology between 1965 and 1970. He was on the governing body of [[Abingdon School]] from 1953 to 1979.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abingdon.org.uk/uploads/school/files/abingdonian/1973_October_V016_N003.pdf#page=32|title=Mrs Thatcher's visit to Abingdon School|publisher=The Abingdonian|access-date=1 March 2019|archive-date=19 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181019205843/https://www.abingdon.org.uk/uploads/school/files/abingdonian/1973_October_V016_N003.pdf#page=32|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Edward Heath]], when [[Chief Whip]], was alleged to have told Neave that after he suffered his heart attack his career was finished{{Citation needed|date=June 2008}} but in his 1998 autobiography, Heath strongly denied ever making such a remark. He admitted that in December 1974 Neave had told him to stand down for the good of the party. During the final two months of 1974, Neave had asked [[Keith Joseph]], [[William Whitelaw]] and [[Edward du Cann]] to stand against Heath, and said that in the case of any of them challenging for the party leadership, he would be their [[campaign manager]]. When all three refused to stand, Neave agreed to be the campaign manager for [[Margaret Thatcher]]'s attempt to become leader of the Conservative Party, which was eventually successful.<ref>[[John Campbell (biographer)|Campbell, John]] ''Margaret Thatcher: The Grocer's Daughter'' (2000)</ref>

When Thatcher was elected leader in February 1975, Neave was rewarded by becoming head of her private office. He was then appointed [[Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland]] and, at the time of his death, was poised to attain the equivalent Cabinet position in the event of the Conservatives winning the [[1979 United Kingdom general election|general election of 1979]]. In opposition, Neave was a strong supporter of [[Roy Mason]], who had extended the policy of [[Ulsterisation]].

Neave was author of the new and radical Conservative policy of abandoning [[devolution]] in [[Northern Ireland]] if there was no early progress in that regard, and concentrating on local government reform instead. This integrationist policy was hastily abandoned by [[Humphrey Atkins]], who became [[Secretary of State for Northern Ireland]], the role Neave had shadowed.

Politician [[Tony Benn]] records in his diary (17 February 1981) that a journalist from the ''[[New Statesman]]'', [[Duncan Campbell (journalist, born 1952)|Duncan Campbell]], told him that he had received information two years previously, from an [[Intelligence agency|intelligence]] [[Espionage|agent]], that Neave had planned to have Benn assassinated if, following the election of [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] government, Labour leader [[James Callaghan]] resigned and there was a possibility that Benn might be elected in his place. Campbell said that the agent was ready to give his name and the ''New Statesman'' was going to print the story. Benn, however, discounted the validity of the story, writing in his diary: "No one will believe for a moment that Airey Neave would have done such a thing."<ref>Tony Benn, ''The Benn Diaries'' (Arrow, 1996), pp. 506–507.</ref> The magazine printed the story on 20 February 1981, naming the agent as Lee Tracey. Tracey said he had met Neave, who asked him to join a team of intelligence and security specialists which would "make sure Benn was stopped". A planned second meeting never took place because Neave was murdered with a car bomb.<ref>Routledge, pp. 299–300.</ref>

==Assassination==
{{main|Assassination of Airey Neave}}
[[File:Airey Neave memorial plaque.jpg|thumb|right|Memorial plaque to Airey Neave at his alma mater, [[Merton College, Oxford]]]]
[[File:Airey Neave Memorial Window at Fryerning Church, Fryerning, Essex.JPG|thumb|right|upright|Memorial stained glass window to Airey Neave in [[Fryerning]] parish church, Essex]]
Airey Neave was critically wounded on 30 March 1979 when a [[car bomb]] fitted with a tilt-switch exploded under his [[Vauxhall Cavalier#Mark I (1975–1981)|Vauxhall Cavalier]]<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2009/mar/31/2 | location=London | work=The Guardian | title=From the archive: Airey Neave assassinated | first1=David | last1=Pallister | first2=Simon | last2=Hoggart | date=31 March 2009 | access-date=16 December 2016 | archive-date=27 August 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827120853/https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2009/mar/31/2 | url-status=live }}</ref> at 14:59 as he drove out of the [[Palace of Westminster]] car park.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2014/mar/31/airey-neave-mp-assassination-bomb| title=From the archive, 31 March 1979: Car bomb kills MP Airey Neave| date=31 March 2014| access-date=3 September 2023| work=The Guardian}}</ref> He lost both legs in the explosion and died of his wounds at [[Westminster Hospital]] an hour after being rescued from the wrecked car. He was 63.

The [[Irish National Liberation Army]] (INLA) afterwards claimed responsibility for the assassination. Neave had been pressing within Conservative Party circles and in Parliament throughout [[the Troubles]] for the [[British Government]] to abandon its strategy of containment (including "[[Ulsterisation]]") of [[Irish republican paramilitarism]] within [[Northern Ireland]], and switch to one of pursuing its military defeat.  It is believed that this is what led to his being targeted.<ref>Interview with [[Norman Tebbit]], 'The Victoria Derbyshire Programme', [[British Broadcasting Corporation]], 21 March 2017.</ref>

Following his death, Conservative leader [[Margaret Thatcher]] said of Neave:

{{quote|He was one of freedom's warriors. No one knew of the great man he was, except those nearest to him. He was staunch, brave, true, strong; but he was very gentle and kind and loyal. It's a rare combination of qualities. There's no one else who can quite fill them. I, and so many other people, owe so much to him and now we must carry on for the things he fought for and not let the people who got him triumph.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wharton|first1=Ken|title=Wasted Years, Wasted Lives Volume 2: The British Army in Northern Ireland 1978–79|date=19 August 2014|publisher=Helion and Company|isbn=978-1909982178|page=164}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Margaret Thatcher speaking to the press immediately after the assassination of Airey Neave|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAgMR_gC9IY|via=YouTube|publisher=iconic|date=8 November 2010|access-date=4 February 2016|archive-date=12 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150812102542/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAgMR_gC9IY|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Labour Prime Minister [[James Callaghan]] said: "No effort will be spared to bring the murderers to justice and to rid the United Kingdom of the scourge of terrorism."<ref name="BBCnews">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/30/newsid_2783000/2783877.stm|title=BBC ON THIS DAY – 30 – 1979: Car bomb kills Airey Neave|date=30 March 1979|access-date=14 October 2007|archive-date=7 March 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307131310/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/30/newsid_2783000/2783877.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

The INLA issued a statement regarding the murder in the August 1979 edition of ''[[The Starry Plough (magazine)|The Starry Plough]]'':<ref>{{cite book |author1=Holland, Jack  |author2=McDonald, Henry | title = INLA Deadly Divisions | publisher = Poolbeg | year = 1996 | pages = 221 | isbn = 1-85371-263-9}}</ref>

{{quote|In March, retired terrorist and supporter of capital punishment, Airey Neave, got a taste of his own medicine when an INLA unit pulled off the operation of the decade and blew him to bits inside the 'impregnable' Palace of Westminster. The nauseous [[Margaret Thatcher]] snivelled on television that he was an 'incalculable loss'—and so he was—to the British ruling class.}}

Neave's death came two days after [[1979 vote of no confidence in the Callaghan ministry|the vote of no confidence]] which brought down Callaghan's government and a few weeks before the general election, which brought about a Conservative victory and saw Thatcher come to power as Prime Minister. Neave's wife Diana, whom he married on 29 December 1942, was subsequently elevated to the [[House of Lords]] as [[Baroness Airey of Abingdon]].

Neave's biographer [[Paul Routledge]] met a member of the [[Irish Republican Socialist Party]] (the political wing of INLA) who was involved in the killing of Neave and who told Routledge that Neave "would have been very successful at that job [Northern Ireland Secretary]. He would have brought the armed struggle to its knees".<ref>Routledge, p. 360.</ref>

As a result of Neave's assassination the INLA was declared illegal across the whole of the United Kingdom on 2 July 1979.<ref>{{cite book |author1= Wharton, Ken  | title = Wasted Years Wasted Lives: British Army in Northern Ireland 1978–79 v. 2 | publisher = Helion & Company | year = 2014 | pages = 214 | isbn = 978-1909982178}}</ref>

Neave's killing has been the subject of conspiracy theories.<ref name='kelly' /> [[Enoch Powell]] claimed that his death was the result of a British-American conspiracy to secure a united Irish state that would be a part of NATO.<ref>Dillon, Martin. ''The Dirty War''. Random House, 2012. [https://books.google.com/books?id=er3HfXL7CKQC&pg=PA278&dq=airey+neave+assassination+conspiracy&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjnrqPg7vOKAxWyMlkFHWnbNnYQ6AF6BAgEEAI#v=onepage&q=airey%20neave%20assassination%20conspiracy&f=false Page 279].</ref><ref name='kelly'>Kelly, Stephen. [https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2019/0328/1039118-the-life-and-death-of-british-spy-turned-politician-airey-neave/ The life and death of British spy turned politician Airey Neave]. RTE. 28 March 2019.</ref>

==Media depictions==
Neave was portrayed by Geoffrey Pounsett in ''[[Nuremberg (2000 film)|Nuremberg]]'' (2000), [[Dermot Crowley]] in ''[[Margaret (2009 film)|Margaret]]'' (2009), [[Nicholas Farrell]] in ''[[The Iron Lady (film)|The Iron Lady]]'' (2011) (in a piece of [[dramatic licence]] Thatcher is shown in that film as an eyewitness to his death) and [[Tim McInnerny]] in ''[[Utopia (UK TV series)|Utopia]]'' (2014).

In 2014, 35 years after Neave's death, a fictionalised account of Neave's murder was depicted in the [[Channel 4]] drama ''[[Utopia (British TV series)|Utopia]]'', where he was portrayed as a drinker who colluded with spies and whose assassination was perpetrated by [[MI5]]. This led to condemnation of the broadcaster, with [[Norman Tebbit]], a friend and political colleague of Neave, saying "To attack a man like that who is dead and cannot defend himself is despicable".<ref>{{cite web|title=Utopia: Channel 4 'will not change' drama depicting MP's death|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-28284124|website=BBC News|access-date=4 February 2016|date=13 July 2014|archive-date=25 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925164733/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-28284124|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Works==
* 1953 – ''They Have Their Exits''
* 1954 – ''Little Cyclone''
* 1969 – ''Saturday at MI9'' (U.S. title: ''The Escape Room'')
* 1972 – ''The Flames of Calais: A Soldier's Battle, 1940''
* 1978 – ''Nuremberg'' (U.S. title: ''On Trial at Nuremberg'')

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book| author-first=Patrick|author-last=Bishop|title= The Man Who Was Saturday: The Extraordinary Life of Airey Neave |location=London | publisher=Collins| year=2019| isbn=978-0-00-830904-6}}

== External links ==
* {{Hansard-contribs | mr-airey-neave | Airey Neave }}
* [http://www.aireyneavetrust.org.uk/ Airey Neave Trust]
* [http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=104085 Margaret Thatcher speech at Neave's memorial service in 1979]
* [https://archives.parliament.uk/collections/getrecord/GB61_AN Parliamentary Archives, Papers of Airey Middleton Sheffield Neave (1916–1979)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331133728/https://archives.parliament.uk/collections/getrecord/GB61_AN |date=31 March 2022 }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{succession box
  | title  = Member of Parliament for [[Abingdon (UK Parliament constituency)|Abingdon]]
  | years  = [[1953 Abingdon by-election|1953]]–[[1979 United Kingdom general election|1979]]
  | before = [[Ralph Glyn, 1st Baron Glyn|Sir Ralph Glyn]]
  | after  = [[Thomas Benyon]]
}}
{{s-end}}
{{INLA/IRSP}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neave, Airey}}
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