Editing Terry Dicks

{{Short description|British politician (1937–2020)}}
{{hatnote|For the screenwriter, see [[Terrance Dicks]].}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = 
| name                = Terry Dicks
| honorific-suffix    = 
| image               = 
| office              = [[Member of Parliament (UK)|Member of Parliament]]<br />for [[Hayes and Harlington (UK Parliament constituency)|Hayes and Harlington]]
| parliament          = 
| majority            = 
| predecessor         = [[Neville Sandelson]]
| successor           = [[John McDonnell]]
| term_start          = 9 June 1983
| term_end            = 8 April 1997
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1937|03|17|df=yes}}
| birth_place         = [[Bristol]], England
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2020|6|17|1937|3|17|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Bournemouth]], England
| nationality         = British
| party               = [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]
| alma_mater          = [[University of Oxford]] (DipEcon)<br />[[London School of Economics]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BSc]] ([[Economics|Econ]]))
| spouse              = Janet Cross
| children            = 4
}}

'''Terence Patrick''' "'''Phil'''" '''Dicks''' (17 March 1937 – 17 June 2020) was a British [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] politician. He was MP for the constituency of [[Hayes and Harlington (UK Parliament constituency)|Hayes and Harlington]] from [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983]] to his retirement in 1997, having unsuccessfully contested [[Bristol South (UK Parliament constituency)|Bristol South]] in [[1979 United Kingdom general election|1979]]. He obtained the nickname Phil for, according to ''[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]'', "elevating [[Philistinism]] to an art form".<ref name=TelegraphObituary>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2020/06/19/terry-dicks-controversial-tory-mp-fierce-critic-arts-subsidies/|title=Terry Dicks, Right-wing Tory MP notorious for speaking his mind on contentious issues – obituary|work=The Telegraph|date=19 June 2020|access-date=17 July 2020}}</ref>

==Early life and career==
Dicks was born with [[cerebral palsy]] on 17 March 1937 in [[Bristol]]<ref>{{Cite news|title=Terry Dicks obituary|language=en|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/terry-dicks-obituary-6xj3dgf7c|access-date=25 June 2020}}</ref> to Frank and Winifred Dicks. He "saw little of his father",<ref name=TelegraphObituary /> who "did not play a part in his childhood";<ref>{{Cite news |last=Langdon |first=Julia |date=2020-06-22 |title=Terry Dicks obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jun/22/terry-dicks-obituary |access-date=2024-06-07 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> his mother, a cleaner, died of arthritis.<ref name=TelegraphObituary /> Leaving school at 15, he worked at [[Imperial Brands|Imperial Tobacco]] as a clerk until 1959, then at the [[Ministry of Labour]].<ref name=TelegraphObituary /> He was educated at the [[University of Oxford]] (DipEcon) and the [[London School of Economics]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BSc]] ([[Economics|Econ]])).<ref>‘DICKS, Terence Patrick, ''Who's Who 2014'', A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2014.</ref>

==Political career==
===Outside Parliament===
Dicks was elected to [[Hillingdon Borough Council]] in 1974. In 1978, as housing committee chairman, he attracted controversy after he offered hostel accommodation to a white [[Rhodesia]]n family but sent an Asian family "in a taxi to the Foreign Office" despite the fact that both had arrived in the UK as immigrants. Dicks maintained the Asian family's grounds for staying were "unconvincing while the Rhodesians’ case was not." He was suspended in 1982 when the [[Greater London Council]] took issue with comments he made regarding [[arrears]] from the Strongbridge Housing Association.<ref name=TelegraphObituary />

Dicks was selected as the Conservative Party's candidate for the seat of [[Bristol South (UK Parliament constituency)|Bristol South]] in the [[1979 United Kingdom general election|1979 general election]], but he lost out to Labour's [[Michael Cocks]].

From 1999 until he retired in June 2009, Dicks was a member of [[Surrey County Council]], representing the town of [[Addlestone]]. Beginning in 2011, he was a Runnymede district councillor for Chertsey South and Row Town.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.runnymede.gov.uk/portal/site/runnymede/T_Dicks|title=Runnymede Portal: T Dicks|author=Staff|website=Runnymede Portal|publisher=Runnymede Borough Council|accessdate=6 December 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522042524/http://www.runnymede.gov.uk/portal/site/runnymede/T_Dicks/|archivedate=22 May 2013|via=the [[Wayback Machine]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.channel4.com/gary-gibbon-on-politics/mandela-uk/27176|title=What did Nelson Mandela really think of the UK?|last1=Gibbon|first1=Gary|date=6 December 2013|website=Channel 4 News blogs: Gary Gibbon on Politics|publisher=Channel 4|accessdate=6 December 2013}}</ref>

===Member of Parliament===
Dicks was elected as the Member of Parliament for [[Hayes and Harlington (UK Parliament constituency)|Hayes and Harlington]] in 1983 in succession to [[Neville Sandelson]]. He was known for his hardline [[Right-wing politics|right-wing]] views and caused controversy over several public statements he made. His strong opposition to state funding for the arts inspired Labour MP [[Tony Banks, Baron Stratford|Tony Banks]] to claim, in a February 1990 debate, that Dicks' presence in the House of Commons was "living proof that a pig's bladder on a stick can get elected to Parliament."<ref>Iain Dale [https://www.theguardian.com/g2/story/0,,1682818,00.html "The Right Hon wag"], ''The Guardian'', 10 January 2006.</ref>

In another arts funding debate in July that year, his remarks were controversial enough for fellow Conservative MP [[Patrick Cormack]], in a heated House of Commons, to say, "This man is a disgrace to the House of Commons." Dicks replied, "My hon. Friend the Member for [[South Staffordshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Staffordshire, South]] (Cormack) reminds me of [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] not with all the doublet and hose, but at least well fed."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1990/jul/04/arts-and-heritage#S6CV0175P0_19900704_HOC_447|title=Arts and Heritage (Hansard)|date=4 July 1990|website=api.parliament.uk|access-date=17 June 2020}}</ref>{{primary inline|date=August 2021}}

Regarding [[Derrick Gregory]], a man with learning disabilities who had been sentenced to death in [[Malaysia]] for drug smuggling, Dicks said he would be writing to the Malaysian government congratulating it on its approach.<ref>{{cite news|author=Julia Langdon|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jun/22/terry-dicks-obituary|title=Terry Dicks obituary|work=The Guardian|date=22 June 2020|accessdate=2 October 2022}}</ref> On [[Farzad Bazoft]], an [[The Observer|''Observer'']] journalist hanged by [[Saddam Hussein]] in 1990, Dicks said he "deserved to be hanged" on the eve of his execution.<ref>[http://observer.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,6903,958172,00.html Leader], ''The Observer'', 18 March 1990.</ref>

In 1990, when [[Nelson Mandela]] declined to meet the then [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Margaret Thatcher]] on a trip to London, a greatly offended Dicks asked, rhetorically, "How much longer will the Prime Minister allow herself to be kicked in the face by this black terrorist?"<ref>{{cite news|author=Anthony Bevins and Michael Streeter |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/from-terrorist-to-tea-with-the-queen-1327902.html|title=Nelson Mandela: From 'terrorist' to tea with the Queen|work=The Independent|date=9 July 1996|accessdate=23 December 2013}}</ref>

As an MP and a member of the Conservative Family Campaign, Dicks left a legacy as a critic of high-profile [[HIV/AIDS]] awareness campaigns at the time of the emergence of the disease in the 1980s.<ref name="Ltd1991">{{cite book|author1=Hymns Ancient  |author2=Modern Ltd |name-list-style=amp |title=ThirdWay|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FzoOpHD9IiYC&pg=PA12|date=October 1991|publisher=Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd|page=12}}</ref> Frequent controversial jokes furthering these opinions and others – such as suggesting "tell 'em that if you shove your willy [British slang term for a penis] up someone's bum you're going to catch more than a cold" as a central message of the government's HIV/AIDS campaign (instead of encouraging gay men to use condoms),<ref name="Hayes2014">{{cite book|author=Jerry Hayes|title=An Unexpected MP: Confessions of a Political Gossip|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lxuuAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT12|date=17 March 2014|publisher=Biteback Publishing|isbn=978-1-84954-724-6|page=12}}</ref> descriptions of immigrants to Britain as "the [[flotsam and jetsam]] from all over the world,"<ref>{{cite news|title=Tories split over immigration|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OaofAAAAIBAJ&pg=1143%2C2458459|accessdate=3 April 2016|work=Gadsden Times|issue=103|date=13 October 1983|page=4}}</ref> and ridiculing a [[Somalis|Somali]] refugee family buying water in a London supermarket, saying "where they come from they're happy to drink out of puddles" – fuelled protests, according to the ''[[Socialist Worker]]''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Build campaign to end voucher scheme|url=https://socialistworker.co.uk/art/1110/Build+campaign+to+end+voucher+scheme|accessdate=3 April 2016|work=Socialist Worker|issue=1711|date=26 August 2000}}</ref> His Labour successor, left-winger [[John McDonnell]], described him as a "stain," a "malignant creature," and an espouser of [[racism]] in his maiden speech in 1997.<ref>{{cite web|author=Department of the Official Report (Hansard), House of Commons, Westminster|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199798/cmhansrd/vo970606/debtext/70606-12.htm|title=House of Commons Hansard Debates for 6 June 1997 (pt 12)|publisher=Publications.parliament.uk|date=6 June 1997|accessdate=23 December 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Emily Ashton|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/emilyashton/who-is-john-mcdonnell|title=John McDonnell Battles To Convince His Critics He's Up To The Job|work=BuzzFeed|date=25 October 2015|accessdate=2 October 2022}}</ref>

Dicks called for the BBC [[soap opera]] ''[[EastEnders]]'' to be cancelled or screened after 11pm, following a storyline involving a gay kiss between two men.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/29/michael-cashman-abuse-invisible-sign-eastenders|title=How Michael Cashman changed the world: from EastEnders' first gay kiss to Stonewall|date=29 January 2020|work=The Guardian}}</ref> He was supportive of measures to decrease periods for abortion.<ref name=TelegraphObituary />

==Personal life==
Due to his cerebral palsy, Dicks referred to himself in the House of Commons as a "spastic".<ref>[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199394/cmhansrd/1994-03-11/Debate-3.html "House of Commons Hansard"], Column 544, 11 May 1994.</ref><ref name=TelegraphObituary />

He had four children – three daughters and a son – across two marriages.<ref name=TelegraphObituary /> He died on 17 June 2020, aged 83.<ref>[https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/remembrance-of-departed-colleagues Remembrance of departed colleagues], politicshome.com; accessed 17 June 2020.</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Hansard-contribs | mr-terry-dicks | Terry Dicks }}

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{{s-par|uk}}
{{succession box 
  | title  = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Hayes and Harlington (UK Parliament constituency)|Hayes and Harlington]] 
  | years  = [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983]]–[[1997 United Kingdom general election|1997]]
  | after  = [[John McDonnell]]
  | before = [[Neville Sandelson]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dicks, Terence}}
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:2020 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics]]
[[Category:Members of Surrey County Council]]
[[Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1983–1987]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1987–1992]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1992–1997]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford]]
[[Category:People with cerebral palsy]]
[[Category:Politicians from Bristol]]
[[Category:Members of the Greater London Council]]