Dennis Walters

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This article is about the British politician. For the golfer, see Dennis Walters (golfer).

Sir Dennis Murray Walters MBE (born 28 November 1928) is a former British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Westbury from 1964 to 1992.[1][2]

Early life[]

The son of Douglas L. Walters and Clara Walters (née Pomello), Walters was of English and Italian descent; he was brought up as a Roman Catholic. At the outbreak of the Second World War he was in Italy and was interned, but after the Armistice of 1943 he was released and served for eleven months with the Italian Resistance. He then returned to England and was educated at Downside School and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he read Modern Languages as an Exhibitioner and completed an MA.[3][4]

Career[]

In the late 1950s, Walters was employed as personal assistant to the Conservative peer Lord Hailsham throughout his chairmanship of the Conservative Party.[5]

At the 1959 general election, Walters contested Blyth for the Conservatives, fighting the seat again the next year at a by-election after Alf Robens was promoted to the House of Lords.[6] In October 1962, he was selected as his party's candidate for the Conservative-held safe seat of Westbury,[7] which he represented as Member of Parliament (MP) for 28 years from 1964 onwards. During his early years in the Commons, he worked closely with Shadow Foreign Secretary Sir Alec Douglas-Home, of whom he later wrote "I could not imagine a more considerate, fair, or civilised person to serve."[8]

Following the Six-Day War of 1967, Walters visited Palestine with his parliamentary colleague Ian Gilmour, and in a joint statement they said "The Israeli attitude to the refugees becomes clearer when their return rather than their expulsion is considered. Most people in Britain probably believe that Israel has agreed to their return and that repatriation is now satisfactorily proceeding. Nothing could be further from the truth."[9] This was an early signal of the willingness of Walters and Gilmour to work closely together to explain the Arab point of view to the Western world, and they became close allies.[10]

Outside parliament, Walters served as Chairman of Middle East International, founded in 1971 with "a mission to provide authoritative and independent news and analysis on the Middle East." A sympathiser with Arab interests, from 1970 to 1982 he was Chairman of the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding and from 1978 to 1981 joint Chairman of the Euro-Arab Parliamentary Association.[4] He was also a company director with interests in investment, advertising, public relations and travel.

When the Conservatives returned to government in 1979, Walters's well-known pro-Arabism cost him the chance of advancement as a Foreign Office minister, the area in which his hopes lay, as in the shape of Gilmour, Margaret Thatcher was willing to appoint one pro-Arab colleague, but not two.[11]

From 1965 to the 1990s, he served as a Governor of the British Institute of Florence.[4] Walters retired from parliament in 1992, to be succeeded as member for Westbury by David Faber.[2]

Honours[]

In 1960, he was appointed MBE for political services.[4] Walters was knighted in 1988. He was made a Commander of the Order of Cedar of Lebanon in 1969, and a Grande Ufficiale of the Ordine al Merito Repubblica (Italy) in 2012.[2]

Personal life[]

Walters has been married three times: firstly in 1955 to Vanora McIndoe, a daughter of the surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe (divorced 1969); secondly to Celia Sandys, daughter of the politician Duncan Sandys (divorced 1979); and thirdly, in 1981, to Bridgett Shearer, daughter of the late J. Francis Shearer (divorced 2004). By his first wife, he has a son and daughter; by his second wife, a son, and by his third wife, a daughter and son.[4] He lives in Chelsea.[2]

He is a member of the Boodle's, Hurlingham and Queen's clubs. Walters' memoirs, Not Always with the Pack, were published in 1989, and translated into a revised Italian edition, which was issued in 1991.[2]

Publications[]

  • Not Always with the Pack. United Kingdom, Constable, 1989. ISBN 9780094693104
  • Benedetti Inglesi Benedetti Italiani (Italian translation, revised edition), 1991.

References[]

  1. ^ "Living former Members of the House of Commons" (PDF). researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk. 7 January 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Walters, Sir Dennis, (born 28 Nov. 1928)". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u38783. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  3. ^ Dennis Walters, Not Always With the Pack (London: Constable, 1989), p. 26 et seq.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Charles Roger Dod, Robert Phipps Dod, Dod's Parliamentary Companion 1991, p. 595
  5. ^ Walters, op. cit., p. 86.
  6. ^ Walters, op. cit., pp. 106–108
  7. ^ Walters, op. cit., p. 108
  8. ^ Walters, op. cit., p. 145
  9. ^ Sami Hadawi, Bitter Harvest: a modern history of Palestine (1991), p. 147
  10. ^ Alan Watkins, Brief lives: with some memoirs (1982), p. 51
  11. ^ Walters, op. cit., p. 192

Sources[]

External links[]

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Robert Grimston 		Member of Parliament for Westbury
1964–1992 		Succeeded by
David Faber
Retrieved from ""