Tony Kerpel

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Tony Kerpel

MBE
Born1946 (age 75–76)[1]
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of Bath (BSc 1968)
Political partyConservative Party

Tony Kerpel MBE (born 1946) is a British retired politician and adviser[2] who served as the personal assistant to Prime Minister Edward Heath,[3][4] special adviser to Conservative Chairman Kenneth Baker from 1986 to 1992[5] and adviser to South African State President F. W. de Klerk from 1993 to 1994.[6]

Education[]

Kerpel studied at the University of Bath,[7] receiving a bachelor of science degree in sociology in 1968. In 1968 and 1969, he was president of the university's students' union.[8]

Political career[]

Kerpel's presidency of the University of Bath's students' union led to his employment by the Department for Education and Science as a press secretary, a position he kept after relocating to the Home Office.[9][3] At the Home Office, Kerpel was a specialist in incarceration. In 1975 and 1976, Kerpel was the National Chairman of the Young Conservatives.[9] He was also Prime Minister Edward Heath's personal assistant.[3][4]

In 1981, Kerpel became leader of the Conservative opposition in the Camden London Borough Council, standing in the 1982 Camden London Borough Council election. Kerpel lost by a 7-seat margin and remained opposition leader[10] but left this position sometime before 1985.[11] From 1986 to 1992, Kerpel was the special adviser to Kenneth Baker.[5] During this time he worked alongside Alistair Burt, Baker's Parliamentary Private Secretary.[12] Burt, Baker and Kerpel were some of the few supporters of the City Technology Colleges programme inside the government.[13] From 1993, Kerpel served in the final Apartheid government of South Africa as an adviser to State President F. W. de Klerk.[6] Kerpel continued to advise de Klerk after Apartheid's fall, helping prepare a critical report of the economic policies of the newly elected Black majority government. In 2019 de Klerk claimed to have not known of Kerpel.[14] In the late 1990s Kerpel was the adviser to Shirley Porter, attempting to defend her reputation from the Homes for votes scandal, of which Shirley was involved.[15]

Since his retirement, Kerpel has been president and chairman of the North London Bowling Club.[2][16] He has also expressed opinion on modern political events, such as when he commented on Prime Minister Boris Johnson's failure to nominate Chris Grayling as Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament in 2020.[17]

Coalition for Peace Through Security[]

Kerpel was one of the main activists in the Coalition for Peace through Security, a campaigning group strongly opposed to unilateral nuclear disarmament and withdrawal from NATO.[18] Kerpel designed some of the group's posters, namely those critical of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.[19][20] He also believed the group to be popular enough to "to be able to set up an office in Whitehall" (the British government or civil service).[21]

Honours[]

Kerpel was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1981 Birthday Honours for political service.[22]

References[]

  1. ^ "The Fruitcake Right" (PDF). duncancampbell.org. 1982. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Is the nation really passionate about bowls, Mr Pickles?". The Guardian. 31 August 2011. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  3. ^ a b c "The Fruitcake Right" (PDF). duncancampbell.org. 1982. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  4. ^ a b "'THE BBC AND THE POLITICIANS' [EXTRACT] - Rt Hon Dr Julian Lewis MP". www.julianlewis.net. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  5. ^ a b "Stand your ground, Mr Patten: Tony Kerpel argues that teachers' views matter less than those of 'education consumers'". The Independent. 6 May 1993. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  6. ^ a b Britten, Elise (6 July 2019). "38 famous faces who went to university in Bath". SomersetLive. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  7. ^ "Our notable alumni". www.bath.ac.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  8. ^ "Leave a gift in your Will". www.bath.ac.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  9. ^ a b "Tony Kerpel MBE | University of Bath". 8 June 2013. Archived from the original on 8 June 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  10. ^ "London Borough Council Elections 6 May 1982" (PDF). data.london.gov.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 August 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  11. ^ "Bills Presented. Volume 83: debated on Tuesday 23 July 1985". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  12. ^ "How to save the government". The Article. 25 May 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  13. ^ "The Development of the City Technology College Programme: 1980s conservative ideas about English secondary education" (PDF). www.etheses.lse.ac.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ^ Padayachee, Vishnu; Niekerk, Robert Van (1 October 2019). Shadow of Liberation: Contestation and Compromise in the Economic and Social Policy of the African National Congress, 1943-1996. NYU Press. p. 119. ISBN 978-1-77614-395-5.
  15. ^ "BBC News | UK | Bid to restore Dame Shirley's image". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  16. ^ "THE NORTH LONDON BOWLING CLUB - Charity 1059775". register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  17. ^ "Times letters: Johnson and the intelligence committee 'coup'". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  18. ^ "The Lobster, No.3, 1984" (PDF).
  19. ^ "These British never learn do they, Adolf?" (PDF). lse.ac.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  20. ^ "Don't let CND gamble with peace" (PDF). lse.ac.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  21. ^ Blackwell, Morton. "Religious Groups/Disarmament" (PDF). Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Digital Library Collections. p. 6. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  22. ^ UK list: "No. 48639". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 1981.
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