Obituary: Lord Newton of Braintree; dedicated politician who demonstrated commitment, discretion and integrity

Tony Newton served as a minister in the governments of Lady Thatcher and John Major, holding posts ranging from social security secretary to leader of the House of Commons. All his posts were despatched with a calm efficiency and he was acknowledged as an excellent constituency member for Braintree in Essex which he represented for 23 years until 1997.

He then accepted a peerage, remaining active in the Lords, and demonstrated a keen sense of independence when he rebelled over aspects of the government’s Health and Social Care Bill earlier this year.

Legislation regarding benefits providing assistance to those in need featured heavily throughout Newton’s political career and he was never afraid to confront Mrs Thatcher in the Cabinet on such matters.

But his sense of honour and discretion were most clearly demonstrated when it transpired, after Edwina Currie wrote her memoirs, that Newton was the only person in the Commons who knew of the affair between her and John Major.

In these pre-mobile phone days, when the two had a clandestine meeting they needed one reliable person to know of their whereabouts, so that, in the event of a crisis or a vote, they could be hurriedly brought back to Westminster.

Despite knowing of this explosive secret Newton never gave any suggestion in public interviews or to colleagues. It was typical of a man of much tact and integrity. Many in the Commons called him “one of the good guys of politics”.

Indeed many believe that, had Newton leaked the story, Major would not have taken over from Mrs Thatcher. Newton judiciously steered clear of the sleaze which tarnished Major’s administration and he was known on the backbenches as “a mud-free Tory who could rise clean to the top”.

Anthony Harold Newton – always known as Tony – was educated at Friends School, Saffron Walden and then read politics, philosophy and economics at Trinity College, Oxford. At the latter he showed a keen interest in politics and was president of the union.

He then spent 14 years in the Conservative Central Office research department and gained experience at the hustings when he tried, in 1970, to capture the Labour stronghold of Sheffield Brightside.

Four years later he was elected to represent the new constituency of Braintree and held the seat – with an increasingly large majority – until 1997. Newton lost the seat that year in the Labour landslide.

Newton was appointed a government whip when the Conservatives came to power in 1979 and was promoted in 1982 to a junior ministerial position at the Department of Health. Both in that post and while in charge at the Ministry of Social Security and Disabled People Newton demonstrated a sure grasp of the complex briefs.

He showed a willingness to develop new policies and an ability to accept and promote new methods of providing help to the needy.

He quickly gained a reputation as a doughty fighter for a department whose budget demands inevitably brought it into regular conflict with the Treasury.

While Minister of Social Security, Newton strongly recommended a scheme to improve social security benefits for the under-25s. But Mrs Thatcher vetoed the idea. She also over-ruled his objections that a Child Support Agency be created but did support him strenuously when he was Minister of Health.

The two had a constructive working relationship. Newton, for example, as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, co-ordinated Mrs Thatcher’s inner-city policies. When she moved him to be Leader of the House in 1992 she wrote in her autobiography: “I appointed Tony Newton, a stolid, left-inclining figure but one with a good command of the House and of his brief.”

Newton played a not insignificant role in the last days of Mrs Thatcher. In those hectic few days as the Prime Minister clung to power and was trying to win enough votes on the second ballot Newton joined four other ministers (Norman Lamont, Malcolm Rifkind, Chris Patten and William Waldegrave) in a Westminster flat for late night meetings. Some critics considered it was a conspiracy to whip up support to replace Mrs Thatcher with Major.

Newton was the last of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet colleagues to be interviewed by her on her final day at Number 10.. Newton, always courteous and straightforward (somewhat nervous, according to Mrs Thatcher) suggested that he did not think that she could win. “And nor, by then, did I,” she added.

In retirement Newton continued to speak in the Lords and involved himself in many projects in Essex. He was, for example, chairman of both East Anglia’s Children Hospices and of the Standing Committee for Drug Abuse.

His first marriage was dissolved and he is survived by his second wife Patricia and two daughters from his first marriage.　

ALASDAIR STEVEN