Conservative Member of Parliament
What position did Robert Rhodes James take from Jun 1983 to May 1987?
Robert Rhodes James Sir Robert Vidal Rhodes James ( 10 April 1933 – 20 May 1999 ) was a British historian , civil servant , and Conservative Member of Parliament . Having been born in India , he was educated in England and attended the University of Oxford . From 1955 to 1964 , he was a clerk of the House of Commons . During this time , he wrote a number of biographical and historical books . He then moved to academia , having been elected a Fellow of All Souls College , Oxford in 1965 . He was Director of the Institute for the Study of International Organisation at the University of Sussex ( 1968–1973 ) , and then Principal Officer in the Executive Office of the Secretary General of the United Nations ( 1973–1976 ) . He moved out from behind the scenes when he was elected Member of Parliament ( MP ) for Cambridge in the 1976 by-election . He spent most of his parliamentary career on the backbenches , apart from serving as a Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Foreign Office ( 1979–1982 ) . He was knighted in 1991 , before stepping down as an MP in the following year . During his time as an MP , he continued to author multiple books , and maintained his academic standing through visiting professorships and his Oxford fellowship . From 1991 , until his death , he was a Fellow of Wolfson College , Cambridge . Family and early life . Rhodes James was born in India as the third son of Colonel William and Violet Rhodes James . His fathers cousin was the ghost-story writer M . R . James and the family had links to clergy , lawyers , diplomats , soldiers and sailors who had served across the British Empire . His ancestor , John James , arrived in Jamaica in 1650 and , throughout the eighteenth century , the family built up extensive holdings there , using slaves brought over from West Africa . Having begun his education in private schools in India , Rhodes James returned to England to attend Sedbergh School and then Worcester College at Oxford University . In 1956 , he married Angela Robertson . They had four daughters . Early career . Between 1955 and 1964 , Rhodes James worked in the Clerks Department ( the internal civil service ) of the House of Commons , first as a Clerk and then , from 1961 , as a Senior Clerk . During this time , his first book , a biography of Lord Randolph Churchill , was published in 1959 . His next book , An Introduction to the House of Commons ( 1961 ) was awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize . He wrote Rosebery ( 1964 ) , a biography of Archibald Primrose , 5th Earl of Rosebery and Gallipoli ( published 1965 ) , a reappraisal of the ill-fated Gallipoli Campaign . He then became a fellow of All Souls College in Oxford . There , having left his Commons post , in 1964 , he engaged full-time in researching the papers of J . C . C . Davidson from 1965 to 1968 . In 1968 , he became Director of the Institute for the Study of International Organisation at the University of Sussex , before moving to work as Principal Officer in the Executive Office of the then Secretary General of the United Nations , Kurt Waldheim , in 1973 . While at Sussex , he wrote a revisionist biography of Winston Churchills years between 1900 and 1939 that argued that there were substantial reasons for Churchills judgement to be questioned by his contemporaries . He also edited eight volumes of Churchills speeches ( published 1974 ) . Member of Parliament . In 1976 , Rhodes James became a Conservative Member of Parliament after winning the by-election for the marginal seat of Cambridge vacated by David Lane . Despite strong challenges from the Social Democratic Party in the subsequent 1983 and 1987 general elections , he held the seat until his retirement at the 1992 general election . A self-described moderate one-nation Tory , Rhodes Jamess views found little favour with Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher and he never progressed beyond the post of Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Foreign Office . He came to resent his lack of promotion and , using the subtitle of his Churchill biography , dubbed his political career a study in failure . He was , however , knighted in 1991 . After Westminster . After standing down from Parliament in 1992 , Rhodes James lobbied unsuccessfully for a peerage . He later held several visiting professorships at American universities before his death , aged 66 , in 1999 . Works . Among his works written and published while an MP , Rhodes James wrote two more highly praised biographies , both with official and exclusive access to private papers : Anthony Eden ( 1986 ) , a sympathetic biography of the former prime minister ; and Robert Boothby : A Portrait of Churchills Ally ( 1991 ) , an account of the life of the maverick backbencher . However , several of his biographies , and particularly his edition of the diaries of Sir Henry Chips Channon , have been criticised for suppressing their subjects homosexuality or bisexuality . - Lord Randolph Churchill ( 1959 ) - Introduction to the House of Commons ( 1961 ) - Rosebery , A Biography of Archibald Philip , Fifth Earl of Rosebery ( 1964 ) - Gallipoli ( 1965 ) - Chips : The Diaries of Sir Henry Channon ( editor ; 1967 ) - Standardization and Common Production of Weapons in NATO ( 1967 ) - Suez Ten Years After ( contributor ; 1967 ) - Essays from Divers Hands ( contributor ; 1967 ) - Memoirs of a Conservative : J.C.C . Davidsons memoirs and papers , 1910–37 ( editor ; 1969 ) - Churchill : Four Faces and the Man ( contributing editor ; 1969 ) - Churchill : A Study in Failure , 1900–1939 ( 1970 ) - Staffing the United Nations Secretariat ( 1970 ) - United Nations ( 1970 ) - International Administration ( contributor ; 1971 ) - Ambitions and Realities ; British Politics , 1964–70 ( 1972 ) - Winston S . Churchill : His Complete Speeches 1897–1963 ( editor ; 1974 , in eight volumes ) - The Prime Ministers , Volume II ( contributor ; 1975 ) - The British Revolution : British Politics , 1880–1939 ( 1976 ; originally published in two volumes , later reprinted as one ) - Victor Cazalet : A Portrait ( 1976 ) - Britains Role in the United Nations ( 1977 ) - Albert , Prince Consort : A Biography ( 1983 ) - Anthony Eden ( 1986 ) - Robert Boothby : A Portrait of Churchills Ally ( 1991 ) - Henry Wellcome ( 1994 ) , London : Hodder & Stoughton - A Spirit Undaunted : The political role of George VI ( 1998 ) External links . - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/22_03_2013_2whips.pdf Obituaries . - Obituary in The Guardian , 22 May 1999 . - Obituary in The Independent , 24 May 1999 . - Obituary by The Old Sedbergh Club , May 1999 . - Obituary by the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council , July 1999 . - Brother ( Richard ) s obituary in The Guardian , 2 January 2013 .