MP for Torquay
Frederic Bennett took which position from Jun 1970 to Feb 1974?
Frederic Bennett Sir Frederic Mackarness Bennett ( 2 December 1918 – 14 September 2002 ) was a British journalist , barrister and Conservative politician who served as a Member of Parliament . He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1985 , and a Deputy Lieutenant for Greater London in 1990 . He was also Lord of the Manor of Mawddwy in Wales . Early years . The second son of Sir Ernest Nathaniel Bennett , ( died 1947 ) of Cwmllecoediog , Aberangell , Machynlleth , Wales , by his wife Marguerite ( née Kleinwort ) , Bennett was educated at Westminster School , and Lincolns Inn , and was called to the English Bar in November 1946 . He subsequently served as an Advocate in the High Court of Southern Rhodesia from March 1947 , and in 1947 he made the first overland car journey from South Africa to England . From 1947 to 1949 he was an Official Observer in the Greek Civil War , becoming diplomatic correspondent for the Birmingham Post newspaper , from 1950 to 1952 . Later a director in various financial and industrial institutions in the United Kingdom and overseas , he was also an underwriter at Lloyds . He married in 1945 , Marion Patricia , daughter of Major Cecil Burnham , OBE , Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons ( Edinburgh ) . Military . In 1939 Bennett enlisted in the Middlesex Yeomanry . He was commissioned as an officer into the Royal Artillery in 1940 ; commended for gallantry in 1941 ; was Military Experimental Officer in the Petroleum Warfare Department , 1943–1946 , then released to reserve with the permanent rank of Major . Political career . At the 1945 general election , Bennett was an unsuccessful candidate in the Burslem constituency , in Staffordshire . At the 1950 general election , he stood in the Birmingham Ladywood constituency , again unsuccessfully . The following year , at the 1951 general election , he was finally elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament ( MP ) for Reading North . When that constituency was abolished for the general election in May 1955 , Bennett stood for in election in the new Reading seat , but lost by 238 votes to Labours Ian Mikardo , the outgoing MP for the abolished Reading South constituency . In October 1955 , the MP for Torquay , Charles Williams , died after more than thirty years as the towns MP . Bennett was selected as Conservative candidate for the resulting by-election , which he won with a majority of over 10,000 votes . He represented Torquay until the constituency was abolished for the February 1974 general election , when he was returned to Parliament for the new Torbay constituency . He held that seat until he retired from the Commons at the 1987 general election . He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Reginald Maudling from 1953 to 1955 ; to the Minister of Supply 1956–1957 ; the Paymaster-General 1957–1959 ; to the President of the Board of Trade , 1959–1961 . He was Leader of the UK Delegation , and Chairman of the Council of Europe and Western European Union Assemblies , 1979–1987 . He was also sometime chairman of the European Democrats political group in the Council of Europe . Bennett headed the list of the Secretariat for the European Freedom Campaign , an anti-communist group established in London at an Inaugural Rally at Westminster Central Hall on 10 December 1988 . This groups co-ordinating committee consisted almost exclusively of representatives from countries behind the Iron Curtain . Other interests . Bennett had wide-ranging interests : he was a member of The Primrose League , and their Guest-of-Honour at a dinner held on 5 March 1979 in the Cholmondely Room , House of Lords , hosted by The Lord Mowbray and Stourton . He was sometime President of the Anglo-Turkish Society - he had an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of Istanbul , 1984 , and was granted the Freedom of the City of Ankara in 1992 . He was a member of the Anglo-Polish Society , the Council of the Baltic Sea States , the Estonian Association , the Anglo-Jordanian Society , the Pakistan Society , and was a Vice-President of the European-Atlantic Group . Between 1959 and 1984 - the year he was also made a Freeman of the City of London - he attended twenty of the yearly Bilderberg Group conferences . He was a member of the groups Steering Committee . He was the recipient of a small catalogue of foreign honours and awards of merit . In 1976 , Bennett assisted George Kennedy Young in creating the private army Unison . He had a home in St Davids , but his principal residence was his fathers estate in Wales . He died in 2002 . Publications . - Bennett , Frederic , Speaking Frankly , London , 1960 . - Bennett , Sir Frederic , Détente and Security in Europe , London , 1976 . - Bennett , Sir Frederic , Ulster - Fear is the Key , London , 1978 . - Bennett , Sir Frederic , China and European Security , London , 1979 , ( 2nd ed . 1980 ) . - Bennett , Sir Frederic , Reds under the Bed , or the Enemy at the Gate - and Within , London , 1979 , ( 3rd edition , 1982 ) . - Bennett , Sir Frederic , Impact of Individual & Corporate Incentives on Productivity and Standard of Living , London , 1980 . - Bennett , Sir Frederic , Electoral Reform , London , 1996 . - Bennett , Sir Frederic , Kashmir - Still Speaking Frankly , London , 1997 . References . - Dods Parliamentary Companion 1973 , 160th edition , published by Sells Publications Ltd. , Epsom , Surrey . - Black , A & C , Whos Who 2000 , London , - Crookes , John , with Alison Green ( editors ) , Debretts People of Today 2001 , 14th annual edition , London , - Obituary :