Sir Gordon Touche , 1st Baronet Sir Gordon Cosmo Touche , 1st Baronet ( 8 July 1895 – 19 May 1972 ) was a British barrister and politician who served as a Conservative Member of Parliament ( MP ) for more than 30 years and became Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons . However , his conduct in this role was criticised by Labour MPs on several occasions . Family . Touche was the son of Sir George Touche , who founded a firm of accountants and was himself active in politics as an alderman of the City of London and Member of Parliament for Islington North from 1910 to 1918 . He was sent to Marlborough College and went on from there to University College , Oxford . It was at Oxford that he first became interested in politics . Bar and commercial experience . Staying at Oxford until he had taken his degree , Touche was commissioned into the Army Service Corps in 1915 . He fought at Gallipoli , in Palestine and in Egypt . At one point , his transport ship was sunk in the Aegean Sea . He reached the rank of Lieutenant . When the war ended , Touche read for the Bar and was called in 1923 by the Inner Temple . He joined the South - Eastern Circuit where he specialised in commercial cases . Also getting involved in business , he was elected a director of the British Automatic Company in 1928 . Touche was a very ' clubbable ' man who was prominent in London society ; he served on the Executive Committee of the United Club for many years and was chairman in 1938 . Byelection candidate . In 1928 , Touche was chosen as Conservative candidate for the byelection in Ashton - under - Lyne . This was a high - profile campaign caused by the bankruptcy of the sitting Conservative MP in a three - way marginal constituency ; Touche stressed his support for ' safeguarding ' vulnerable industries with protective tariffs on foreign imports . However , he lost the seat to the Labour candidate ; the news was announced to the people of Ashton - under - Lyne by the Mayor firing yellow rockets from the Town Hall ( yellow being the Labour Party colour in Ashton ) . At the 1929 general election , Touche was chosen for Islington North , the same constituency his father had represented as a Liberal . However , he fell to another Labour gain . Elected to Parliament . Touche had better luck at the 1931 general election when he was chosen for Reigate in Surrey . This proved a rock - solid Conservative seat and Touche was elected with a majority of nearly 27 , 000 . In Parliament he often took up technical tax law issues which he had dealt with in his professional work . On foreign affairs and defence issues , Touche opposed the reform of government in India ( his wife was the daughter of an Indian colonial administrator ) . In 1937 he joined with others including Admiral Roger Keyes and Brendan Bracken in urging rejection of the Finance Bill because of its proposal for a ' National Defence Contribution ' , a separate tax on the most profitable businesses to pay for rearmament . He backed Neville Chamberlain in the Norway Debate of 1940 . Political campaigns . During the war , Touche was a member of the Palace of Westminster Home Guard . As the war came towards its close , Touche was a sponsor for the ' Fighting Fund for Freedom ' which campaigned for minimum state control and maximum personal freedom . He voted against the American loan in December 1945 , and opposed the establishment of the new town of Crawley and London Gatwick Airport in the south of his constituency . After boundary changes in 1950 , he moved to Dorking constituency . Deputy Speaker . From 1945 Touche was Chairman of the Committee of Selection responsible for picking Members for other committee service . As a senior Member , he was often delegated to take the chair in Standing Committees on Bills . He was knighted in 1952 , and in November 1956 was made Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means ( second Deputy Speaker ) . This took him out of the normal party political fray as the Deputy Speaker did not speak , although in December 1958 he was involved in a row over a defence debate . After a Conservative filibuster , Touche passed over Aneurin Bevan and called Christopher Soames to close the debate , but Bevan also insisted on speaking . Touche insisted that he had no choice , while Bevan and Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell objected ; eventually the Speaker took the chair and endorsed his Deputy ' s actions . Disputed judgments . Considered for the Speakership in 1959 , Touche lost out to Harry Hylton - Foster but was promoted to being Chairman of Ways and Means . He was made a member of the Privy Council in 1959 . There was another angry clash in the House of Commons in February 1961 when Touche was seen having a private conversation with Martin Redmayne , the Government Chief Whip ; opposition MPs demanded to know what had been said , and insisted that the Speaker be sent for . Touche accepted a motion for the adjournment of the House moved by a Government whip and the House adjourned , but the next day a motion of censure was put down . Debating the motion , John Diamond said that the Government had made a " mistake in appointing a man whose abilities were not appropriate to the dimensions of the task " . Touche was reported to be considering resignation but was urged to stay by Conservatives , and decided to stick at it . However Labour MPs resented his presence in the Chair and cheered whenever he was succeeded by another Deputy . In October 1961 he announced he would stand down at the next election . When , in December 1961 , Touche mistakenly announced an opposition victory in a House of Commons division , a long succession of points of order forced him to adjourn the House for " grave disorder " . The Speaker again backed his deputy . Retirement . In the new year of 1962 , Touche decided to resign as Deputy Speaker and was replaced by Sir William Anstruther - Gray . Returning to the backbenches , Touche opposed the Macmillan government ' s application to join the European Economic Community . He was awarded a baronetcy in the Queen ' s Birthday Honours List in June 1962 .