Alec Cunningham - Reid Captain Alec Stratford Cunningham - Reid DFC ( 1895 – 26 March 1977 ) , born Alec Stratford Reid , was a British World War I flying ace credited with seven aerial victories . After the war , he entered politics as a Conservative , serving as a Member of Parliament ( MP ) for periods between 1922 and 1945 . Early life . Cunningham - Reid was born in Wayland , Norfolk as Alec Stratford Reid , the son of Reverend Arthur Morse Reid and his wife Agnes Celina Flower ( 1861 – 1942 ) . He joined the Royal Engineers in World War I , and was promoted to Second Lieutenant , transferring to the Royal Flying Corps . He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in August 1918 , the citation reading : Political career . At the 1922 general election , Cunningham - Reid stood as the conservative candidate in Warrington , a Conservative - held borough constituency in Lancashire where the sitting MP Sir Harold Smith was retiring . He won the seat with a comfortable majority in a two - way contest with the Labour Party candidate . However , at the next general election , in 1923 , the addition of a Liberal Party candidate saw him lose to Labour ' s Charles Dukes . The Liberals in Warrington did not field a candidate at the 1924 general election , and Reid was returned to the House of Commons for the next five years . At the 1929 election he did not stand in Warrington , but instead sought election in Southampton . This was a two - seat constituency , where both the sitting MPs were Conservatives who did not seek re - election . Having returned only Conservatives since 1922 , this might have been regarded as safer Conservative territory than Warrington , but Labour won both seats . Cunningham - Reid ' s chance of a return to the Commons came in 1932 , when the Conservative MP Sir Rennell Rodd resigned from Parliament . This caused a by - election in his inner London constituency of St Marylebone , where Cunningham - Reid was adopted as the candidate of the St Marylebone Conservative and Constitutional Union , which was the official Conservative Party organisation in the area . However , a number of local Conservatives who opposed his adoption left to form the St Marylebone Conservative Association , and nominated their own candidate , Sir B . P Blackett . It was customary for the Conservative Party leader ( then Stanley Baldwin ) to send a letter of support to the party ' s candidate , but both Blackett and Cunningham - Reid each claimed to be the official Conservative nominee , and Baldwin did not endorse either of them . No other candidates were nominated , so the election became a two - way contest between the rival Conservatives . Cunningham - Reid won the seat with a slender majority of 1 , 013 ( 4 . 6 % of the votes ) , and held the seat for a further 13 years . At the 1935 general election he was returned as the official Conservative candidate with a huge majority over his Labour opponent . However , in 1943 the St Marylebone Conservative and Constitutional Union was disaffiliated from the Party in favour of the rival St Marylebone Conservative Association ( which had remained in existence since the 1932 split ) . At the 1945 general election , Cunningham - Reid retained the support of the Conservative and Constitutional Union , but was opposed by Wavell Wakefield , a former captain of the England national rugby union team who received the official Conservative endorsement . Without official party support , Cunningham - Reid fared poorly , finishing third with only 11 % of the votes . Wavell won the seat with a comfortable majority over the second - placed Labour candidate . In Parliament . On 28 July 1943 , Cunningham - Reid was involved in an exchange of blows in the lobby of the House of Commons with fellow Conservative MP Oliver Locker - Lampson . Cunningham - Reid ' s description of the incident was that after a verbal dispute , The following day , both MPs made a formal apology in the House of Commons . On 30 July Cunningham - Reid made a personal statement in which he explained to the House that the matter had arisen after Locker - Lampson had accused him of leaving London during The Blitz , whereas he claimed to have departed on a 14 - week trip before The Blitz started . The incident became front - page news in Britain , and was reported in several major American newspapers — including the " Los Angeles Times " , which ran the story under the headline " England Grins as Members of Commons Trade Punches " . Personal life . Cunningham - Reid was married twice . His first marriage , on 12 May 1927 , was to Hon . Ruth Mary Clarisse Ashley , daughter of Lt . - Col . Wilfrid William Ashley , 1st and last Baron Mount Temple and Amalia Mary Maud Cassel , a multimillionaire . The couple , described by the " Cincinnati Enquirer " as " England ' s wealthiest girl and handsomest man " , had two children : Michael Duncan Alec Cunningham - Reid ( born 1928 ) and Noel Robert Cunningham - Reid ( born 1930 ) . On their honeymoon , she insisted that they share her wealth because " no decent woman likes to have a man live with her in charity " , but when the couple divorced in 1940 , he sued for half of her $ 400 , 000 annual income . He married again to Angela Williams in 1944 . They were divorced c . 1949 . During World War II he conducted an affair with the American heiress Doris Duke . Death . Cunningham - Reid died in Valbonne , France , on 26 March 1977 .