Anthony Kershaw Sir John Anthony Kershaw MC , DL ( 14 December 1915 – 29 April 2008 ) was a British Conservative Party Member of Parliament for 32 years , from 1955 to 1987 . He served as a junior minister in the 1970s . He was also a barrister , World War II cavalry officer , amateur rugby player and company director . Early life and education . Kershaw was born in Cairo , the second son of Jack F . Kershaw - a judge at the Cairo Court of Appeal - and his wife , Anne , who hailed from Kentucky . He was educated at Eton College , where he played cricket . His father died when he was 13 , and his elder brother , Overton , two years later . Kershaw read law at Balliol College , Oxford , where he befriended his contemporary Edward Heath . He became a barrister , and was called to the Bar at Inner Temple in 1939 . He married Barbara Edith Crookenden - daughter of solicitor Harry Crookenden - in 1939 . They had two daughters and two sons named Carolyn , Harry , Cecilia and George . War service . At the beginning of World War II , Kershaw served with the Thames River police , then was commissioned second lieutenant in the 16th / 5th Lancers on 15 June 1940 . He was promoted temporary captain , and landed in North Africa in November 1942 in Operation Torch . He served in tank s , and was awarded the Military Cross ( MC ) for his actions north of the Kasserine Gap in Tunisia in 1943 . On 21 February 1943 he was a brigade staff officer ( GSO3 ) with 26th Armoured Brigade ( which comprised his own regiment amongst others ) and had command of the brigade command tank . The brigadier was commanding from a scout car whose radio broke down . Kershaw , despite heavy machine gun and artillery fire , repeatedly ran from his tank , to the scout car , and back , to take the brigadier ' s orders , which he then relayed over the tank ' s radio . The following day , a German counterattack was believed to be imminent . Kershaw volunteered to man his tank , which had been disabled , to bring additional fire to bear on the advancing forces ; despite its vulnerability to artillery fire as it was in full view on a road . Promoted temporary major , he landed in Normandy three days after D - Day ( D + 3 ) as brigade major ( GSO1 ) of an armoured brigade and fought in northern France and Belgium , before becoming an instructor at the Staff College , Camberley . After the war , he transferred to the Inns of Court Regiment in the Territorial Army on 6 May 1948 , reverting to his war substantive rank of captain . He transferred into the TA reserve of officers on 16 August 1949 and was granted the honorary rank of major . He returned to the active list , joining the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars as a captain once more , on 25 May 1951 . He regained the rank of major on 13 March 1954 , and was promoted to lieutenant - colonel on 6 April 1955 , and commanded the regiment until he again transferred to the TA reserve of officers on 7 April 1958 . Political career . Kershaw returned to the bar after the war . He also served as a member of the London County Council from 1946 to 1949 , and as a councillor on the Westminster City Council from 1947 to 1948 . He played rugby union for Harlequins . Kershaw contested Gloucester in 1950 and 1951 . He was elected as Member of Parliament ( MP ) for Stroud in 1955 , remaining in that position until his retirement at the 1987 general election , with a substantially increased majority . He supported National Service in his maiden speech . He became private secretary to the Secretary of State for War , Antony Head , in 1956 , and became Parliamentary Private Secretary ( PPS ) to Edward Heath in 1963 , when Heath was Secretary of State for Industry , Trade and Regional Development and President of the Board of Trade . He was a member of the Executive of the 1922 Committee from 1964 to 1966 , and resumed the position as Heath ' s PPS in 1967 , when Heath was leader of the Opposition . Kershaw represented the Conservatives at the Council of Europe and the Western European Union . After the Conservatives returned to power following the 1970 general election , Kershaw became a junior minister during the 1970 - 1974 Conservative government , first as Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Public Building and Works ( 1970 ) , then , after the death of Iain Macleod , as Parliamentary Under - Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office ( 1970 – 1973 ) , and finally Parliamentary Under - Secretary at the Ministry of Defence with responsibility for the Royal Air Force ( June 1973 - January 1974 ) , replacing Lord Lambton who resigned after a sex scandal . He was unwaveringly loyal to Heath ' s successor , Margaret Thatcher , but his political views ( he supported abortion but opposed hanging ; he also supported the European Union and electoral reform ) barred him from further ministerial office . He served as chairman of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee from 1979 to 1987 , and again on the 1922 Committee executive from 1983 to 1987 . He was knighted in the 1981 New Year Honours , " [ f ] or political and public service " . In 1984 , he was forwarded information received by Tam Dalyell relating to the sinking of the " General Belgrano " in the Falklands War , which showed that the full facts had not been released to the public . Kershaw sent the information to the Ministry of Defence , which identified the leak as originating with Clive Ponting , who was tried ( but acquitted ) for an offence under section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911 . Kershaw joined the National Committee for Electoral Reform in 1976 , and served as a vice - chairman of the British Council from 1974 to 1987 . He also continued his legal work , and was an adviser to British American Tobacco and the Association of British Marine Tools . Having kept wicket at Eton , he later played for the House of Commons cricket team . He became Deputy Lieutenant of Gloucestershire in 1989 , and served as Vice - Lord Lieutenant from 1990 to 1993 . He hunted with the Beaufort Hunt and the Berkeley Hunt , and also enjoyed shooting , stalking and gardening . He died in Didmarton in Gloucestershire . He was survived by his wife and their four children .