Sir John Stokes, who was a right-wing Conservative MP from 1970 to 1992, died yesterday, his son Charles confirmed. He was 85.
Sir John, who was regarded by his critics as an old-fashioned Tory, was sometimes derided by his political opponents as a ''red neck''.
He was fervently pro-England, a staunch and outspoken supporter of the monarchy, a former president of the Monarchist Society, and a bitter critic of the immigration policies of successive governments. Sir John was an early supporter of Margaret Thatcher in her successful bid to remove Edward Heath from the party leadership in 1975.
During the war he served as a major in the Royal Fusiliers and was wounded in North Africa in 1943.
After the war, he mounted a successful business career as a personnel officer with ICI, British Celanese, and Courtaulds. He unsuccessfully fought Gloucester, in 1964, and Hitchin, in 1966, before becoming MP for Oldbury and Halesowen in 1970. The seat became Halesowen and Stourbridge in 1974 under boundary changes, and he held it until 1992 when he left Parliament.
Sir John, who had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease, died at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.
He is survived by his fourth wife, Frances, and by two daughters and one son from his first marriage, to Barbara, who died in 1987.
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