Matthew Parris
| Matthew Parris | |
|---|---|
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Member of Parliament for West Derbyshire |
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In office 3 May 1979 – 8 May 1986 |
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| Preceded by | James Scott-Hopkins |
| Succeeded by | Patrick McLoughlin |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
7 August 1949 Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Alma mater | Clare College, Cambridge |
| Occupation | Politician, journalist |
Matthew Francis Parris (born 7 August 1949) is a South African, born and raised, British political writer, formerly a Conservative Member of Parliament.
Parris is the eldest of six children (three brothers and two sisters) and grew up in several British territories and former territories: South Africa, Cyprus, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Swaziland and Jamaica, where his father was working as an electrical engineer. His parents ended up working and living in Catalonia, an autonomous region of Spain, where Parris later bought a house.
Parris was educated at Waterford Kamhlaba United World College of Southern Africa, an independent school just outside Mbabane in Swaziland, followed by Clare College, Cambridge, from which he gained a first class degree in law and where he was a member of Cambridge University Liberal Club. He then won a Paul Mellon scholarship and studied international relations at Yale University.
He has said that an early reading of Animal Farm made him a Conservative, as "An admiration for [the pigs'] intelligence and sense of order dawned in me."
At the age of 19, Parris drove across Africa to Europe in a Morris Oxford; the trip was traumatically punctuated when he and his female companion were attacked, and he was forced to witness her rape.
Parris was offered a job as a secret agent, but instead worked for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for two years. In 1976 he left this secure career because he did not like its formality, and because he wanted to become a Member of Parliament. He eventually joined the Conservative Research Department and moved on to become correspondence secretary to Margaret Thatcher. He was awarded an RSPCA medal (presented by Mrs Thatcher, then Leader of the Opposition), for jumping into the Thames and rescuing a dog.
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