Peter Thurnham

Peter Giles Thurnham (21 August 1938 – 10 May 2008) was a British politician. He was Member of Parliament for from 1983 to 1997, originally as a before resigning to become an independent in February 1996 and then a Liberal Democrat in October 1996.

Thurnham was born in Staines, Middlesex on 21 August 1938. His father was a tea planter in India, where he worked for Brooke Bond, and his mother was a physiotherapist. Thurnham spent much of his early life in southern India, before being educated at Eversley Preparatory School and Oundle School. He won a scholarship to read engineering at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and received an advanced diploma in engineering from Cranfield Institute of Technology in 1967, and then an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1969.

Thurnham became a design engineer at NEI Parsons in Newcastle until 1966, and then a director at British Steam Specialties until 1972. He married his first wife in 1963, he moved to Leicester in 1972 and succeeded Sydney Wathes as MD of Wathes ltd., an established refrigeration and air conditioning company, which he grew to become the Wathes group of companies and later WR Group Holdings.

He became a member of South Lakeland Council in 1982, and was elected as Member of Parliament in the new constituency of at the 1983 general election, defeating the candidate Ann Taylor who had until the election represented . He lived in Kendal while he was an MP, with his wife taking charge of his company. He was noted for his very strong support for the Abortion Act 1967 and for embryo research, and was a founder member of the Progress campaign group which promotes IVF. He became Parliamentary Private Secretary to Secretary of State for Employment Norman Fowler from 1987 to 1990, and was then PPS to both Eric Forth and Robert Jackson in 1991 to 1992, and finally to Secretary of State for the Environment Michael Howard (his contemporary at Peterhouse) from 1992 to 1993. He never secured ministerial office, but became a party whip.

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