Stephen Hastings
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Sir Stephen Hastings MC |
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|---|---|
| Member of Parliament for Mid Bedfordshire |
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In office 16 November 1960 – 9 June 1983 |
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| Preceded by | Alan Lennox-Boyd |
| Succeeded by | Nicholas Lyell |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
4 May 1921 London, England |
| Died | 10 January 2005 (aged 83) Wansford, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) |
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| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Royal Military College, Sandhurst |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | British Army |
| Years of service | 1940–1948 |
| Unit | Scots Guards |
| Battles/wars | Second World War |
Sir Stephen Lewis Edmonstone Hastings MC (4 May 1921, Knightsbridge, London – 10 January 2005, Wansford, Cambridgeshire) was a soldier, MI6 operative, Master of Foxhounds, author and British Conservative Party politician who was elected as Member of Parliament for Mid Bedfordshire in a 1960 by-election and held it until he stood down at the 1983 general election.
The son of a Southern Rhodesian farmer, Hastings had visited the country only briefly as a young child, but he grew up with tales of the veldt and the farm. A year after he was elected to Parliament, he accepted an invitation from the British South Africa Company to visit the country, and from then on made frequent visits, getting to know the leading white politicians. Over the next 20 years, Hastings devoted his political energies to injecting what he felt was much needed balance into the debate about Rhodesia's future. When Rhodesia's Prime Minister, Ian Smith, unilaterally declared the independence of Rhodesia in 1964, Hastings was a prominent member of the Rhodesia lobby opposing sanctions - against the official party line.
Fourteen years later, he strongly supported the Internal Settlement between Smith and the moderate nationalist leaders under which Bishop Abel Muzorewa became Prime Minister, though effective power remained in white hands. He saw the Lancaster House Agreement of 1979, which created an independent Zimbabwe and led to Robert Mugabe's election, as a disaster caused by "unnecessary deference to the delusion of the Commonwealth, the Afro-Asian lobby and to the Americans by a series of British governments".
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