Conservative MP killed by an IRA bomb

One of the original Thatcherites who served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Iron Lady herself, Ian Gow died on 30 July, 1990 at the age of 53.

A talented and witty politician, he was highly regarded by his colleagues and became a force to be reckoned with in debates on the Chamber floor and at late night Standing Committees.

Mr Gow was also the first ever MP to give a televised speech from the floor of the House of Commons.

But his Unionist convictions led to his departure from top line politics and cost him his life when the IRA planted a bomb under his car.

Ian Reginald Edward Gow was born on 11 February, 1937 and trained as a solicitor before entering the world of politics as a member of the Conservative Party.

In 1966, he married Jane Elizabeth Packe with whom we went to have to have two sons, James and Charles.

Although he lost out in party selection to stand as an MP in the Lincolnshire constituency of Louth to a young Jeffrey Archer in 1969, he became the Conservative MP for Eastbourne in 1974, a position which he held until his death.

He became heavily involved in the Northern Ireland conflict, assisting fellow MP Airey Neave during the Tories’ time in opposition and made his mark as an outspoken critic of the ruling Labour government as part of a group of combatants led by Nick Ridley while extolling the virtues of free markets of privatisation.

His big political break came in 1979 when he was appointed as the first Parliamentary Private Secretary to Margaret Thatcher and spent the next four years at her side with involvement in the sensitive issues of the Rhodesian negotiations, the 1981 and 1982 Budgets and the Falklands War.

In 1983, Mr Gow became the Minister for Housing and Construction, a post in which he spent two years before moving onto the Treasury where after a brief stint, his staunch Unionist views on the signing of Anglo-Irish Agreement, which he said would “prolong and not diminish the agony of Ulster", led him to hand in his resignation.

But he continued serving as an MP and on 21 November, 1989, secured his place in the history books by becoming the first person to make a televised address in the House of Commons where he joked that future debates in the house would be primarily judged on how they were delivered rather than what was actually said.

His political aspirations were, however, cut short in July 1990 when a Semtex bomb planted by the IRA under the driver’s seat of his car at his home in the village of Hankham in East Sussex exploded, leaving him fatally injured.

Until the end, Mr Gow remained one of Baroness Thatcher’s closest political allies, and she paid tribute to him after his death saying: "His skills as a Parliamentarian were unique, as a powerful and witty speaker. Ian was a true friend and colleague in all weathers, the first to offer comfort.”

He was also held in high esteem by his constituents with more than 3,000 people turning out for his funeral at St Saviour and St Peter's Church in Eastbourne and later had a local health centre named after him.

But when Liberal Democrat David Bellotti won Mr Gow’s empty seat, Tory MP Ann Widdecombe was so incensed she told Eastbourne ’s voters that the IRA would be “toasting their success”.

His death caused much friction between the government and the IRA, but despite the setback to the Northern Ireland peace process, successive governments continued the work in which he was heavily involved during his political career to eventually bring about a lasting ceasefire.