Angus Edmund Upton Maude, Baron Maude of Stratford-upon-Avon, TD,PC (8 September 1912 – 9 November 1993) was a British Conservative Party politician. A Member of Parliament (MP) from 1950 to 1958 and from 1963 to 1983, he served as a cabinet minister from 1979 to 1981. He was the father of former Conservative MP Francis Maude.[1]
Early life
Maude was born at 44 Temple Fortune Lane, Hendon, Middlesex, the only child of Alan Hamer Maude (1885–1979), journalist and army officer, and Dorothy Maude Upton, daughter of Frederic Upton, a civil servant.[2] He was educated, mainly in Classics, at Rugby School, then attended Oriel College, Oxford, where he obtained a second-class degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics in 1933.[2] He became a journalist and author, working on The Times (1933–34) and the Daily Mail (1934–39).[2]
Maude fought in the Second World War. He was captured in North Africa, becoming a POW in Italy. He was later moved to Germany, where he was freed by forces under General George S. Patton.
Maude was shadow aviation spokesman, but was sacked in 1967 by Edward Heath after criticising party policy. When Margaret Thatcher became leader, she brought him back into the fold after he played a key role in her bid for the leadership in 1975. When she came to power in May 1979, he was appointed to the position of Paymaster General with a seat in the cabinet, with Thatcher saying "I was anxious to have Angus Maude in the Cabinet to benefit from his years of political experience, his sound views, and his acid wit."[4] However, Maude resigned relatively soon afterward, in January 1981, following which he received a knighthood.[5]