Sir Richard Body, Conservative MP and Quaker

Sir Richard Body (born 18 May 1927, official biography at www.parliament.uk) was a Conservative MP from 1966 to 2001 and he is a Quaker, as I've continually been told when arguing with Friends about how our natural political home is in the Green Party, just as the Church of England is sometimes called the Tory Party at prayer, while the Methodist tradition has much in common with Labour.

But I can't find very much Quakerism in his political activity. He is more of a 'legal liberal' in my view. Anyone who is a criminal defence barrister is going to know how easy it is to judicially kill the wrong people, which may help explain his opposition to capital punishment. His legal training may also explain his opposition to official secrets. His opposition to the National Farmers' Union could be simple anti-unionism or a kind of anti-collective individualism common among Tories.

Here is my main reference material, the Spectator Archive 18/02/1989, Page 16, entitled An Old English Dissenter, which describes him as a

• loyal supporter of Mrs Thatcher
• supporter of Enoch Powell 
• senior figure in the Monday Club 

Outsiders: a profile of Sir Richard Body MP, scourge of the big farmer, ... only last week he voted against the new government measure covering official secrets. He has also not toed the line on the EEC, Sunday trading, rate support grant, eye and teeth testing and nuclear issues. Body is a Conservative to his bones; but he was a patron of a group called 'Nuclear Freeze' along with Denis Healey. He is a Quaker; and yet a dissenting Dissenter, as when he told his brethren that a proposal to withhold the 'defence element' of their taxes was a nonsense. Body would never classify himself as a 'rebel'. ...

... Trained in the law, he was interested in social matters, serving for a while as Chairman of the East London Poor Man's Lawyer Association. ...

... in 1956 he was one of the handful of Tories to support the abolition of capital punishment. He established a modest claim for his interests in the countryside, animal welfare and cases to do with children.

He put forward an 'alternative' view of Europe and it was his 'anti-Common Market stance (combined with his views on modern agriculture) that set him apart in the early 1970'.

... as Chairman of the Select Committee on Agriculture in 1986-87 he launched an attack on the Pesticides industry and the Ministry of Agriculture for secrecy surrounding possible health hazards in the food chain. ...

... to the National Farmers' Union he has been a real thorn rather than just another green crank.

P. S. More Quaker MPs

Thanks to my Friends JH  and RP for pointing out that there are the following current Quaker MPs (all elected 2015) and MEPs.  All are women.

• Ruth Cadbury (born 1959) has been Labour MP for Brentford and Isleworth since 2015 and was previously a Brentford councillor for 25 years and deputy leader of Hounslow London Borough Council from 2010 to 2012 where she was known for her work on a Living Wage for its staff as well as her opposition to Heathrow Airport expansion.  Her Quaker beliefs featured in her "maiden" speech in the House of Commons on 2 June 2015 where she highlighted her commitment to social justice and the influence of her ancestor, the chocolate producer George Cadbury.
• Catherine West, Hornsey and Wood Green (Labour)
• Dr Tania Mathias, Twickenham (Conservative)

Quaker MEPs:

• Molly Scott Cato (Green Party) 
• Judith Kirton-Darling (Labour)