Ex-Tory minister Anthony Lambton dies
Former Conservative party minister Anthony Lambton has died in his Italian home, aged 84.
The peer, who is survived by five daughters and one son, will be most remembered for causing scandal in Ted Heath’s government.
In 1973 the News of the World published photographs of Lord Lambton, then a junior defence minister, naked in bed with two call girls and smoking cannabis. Lord Jellicoe was also forced to resign over the embarrassing incident.
The scandal, which led to the break-up of Lord Lambton’s marriage to Belinda Blew-Jones, caused MI5 to launch an investigation into whether he could become a blackmail target.
However, Lord Lambton famously explained his use of drugs and prostitutes as something to stop the boredom of his “undemanding” junior role in government.
He was also troubled by his decision not to claim the title of the Earldom of Durham in 1970 yet continued to use the title ‘Lord Lambton’, although this is of no legal status.
Although some of his earlier years were spent serving with the Hampshire regiment during the second world war, he turned to a career in politics while in his early twenties. He became an MP in 1950 for the most northern English town of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
He moved to Villa Cetinale in May 1973 after resigning from government and spent 20 years restoring the house and gardens.
Lord Lambton was described by the MI5 officer who interviewed him as an “enthusiastic and vigorous gardener” and this “frenzied activity” was seen by the officer to be a sign of mental health problems.
