Patrick Wall

Sir Patrick Henry Bligh Wall, (14 October 1916 – 15 May 1998) was a British Commando in the Royal Marines during the Second World War and later a Conservative Party politician.

He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Haltemprice in the East Riding of Yorkshire and subsequently for Beverley, over a period spanning 33 years.

He was a leading figure in the Conservative Monday Club, and a parliamentary consultant to the Western Goals Institute.

In the last decade of his life, he was President of the British UFO Research Association (BUFORA).

The son of Henry Benedict Wall, Patrick Wall was educated at Downside School.

He was commissioned into the Royal Marines in 1935 and qualified as a naval gunnery instructor.

During the Second World War, he served onboard Iron Duke, Valiant, and Malaya, followed by a spell at HMS Turtle, the landing craft base.

In 1945, he was patrol officer and second-in-command 48 Commando RM in the British Army on the Rhine, where he was wounded.

Wall's exploits in action drew the highest commendation: "An outstanding character whose industry and devotion to duty are beyond praise. He is a very devout man, and draws real inspiration from his Roman Catholic religion. In battle and behind the line, he is an example of energy and the aggressive spirit. His aim appears to be to do as much as possible", stated his report.

He was awarded the Military Cross in the North-West Europe campaign, and was awarded the US Legion of Merit the same year, for his services during the invasion operations in northern Italy and the south of France.

He taught at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich in 1946, and the Joint Services Staff College from 1947 to 1948.

He spent a further two years on the staff of the Commandant-General, RM.

He was promoted to the rank of major in 1949, and decided to leave the Royal Marines the following year in order to enter politics.

He continued his naval connection as Commander of 47 Commando Royal Marines Voluntary Reserve from 1951 to 1957, and from 1950 to 1966, was Commissioner of the Sea Scouts for London.

In the 1951 General Election and a subsequent by-election in 1952, he stood unsuccessfully for the parliamentary seat of Cleveland, Yorkshire.

In 1953, Wall married Sheila Elizabeth, daughter of James Putnam, of Broadstone, Dorset.

Wall was a councillor on the City of Westminster Council from 1953 to 1963.

He was later elected Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Haltemprice 1954–1983, and for Beverley, Yorkshire 1983–1987.

He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 1955–57, and to the Chancellor of the Exchequer 1958–59.

In 1960, he claimed that the colonial problem arose not from differences in colour, but from differences in standards.

"What we have to do is to work as hard as we can by raising the standards of the black Africans to ensure that we level up and do not take the easy way out by levelling down. Progress in Central Africa depends on the maintenance of standards and I believe we owe it, not only to our kith and kin, but to the vast mass of as yet uneducated black Africans for whom we are trustees, to see that the existing standards in Central Africa are not debased."

(cf. Reeves, p. 116).

He was a friend of the Rhodesian Prime Minister, Ian Smith, and fully supported him.

He was UK delegate to the United Nations General Assembly in 1962, Vice-Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Defence 1965–1977, Chairman of the British-South Africa Parliamentary Group 1970–1987, on the British-Portuguese Parliamentary Group 1979–1987, and leader of the British delegation to the North Atlantic Assembly 1979–1987, of which he was president, 1983–1985.

Wall was an early member (1963) of the Conservative Monday Club, sat on several of its committees, served on its Executive Council, and was National Club Chairman 1978–80.

He collaborated on many papers and publications for the club, and spoke for club policies and concerns in the House of Commons.

After Rhodesia's UDI in 1965, he joined forces with Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury, to lead the Tory revolt against their party's support for the Labour administration's sanctions policy.

Wall believed that white rule in Southern Africa was the last bulwark against the spread of communism in the region, which he described as "this evil virus".

He argued that this, in turn, would mean that the West would lose vital mineral supplies and that the oil route round the Cape would come under threat.

On May Day 1970, the club held a 'Law and Liberty' rally in Trafalgar Square where he, and several other of the club's MPs were principal speakers.

In February 1972, in the House of Commons he called for government intervention in the miners' strike, saying that "initimidation and even violence by picketing miners has given rise to widespread anxiety".

During the Thatcher years, Wall reflected that Britain had "moved rapidly to the Left under Labour governments, and more slowly to the Left under successive Conservative governments".

During this period, he sat on numerous parliamentary committees, one of which recommended building a strategic airfield in the Falkland Islands after the war.

Wall chaired several party committees concerned with Africa.

He defended the British colonial record and was convinced of the benefits of white rule in Rhodesia and South Africa.

In 1974, Wall attacked the Labour government's pull-out from the Simonstown naval base in South Africa, and stated in the House of Commons that "they" (the government) "must be insane. This is the only link NATO has with the Cape. British interests in Africa as a strategic part of the world should be maintained."

In 1975, writing in the journal To The Point, Patrick Wall said "the basic philosophy of the Communist powers is to detach Southern Africa from the Western World."

A committed supporter of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), he was leader of the British delegation to the North Atlantic Assembly from 1979 to 1987.

Wall was especially suspicious of the Foreign Office, which he believed had contributed to Britain's decline.

He would quote an African minister's remark: "We never trust you British because you never protect your own tribe."