David Penhaligon

David Charles Penhaligon (6 June 1944 – 22 December 1986) was a British politician from Cornwall who was Liberal Member of Parliament for the constituency of Truro from 1974–86.

He was a popular figure in all parties and had potential to be a front-runner for the party leadership had he not been killed in a car accident.

Penhaligon's decision to join the Liberal Party was inspired in 1963 when, aged 19, he was an important witness to a murder case.

His evidence, which supported the case of the defendant Dennis Whitty, was not enough to prevent him from being convicted and hanged.

Penhaligon was appalled by the practice of capital punishment.

As an interesting anecdote, he was also a part-time DJ at the Hall for Cornwall where he once encountered 14 year old Roger Taylor, subsequently the Queen drummer, at a musical event that he compered in Truro City Hall during 1964.

He led the Truro Young Liberals and built up the local party (which had been the weakest in Cornwall) into one of the strongest; he was the chair of the Cornish Young Liberals from 1966 to 1968.

However he was not selected as Liberal candidate for Truro in the 1966 general election (nor for any other seat), and he was also rejected for Falmouth and Camborne in 1968 apparently because his strong Cornish accent was thought unattractive.

In the 1970 general election he fought the Devon constituency of Totnes when the previous candidate Paul Tyler transferred to Bodmin.

He polled poorly in the context of an election in which the party as a whole suffered.

However, Penhaligon had acquired useful experience of fighting election campaigns and picked up additional tips from Wallace Lawler's practices in inner-city Birmingham.

In 1971 Penhaligon was easily selected as candidate for Truro, a seat which did not look an easier prospect than Totnes.

By 1973 he had qualified as a Chartered Mechanical Engineer; he also took over from his father a sub-post office in Chacewater from 1967 (after his marriage in 1968 to Annette Lidgey, she ran the business).

His Liberal activities led to some work in local broadcasting.

This gave him three years in which to get his name known and meet his prospective constituents (a practice known as 'nursing' a constituency) and when the election came in February 1974 he won nearly 21,000 votes and cut the majority of the sitting Conservative MP to 2,561.

Truro became the fourth 'target' constituency for the Liberals for the next election — which would take place within months because of the inconclusive outcome in February.

Penhaligon was readopted and worked on trying to persuade the remaining Labour voters in the seat to back him.

In the October 1974 election he was elected with a majority of 464 votes – the only Liberal gain of that election.

Due to House of Commons rules on 'offices of profit under the crown' he transferred his sub-postmastership to his wife.

In Parliament he swiftly won a reputation for humorous speeches, urging a national minimum wage and increased state pensions.

He was hard to place in conventional political terms: he changed his mind over capital punishment, initially voting against in December 1974, but supporting it in December 1975.

Although frequently speaking on national issues, it was clear that Penhaligon's main concern was local.

He became known in particular for defending the Cornish tin mining industry and the local Fishing fleets.

He spoke with conviction and knowledge about the problems of rural areas in Cornwall with road fuel costs and inadequate infrastructure.

In a speech made at Camborne in support of the miners he famously said:

You need more in an economy than just tourism, ice cream and deckchairs.

Our mining industry is not a figment of the last decade or the last two decades.

It has occupied Cornishmen and it has produced wealth for this century, the previous century and probably the last two thousand years; and what we’re asking the government to do is to recognise the great contribution we have made for the wealth of Britain, and in this time of great trial and tribulation to come to our assistance – that’s what we’re asking our government to do.

He voted for fellow Cornish MP John Pardoe over David Steel in the Liberal leadership election of 1976.

When the Lib–Lab pact was first mooted in March 1977, Penhaligon was initially opposed and spoke against it.

He later came round and told the Liberal Assembly in September 1977 that it had achieved an 'economic revolution'.

At a special Assembly in January 1978 he was a star speaker in persuading the delegates representing Liberal members to continue the pact.

The pact allowed the Liberals to influence government legislation and Penhaligon objected to proposals from Tony Benn for an Electricity Industry Bill which would centralise control, which single-handedly prevented any progress.

Part of Penhaligon's support for the Lib-Lab pact was his fear that an early general election would result in a poor performance for the Liberals, and his own seat might be vulnerable.

In October 1978 after the pact had lapsed, he explained that "Turkeys don't volunteer for Christmas!".

In 2014 a Crowdfunder campaign was launched to record his life's work and impact.

Penhaligon was born on D-Day at Truro Nursing Home and was brought up in Truro.

He was a cousin of actress Susan Penhaligon.

He attended Truro School, and then Cornwall Technical College where he studied mechanical engineering.

Penhaligon worked for Holman Brothers in Camborne as a research and development engineer working on rock drilling.