Death of former Grimsby man who twice stood to become Speaker of House of Commons

                                         

Lord Cormack - long career in politics

A FORMER Grimsby man who was an MP for 40 years has died, aged 84.

Lord Cormack - Patrick Thomas Cormack - started his career as a history teacher at St James School where he had been a pupil, then at secondary schools elsewhere.

A former pupil of Havelock School and later graduate of Hull University, he also taught at secondary schools elsewhere in  the country and spent  a short time as a training and education officer with the Ross Group locally.

When the call of politics came, he stood unsuccessfully as Conservative candidate first in Bolsover in 1964, then (against Anthony Crosland) in Great Grimsby in 1966.

At the 1970 general election, he  stood for the seat of Cannock, and this time was elected,  defeating the incumbent Labour MP Jennie Lee, Aneurin Bevan's widow, with a majority of 1,529.

During his time in the Commons which stretched to 2010, he twice stood to be Speaker, losing out first to Betty Boothroyd, then to Michael Martin.

Cormack married Kathleen Mary MacDonald in 1967, and they had two sons. 

A devout Christian, he listed his recreations in Who's Who as "fighting philistines, walking, visiting old churches and avoiding sitting on fences".