Hal Miller Explained

Sir Hal Miller
Office1:Member of Parliament
for Bromsgrove
Term Start1:9 June 1983
Term End1:9 April 1992
Predecessor1:New constituency
Successor1:Roy Thomason
Office2:Member of Parliament
for Bromsgrove and Redditch
Term Start2:28 February 1974
Term End2:9 June 1983
Predecessor2:New constituency
Successor2:Constituency abolished
Office3:District Officer of Tsuen Wan
Term Start3:10 October 1958
Term End3:8 May 1961
Predecessor3:Position established
Successor3:Steuart Alfred Webb-Johnson
Birth Date:6 March 1929
Nationality:British
Party:Conservative
Father:Jack Duppa-Miller
Mother:Barbara Buckmaster
Education:Eton College
Alma Mater:Merton College, Oxford
University of London
Spouse:Fiona McDermid
Children:6

Sir Hilary Duppa Miller (6 March 1929 – 21 March 2015[1]) was a British Conservative Party politician.[2]

Early life

He was the son of Lieutenant-Commander Jack Duppa-Miller, GC, and Barbara Miller (née Barbara Buckmaster, daughter of Stanley Buckmaster, 1st Viscount Buckmaster, a former Lord Chancellor). Educated at Eton College, Miller graduated from Merton College, Oxford in 1956[3] and the University of London in 1962, and then entered colonial service in Hong Kong.

Parliamentary career

Miller unsuccessfully fought Barrow-in-Furness in 1970, and Bromsgrove in a 1971 by-election. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bromsgrove and Redditch from February 1974 to 1983, and for Bromsgrove from 1983 until he retired in 1992.[4] He is a former vice-chairman of the Conservative Party.

Post-Parliament

After retiring from politics, he joined the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), the trade association of the motor industry in the UK, as its chief executive. He modernised and transformed the somewhat staid society by introducing and implementing a strategy of commercialisation.

After a four-year term, he resigned from SMMT to become managing director and later chairman of Cosmopolitan Textiles Limited, a UK-based subsidiary of the Hong Kong textile conglomerate Mingley Corporation with a brief to take the company into the auto industry. This was achieved successfully as a second tier supplier of patented substrates, mainly for headliners.

In 2005, he became a key supporter of Project Kimber. This had been formed to keep MG sportscars British after MG Rover's entry into administration in April of that year. Following the surprise sale of the entire assets of MG Rover and its subsidiary Powertrain Limited by the administrators, PricewaterhouseCoopers, to Nanjing Automotive Corporation against letters of credit to the reported value of £55m on 22 July 2005, Project Kimber developed a new business plan. This focussed on a key element of the original MG plan, which was to acquire the rights to produce and sell a rebranded and re-engineered version of the successful smart roadster, that had sold at a rate of 15,000 cars per annum in Europe for the previous two years, from DaimlerChrysler.

Personal life

Miller was twice married: in 1956 to Fiona McDermid, with whom he had four children, and in 1976 to Jacqueline Roe, with whom he had two children. He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant (DL) of Worcestershire in 2000. His brother, Michael Miller, was a QC and died in 2008.[5]

References

Notes and References

  1. Obituaries . University of Oxford Gazette . 145 . 5093 . 23 April 2015 . 499.
  2. Web site: Sir Hal Miller, Tory MP - obituary. Telegraph.co.uk. 2015-12-28.
  3. Book: Levens. R.G.C.. Merton College Register 1900-1964. 1964. Basil Blackwell. Oxford. 405.
  4. https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/hilary_miller/bromsgrove Hilary Miller page, They Work for you
  5. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3547551.ece Michael Miller, QC 13 March 2008