Sir Ian Stewart Lloyd (30 May 1921 – 25 September 2006) was a British Conservative Party politician. Born in South Africa to wealthy English parents, he worked as a civil servant in the SA Board of Trade before moving permanently to England. He served as a backbench Member of Parliament for constituencies near Portsmouth nearly 30 years, from 1964 to 1992. He took an interest in African issues, shipping, and technology, and spoke about the dangers of global warming as early as 1989.
Political career
He was selected for the safe seat of Portsmouth Langstone in 1962, and duly elected as Member of Parliament at the 1964 general election. However, he was not the first member of the Lloyd family to be elected to Parliament. His great-great-uncle, Thomas Edward Lloyd (1820-1909), served as the M.P. for Cardiganshire between 1874 and 1880 as a member of the Conservative government led by Benjamin Disraeli. Ian Lloyd remained an MP until his retirement at the 1992 election, having changed constituency twice after boundary changes, to Havant and Waterloo in 1974 and to Havant in 1983. He had to fight for re-selection from 1971 to 1973, after the constituency boundaries changed, after the selection committee of his constituency party voted to deselect him. He was re-endorsed, but then his re-endorsement was challenged by Janet Fookes.
He served on the Council of Europe, and on the parliamentary assembly of the Western European Union, from 1968 to 1972.
In Parliament, he took a close interest in African issues, shipping, and science. He spoke against sanctions against Rhodesia after UDI, and compared Kenneth Kaunda to Hitler. He remained a critic of the apartheid in South Africa; however, he later opposed economic sanctions and the sporting boycott, arguing that closer links would be more effective in stimulating reform. As a result, he became seen as an advocate for the South African government in Westminster, being attacked as "Botha's mouthpiece".
He was a member of the Select committee on Technology for 10 years, and then chairman of the Select Committee on Energy for 10 years. He drove the establishment of the Parliamentary Information Technology Committee (Pitcom), and the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST). He argued for the appointment of a minister for information technology, and was one of the first to bring a microchip into the House of Commons. He supported nuclear power, and recognised the dangers of global warming as early as 1989, when he argued that "civilisation is clinging by our fingernails to the cliff". He was knighted in the 1986 Queen's Birthday Honours List.
Outside politics
He wrote a series of books on the history of Rolls-Royce, published in 1978. He was also a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron.
In retirement, he was a member of the council of Save British Science, and a member of the Science Policy Support Group. He died in Chichester, West Sussex and is buried at Priors Dean.