Peter Viggers

Peter John Viggers (born March 13, 1938, Gosport) is a lawyer and Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom.

Early life

He is the son of John Sidney Viggers. He went to Alverstoke School and Portsmouth Grammar School. He studied at Trinity Hall College at the University of Cambridge, receiving an MA in History and Law in 1961. He qualified from the College of Law in Guildford in 1967. He became a solicitor in 1967. From 1970-9, he was the Chair and Director of banking, oil, hotels, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and venture capital companies.

Political career

He is member of Parliament for Gosport, his home town and lives just a few miles from where he was born. He was first elected in February 1974 and has been Gosport's MP ever since. He served as the Industry Minister for Northern Ireland under Margaret Thatcher from 1986-9. He left government in 1989, and has remained on the back-benches since.

He was the Chair of Calgary-based Tracer Petroleum Corporation from 1996-8, and also of Lloyd's Pension Fund since 1996. He was a Director of Jakarta-based Emerald Energy plc from April 1998-2003.

In 2002, he made headlines by suggesting the European Union adopt a 'single European language' to cut down in translation costs.

Personal life

He is a vice-patron of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. He is also an honorary treasury of the America All Party Parliamentary Group. For four years he was the Chairman of Governors at St Vincent College. He married (medical) Dr Jennifer Mary McMillan in 1968, and they have two sons and one daughter.

External links

• Official site
• They Work For You
• Gosport Conservatives
• Guardian biography
• BBC Politics page
• Interviewed for BBC's Newsround

News items

• Returning home after a heart scare in 2006
• Suggesting single european language in 2002