Early Political Career
Croydon Central was a new constituency and was initially a very marginal Conservative seat. Moore won the seat in the February 1974 general election by a majority of 1,300 votes over Labour. His majority was reduced to 150 in the October 1974 general election. However, he was able to strengthen his position in the consitituency and the last time he contested the seat (in the 1987 general election) he achieved a majority of over 10,000. His wife, Sheila, acted as his constituency secretary, speech writer and political adviser. She combined her duties in this regard with studying for a law degree and acting as a local magistrate. Observers commented that Sheila was very much the driving force behind his rise in politics.
Moore projected the image of a young, vigorous politician. He would usually rise at 5.30am and be at his desk by 7 a.m. He was a member of the House of Commons football team and the House skiing team. It is reported that his wife "... kept him on a strict regime of camomile tea, decaffeinated coffee and health food...." He was frequently seen performing early morning jogging in the Westminster area and he was reported to spend 30 minutes each day on an exercise bicycle. Conservative MP Julian Critchley described him as being:
Handsome, with the sort of looks that would have appealed to J. Arthur Rank, personable and polite, he looks ten years younger than his 49 years.
In March 1975 Mrs Thatcher appointed Moore as one of five Conservative Party vice-chairmen. Moore's remit was "youth". He held this position until the Conservatives were returned to office in 1979, at which time he was appointed as Under Secretary of State for Energy. In this capacity, one of his main duties was responsibility for the nationalized British coal industry.
After the 1983 general election Moore was appointed Economic Secretary to the Treasury under Chancellor Nigel Lawson. At the Treasury, Moore was charged with fronting government policy on privatisation. Most notably, he oversaw the privatisation of British Telecom in 1984 and that of several other major concerns. The privatisation of state owned industries was a major feature of the Thatcher governments. These privatisations were popularised by small parcels of shares in the privatised entities being made available to members of the public at deeply discounted prices. This promoted a form of popular capitalism along the lines of the Dean Witter business model. Moore gained an extremely high profile and became known as "Mr Privatisation".
Read more about this topic: John Moore, Baron Moore Of Lower Marsh
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