{{Short description|British politician (1941–2021)}} {{More citations needed|date=February 2022}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}} {{Use British English|date=May 2012}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = Sir | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRICS}} | image = John Butterfill MP.jpg | caption = Butterfill as an MP | constituency_MP = Bournemouth West | parliament = UK | term_start = 9 June 1983 | term_end = 12 April 2010 | majority = | predecessor = John Eden | successor = Conor Burns | birth_name = John Valentine Butterfill | birth_date = {{Birth date|1941|02|14|df=yes}} | birth_place = Kingston upon Thames, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|2021|11|7|1941|2|14|df=yes}} | death_place = Hampshire, England | spouse = {{marriage|Pamela Ross-Symons|1965}} | party = Conservative | relations = | children = 4 | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = {{hlist|Surveyor|businessman|politician}} | awards = Knight Bachelor (2004) | signature = | website = {{official website |//web.archive.org/web/20100326105951/http://www.johnbutterfillmp.co.uk/}} | footnotes = | education = Caterham School }}
'''Sir John Valentine Butterfill''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRICS}} (14 February 1941 – 7 November 2021) was a British Conservative politician and businessman who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bournemouth West from 1983 until he stood down at the 2010 general election.
== Early life and career == {{Unreferenced section|date=February 2022}} Born in Surrey, Butterfill was educated at Caterham School and the College of Estate Management in London. In 1962, he began his career as a valuer with Jones Lang Wootton before becoming a senior executive with the Hammerson Group in 1964. He was a director at the Audley Properties Group (now the Bovis Homes Group) from 1969 until he became the managing director of the St Paul's Securities Group. He became a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in 1974.
He was elected as the chairman of the Guildford Conservative Association from 1976 to 1982. In 1977 he became a senior partner in Curchod & Co Chartered Surveyors, where he remained until 1992. He was the director of ISLEF Building and Construction Ltd from 1985 to 1991 and the Pavilion Services Group from 1992 to 1994.
== Parliamentary career == {{More citations needed section|date=December 2022}} In 1979, Butterfill contested London South East Inner at the European Parliamentary election but was defeated comfortably by Labour's Richard Balfe. He was selected to contest the Croydon North West by-election in 1981, which was caused by the death of Conservative MP Robert Taylor.
It came as a great surprise when Bill Pitt won the seat for the Liberal Party, on a 24% swing and with a majority of 3,254. He was subsequently chosen to contest the south-coast seat of Bournemouth West on the retirement of the veteran MP John Eden. Butterfill won the seat at the 1983 general election with a majority of 13,331 and remained the MP until 2010.
Butterfill remained a backbencher for the entirety of his parliamentary career. He was the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Secretary of State for Energy, Cecil Parkinson, in 1988, remaining Parkinson's PPS when he became the Secretary of State for Transport in 1989. His job ended when Parkinson resigned from the Cabinet at the election of John Major to succeed Margaret Thatcher in 1990.
Butterfill served on many select committees during his more than 20-year Westminster career. He was responsible for introducing many acts of Parliament including the Registered Homes (Amendment) Act 1991,<ref>{{cite legislation UK |mode=cs1 |type=act |year=1991 |chapter=20 |act=Registered Homes (Amendment) Act 1991 |access-date=3 June 2014}}</ref> the Insolvency Act 1994,<ref>{{cite legislation UK |mode=cs1 |type=act |year=1994 |chapter=7 |act=Insolvency Act 1994 |access-date=3 June 2014}}</ref> and the Policyholders Protection Act 1997.<ref>{{cite legislation UK |mode=cs1 |type=act |year=1997 |chapter=18 |act=Policyholders Protection Act 1997 |access-date=3 June 2014}}</ref>
In 1995, he entered a bill to place the UK in Central European Time. It was opposed by many Scottish MPs.<ref>{{cite episode |series=On the Record |series-link=On the Record (British TV programme) |title=Debate on Daylight Saving Time |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/otr/intext95-96/Daylight14.1.96.html |network=BBC-1 |access-date=3 June 2014 |date=1996-01-14 |archive-date=10 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110231709/http://www.bbc.co.uk/otr/intext95-96/Daylight14.1.96.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
He introduced the Financial Mutuals Arrangements Bill, which was renamed and became the Building Societies (Funding) and Mutual Societies (Transfers) Act 2007.
=== Expenses === {{Further|United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal}} In May 2009, as part of the ''Daily Telegraph''{{'s}} publication of details, the newspaper revealed that for five years, Butterfill owned a six-bedroom country house in Woking, Surrey, 80 miles from his constituency. At the time, he designated a small flat in his Bournemouth constituency, bought for £56,000, as his "main home". Said by Butterfill to have been purchased as a wreck, he submitted regular claims under the second home allowance for the cost of running the Woking house, which had a swimming pool and extensive grounds. This included £17,000 on servants' quarters alone, contributing up to £1,778 a month towards the mortgage interest, and was also reimbursed for council tax bills for the "staff annex", where his housekeeper and odd-job man lived.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5396199/MPs-expenses-Tory-MP-Sir-John-Butterfill-paid-no-tax-on-600000-house-profit.html|title=MPs' expenses: Tory MP Sir John Butterfill paid no tax on £600,000 house profit|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=27 May 2009|accessdate=27 May 2009|location=London|first=Rosa|last=Prince|archive-date=30 May 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090530103904/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5396199/MPs-expenses-Tory-MP-Sir-John-Butterfill-paid-no-tax-on-600000-house-profit.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
Butterfill repaid £17,479 in discretionary repayments to the government related to the expenses row. However, Butterfill was only over-paid by a total of £2,032.47 for mortgage interest (£1,408 in 2006–07 and £625 in 2008–09). He was also overpaid by a total of £332 for council tax in 2005–06 (of which £47.66 was due to payments not being reduced for dissolution and £284.00 due to an incorrect adjustment when moving house). The total repayment recommended was £2,364.<ref>{{cite report |author=House of Commons Members Estimate Committee |title=Review of past ACA payments |type=First Report of Session 2009–10 |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmmemest/348/348.pdf |publisher=The Stationery Office |access-date=30 April 2014 |location=London |date=4 February 2010 |archive-date=14 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100214183244/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmmemest/348/348.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
== ''Dispatches'' lobbyist investigation == {{Further|2010 cash for influence scandal}} Butterfill was one of the MPs named in a 2010 sting operation. Butterfill allegedly told an undercover reporter that he would lobby to benefit a fictitious company and use his political connections for a payment of £35,000 a year.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/03/21/tory-mp-sir-john-butterfill-offered-access-to-chiefs-for-35-000-115875-22127197|title=Tory MP Sir John Butterfill offered access to chiefs for £35,000|work=Daily Mirror|date=21 March 2010|accessdate=22 March 2010|archive-date=14 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101114232819/http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/03/21/tory-mp-sir-john-butterfill-offered-access-to-chiefs-for-35-000-115875-22127197/|url-status=live}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=February 2022}} Butterfill was also seen on the ''Dispatches'' programme saying he had been one of the four people who persuaded David Cameron to stand for leader of the Conservative Party and that it was likely that he (Butterfill) would be made a peer and go to the House of Lords. The following day the Conservative Party leader David Cameron said: "I can tell you that is not going to happen."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/cameron-dashes-tory-butterfill-s-peerage-hopes-after-lobby-firm-boasts-6704839.html |title=Cameron dashes Tory Butterfill's peerage hopes after 'lobby firm boasts' |work=Evening Standard |date=23 March 2010 |access-date=23 March 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100326203601/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23818081-cameron-dashes-tory-butterfills-peerage-hopes-after-lobby-firm-boasts.do |archive-date=26 March 2010 }}</ref>
In the final report of the Standards Commissioner, it was deemed that Butterfill did not breach parliamentary rules: {{blockquote| The Commissioner does not consider that any of the statements made by Sir John during the course of his meeting with the undercover reporter or any of the actions he took as a Member referred to in his statements were in breach of the rules of the House. He has not, therefore, upheld the allegations against Sir John.<ref>{{cite report |author=House of Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges |author-link=Standards and Privileges Committee |title=Sir John Butterfill, Mr Stephen Byers, Ms Patricia Hewitt, Mr Geoff Hoon, Mr Richard Caborn and Mr Adam Ingram |type=Ninth Report of Session 2010–11 |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmstnprv/654/654.pdf |publisher=The Stationery Office |access-date=30 April 2014 |location=London |date=9 December 2010 |archive-date=29 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329040837/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmstnprv/654/654.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
== Personal life == He married Pamela Ross-Symons in 1965 in Surrey, and they had a son and three daughters. He was awarded a knighthood in the 2004 New Year Honours for "services to Parliament."<ref name=GB><!-- United Kingdom: --> {{London Gazette |issue=57155 |date=31 December 2003 |pages=1 |supp=1 }}</ref> He was a council member of the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals. His constituency included the centre of Bournemouth.
Butterfill died in Hampshire<ref>{{cite web |title= DOR Q4/2021 in HAMPSHIRE (504-1G) |id= Entry Number 523044028 |url=https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/indexes_search.asp#Results |website=GRO Online Indexes |publisher=General Register Office for England and Wales |url-access=registration |access-date=28 October 2022}}</ref> on 7 November 2021, at the age of 80.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Butterfill|first1=Pamela|title=BUTTERFILL Sir John Valentine|url=https://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/253421/butterfill-sir-john-valentine|work=The Telegraph|access-date=24 November 2021|date=11 November 2021|archive-date=12 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211112144503/https://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/253421/butterfill-sir-john-valentine|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Sir John Butterfill obituary |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/sir-john-butterfill-obituary-xfxrdfx97 |url-access=subscription |access-date=2 May 2022 |work=The Times |date=24 November 2021 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211124134352/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sir-john-butterfill-obituary-xfxrdfx97 |archive-date=24 November 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100326105951/http://www.johnbutterfillmp.co.uk/ Official website] * [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-775,00.html Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: John Butterfill MP] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051101094356/http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-775,00.html |date=1 November 2005 }} * [https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/john_butterfill/bournemouth_west TheyWorkForYou.com – John Butterfill MP] * [http://www.bournemouthwestconservatives.com/ Bournemouth West Conservatives] * [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/80.stm BBC Politics Profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060519070506/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/80.stm |date=19 May 2006 }}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{s-bef | before = Sir John Eden, Bt }} {{ s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for Bournemouth West | years = 1983–2010 }} {{s-aft | after = Conor Burns }} {{s-end}}
{{Speaker of the British House of Commons election, 2000}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butterfill, John}} Category:1941 births Category:2021 deaths Category:People from Kingston upon Thames Category:People educated at Caterham School Category:Politicians from the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Category:Politicians from Bournemouth Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Dorset Category:UK MPs 1983–1987 Category:UK MPs 1987–1992 Category:UK MPs 1992–1997 Category:UK MPs 1997–2001 Category:UK MPs 2001–2005 Category:UK MPs 2005–2010 Category:Knights Bachelor