{{Short description|British politician (1913–1996)}} {{for|the Canadian diplomat|Nigel Fisher (United Nations)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}} '''Sir Nigel Thomas Loveridge Fisher''', MC (14 July 1913 – 9 October 1996) was a British Conservative Party politician.

==Early life== Son of naval officer Sir Thomas Fisher and Aimée Constance, daughter of Walter Loveridge, of Oaken, Staffordshire,<ref>Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 3, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 3578</ref> Fisher was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was in the Welsh Guards of the British Army during World War II, serving as a major in northwest Europe. He was awarded the Military Cross on the field in 1945. He became a partner in a London firm of surveyors.

==Parliamentary career== Fisher contested Chislehurst in 1945. He was Member of Parliament for Hitchin from 1950 to 1955, and for Surbiton from 1955 to 1983 – preceding Richard Tracey. He was parliamentary private secretary to Gwilym Lloyd George from 1951 and a junior minister for the Colonies from 1962 to 1963, and for Commonwealth Relations and the Colonies from 1963 to 1964.

Fisher wrote in 1973 the first biography of his close friend, the Tory statesman, Iain Macleod. Like Macleod, Fisher was on the liberal wing of the Tory party, opposing capital punishment and supporting homosexual law reform. He was one of two Conservative MPs who refused to vote for the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 and one of fifteen who voted against the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968.<ref>Hansen, R. (1999). The Kenyan Asians, British Politics, and the Commonwealth Immigrants Act, 1968. The Historical Journal, 42(3), 809-834</ref>

==Family== In 1935, Fisher married Lady Gloria Vaughan, daughter of Ernest Vaughan, 7th Earl of Lisburne, and had two children. Their son Mark Fisher was a Labour Party MP. He and his first wife divorced in 1952, and in 1956 he married erstwhile Ulster Unionist Party MP Patricia Ford. He was knighted in the 1974 New Year Honours "for political and public services."<ref>United Kingdom list: {{London Gazette |issue=46162 |date=28 December 1973 |pages=1 |supp=y }}</ref> By his mother's second marriage to the Liberal politician Sir Geoffrey Shakespeare, 1st Baronet, Fisher was half-brother of the medical practitioner Sir William Geoffrey Shakespeare, 2nd Baronet, whose son is the sociologist and bioethicist Tom Shakespeare.<ref>Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 3, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 3578</ref>

==References== {{reflist}} *''Times Guide to the House of Commons'', 1950, 1966 & 1979 *{{Rayment-hc|date=March 2012}} *[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-sir-nigel-fisher-1357676.html ''Independent'' obituary]

== External links == * {{Hansard-contribs | mr-Nigel-Fisher | Nigel Fisher }}

{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Hitchin | years = 1950 – 1955 | before = Philip Asterley Jones | after = Martin Maddan }}

{{s-new|constituency}} {{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament for Surbiton |years=1955 – 1983}} {{s-aft|after=Richard Tracey}}

{{s-off}} {{succession box | title=Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies | with = Richard Hornby 1963 – 1964 | years=1962–1964 | before=Hugh Fraser | after=Eirene White<br />Lord Taylor }} {{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, Nigel}} Category:1913 births Category:1996 deaths Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:Knights Bachelor Category:People educated at Eton College Category:Welsh Guards officers Category:Recipients of the Military Cross Category:UK MPs 1950–1951 Category:UK MPs 1951–1955 Category:UK MPs 1955–1959 Category:UK MPs 1959–1964 Category:UK MPs 1964–1966 Category:UK MPs 1966–1970 Category:UK MPs 1970–1974 Category:UK MPs 1974 Category:UK MPs 1974–1979 Category:UK MPs 1979–1983 Category:Ministers in the Macmillan and Douglas-Home governments, 1957–1964 Category:Spouses of British politicians

{{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1910s-stub}}