{{Short description|British politician}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Piers Merchant | image = Piers Merchant.jpg | alt = | caption = | constituency_MP = [[Newcastle upon Tyne Central]] | term_start = 9 June 1983 | term_end = 18 May 1987 | predecessor = [[Harry Cowans]] | successor = [[Jim Cousins]] | constituency_MP2 = [[Beckenham (UK Parliament constituency)|Beckenham]] | term_start2 = 9 April 1992 | term_end2 = 27 October 1997 | predecessor2 = [[Philip Goodhart]] | successor2 = [[Jacqui Lait]] | birth_name = Piers Rolf Garfield Merchant | birth_date = {{birth date|1951|1|2|df=y}} | death_date = {{death date and age|2009|9|21|1951|1|2|df=y}} | party = [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] (until 2004)<br /> [[UKIP]] (2004–2009) | spouse = {{marriage| Helen Burrluck<br />|1977}} | alma_mater = [[University College, Durham]] }}
'''Piers Rolf Garfield Merchant''' (2 January 1951 – 21 September 2009) was a British [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] politician. He was the [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Newcastle upon Tyne Central]] from 1983 to 1987, and then MP for [[Beckenham (UK Parliament constituency)|Beckenham]] from 1992 until he resigned in October 1997 following a scandal.
== Education == Merchant was educated at [[Nottingham High School]] and the [[University of Durham]], where he studied law and politics. He then worked for nine years at ''The Journal'' (Newcastle).<ref name="gdn20090923">{{cite news |title= Piers Merchant obituary |work=The Guardian|date= 23 September 2009 |author= Van der Vat, Dan |url= https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/sep/23/piers-merchant-obituaries}}</ref>
==Political career == Merchant was first elected to the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] at the [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983 general election]] for the [[Newcastle upon Tyne Central|Newcastle Central]] constituency, but lost his seat in the [[1987 United Kingdom general election|1987 general election]]. He returned to parliament as the MP for [[Beckenham (UK Parliament constituency)|Beckenham]] at the [[1992 United Kingdom general election|1992 general election]].<ref name="gdn20090923"/>
He was caught by ''[[The Sun (United Kingdom)|The Sun]]'' romancing with a teenage nightclub hostess on a park bench in south-east London.<ref name="ind20091003">{{cite news |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/piers-merchant-tory-mp-whose-career-ended-when-he-was-caught-having-an-affair-with-a-teenage-soho-nightclub-hostess-1797040.html?origin=internalSearch |title= Piers Merchant: Tory MP whose career ended when he was caught having an affair with a teenage Soho nightclub hostess |work= The Independent |date= 3 October 2009 |author= McKittrick, David}}</ref>
He resigned in 1997 following allegations that he was having an affair with his researcher. He later claimed that the whole affair had been set up by his one time assistant and family friend, Anthony Gilberthorpe, for a payment of £25,000 from the ''[[Sunday Mirror]]''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2003/nov/16/features.magazine57|title=What happened next?|first=Tom|last=Templeton|date=15 November 2003|publisher=Guardian Media Group|work=The Observer|via=The Guardian|accessdate=8 April 2020}}</ref>
In the [[2004 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|2004 European Parliament election]], Merchant stood for the [[UK Independence Party]] (UKIP) in the [[North East England (European Parliament constituency)|North East England constituency]] at the top of its party list. He was not elected.<ref name="ind20091003"/> In 2005 he was the UKIP candidate for the Torrington Rural ward in the [[Devon County Council]] election, but finished fourth of the four candidates.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.torridge.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=318|title=DCC Election Results 2005|publisher=Torridge District Council|access-date=17 March 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613201729/http://www.torridge.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=318|archive-date=13 June 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Piers Merchant worked for some years in various capacities for UKIP, also, for a time, he acted as UKIP General Secretary.<ref name="ind20091003"/>
==Personal life== In 2005, Merchant and his family moved to [[Great Torrington]] in [[North Devon]].
In July 2009 he was diagnosed with advanced multisite metastatic [[prostate cancer]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ukip-vs-eukip.com/category/piers-merchant/|work=UKIP v EUKip|author=Greg Lance – Watkins|date=7 May 2019|accessdate=8 April 2020|title=Piers Merchant}}</ref><ref name="Tele">{{cite news |title= Politics Obituaries: Piers Merchant |work=The Telegraph|date= 25 September 2009 |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/6224063/Piers-Merchant.html |accessdate=25 September 2009}}</ref> He died on 21 September 2009.
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{Hansard-contribs | mr-piers-merchant | Piers Merchant }}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | title = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Newcastle upon Tyne Central]] | years = [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983]] – [[1997 United Kingdom general election|1987]] | before = [[Harry Cowans]] | after = [[Jim Cousins]] }} {{succession box | title = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Beckenham (UK Parliament constituency)|Beckenham]] | years = [[1992 United Kingdom general election|1992]] – [[1997 Beckenham by-election|1997]] | before = [[Philip Goodhart]] | after = [[Jacqui Lait]] }} {{s-end}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merchant, Piers}} [[Category:1951 births]] [[Category:2009 deaths]] [[Category:Alumni of University College, Durham]] [[Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies]] [[Category:People educated at Nottingham High School]] [[Category:People from Beckenham]] [[Category:UK MPs 1983–1987]] [[Category:UK MPs 1992–1997]] [[Category:UK MPs 1997–2001]] [[Category:UK Independence Party politicians]] [[Category:Palatinate (newspaper) editors]] [[Category:British Eurosceptics]]