T. E. Utley

Thomas Edwin 'Peter' Utley CBE (1 February 1921–21 June 1988) was a British High Tory journalist and writer.

Blind since childhood, Utley read History at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, graduating from Cambridge University with a double first. During the Second World War he was a Times leader writer and then worked for The Observer and The Sunday Times. In the early 1950s, he was Assistant Editor of The Spectator and then for twenty years, he was a leader writer for The Daily Telegraph, then columnist and Chief Assistant Editor. In 1987, he moved to The Times, working as the Obituary Editor and as a columnist.

In the general election of February 1974, Utley had stood unsuccessfully as the Ulster Unionist candidate for North Antrim, gaining a 21.01% of the share of the vote, but lost to Ian Paisley of the Democratic Unionists.^[1]

Margaret Thatcher referred to him "the most distinguished Tory thinker of our time".^[2] He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1980. His son, Tom, is a columnist for the Daily Mail.

References

Bibliography

• Essays in Conservatism (1949).
• Modern Political Thought (1952).
• The Conservatives and the Critics (1956).
• Documents of Modern Political Thought (Joint editor, 1957).
• Not Guilty: The Conservative Reply (1957).
• Edmund Burke (1957).
• Occasion for Ombudsmen (1963).
• Your Money and Your Life (1964).
• Enoch Powell: The Man and his Thinking (1968).
• What Laws May Cure (1968).
• Ulster - A Short Background Analysis (1972).
• Lessons of Ulster (first edition: 1975, second edition: 1997).
• Charles Moore and Simon Heffer (editors), A Tory Seer: The Selected Journalism of T. E. Utley (1989).

External links

• Written Statement by Mrs. Thatcher on the death of T.E. Utley (22 June 1988)
• Mrs. Thatcher's preface to A Tory Seer (17 July 1989)
• T. E. Uttley appearance on BBC TV, 1974