Background
Winstanley was born in Nantwich, Cheshire.
Winstanley was born in Nantwich, Cheshire.
He was educated at Manchester Grammar School and the University of Manchester where he was President of the University Union and captain of cricket. He graduated in medicine and served in the Royal Army Medical Corps before becoming a general practitioner in Urmston.
He became a noted media personality as a television and radio doctor in the 1960s and hosting Granada Television"s This Is Your Right consumer advice show in the 1970s. On 3 April 1974, the Commons passed a motion under section 6 of the House of Commons Disqualification Acting 1957 to override the disqualification and allow Winstanley to sit. Winstanley was created a life peer on 23 January 1976 with the title of Baron Winstanley, of Urmston in Greater Manchester, during Harold Wilson"s second term as Prime Minister.
44th United Kingdom Parliament. 46th United Kingdom Parliament]
Following his return to the House of Commons in 1974, Winstanley discovered that he held a post which would disqualify him from being a member of the House of Commons - a post of sessional medical officer at a Royal Ordnance Factory that amounted to employment in the Civil Service of the Crown.