Sir Anthony George Berry was a British politician, the Conservative Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate, and a Whip in Margaret Thatcher"s government.
Background
Born in Eton, Berkshire, Berry was the sixth and youngest son of the newspaper magnate the 1st Viscount Kemsley, and his wife Mary (née Holmes). He married firstly, at Westminster in 1954, the Honorary Mary Cynthia Roche (born 1934), a daughter of 4th Baron Fermoy.
Career
He was killed in the Brighton hotel bombing. In 1962 he was appointed High Sheriff of Glamorgan. He served as Vice-Chamberlain of the Household between 1979 and 1981, Comptroller of the Household from 1981 to 1983 and was appointed Treasurer of the Household in 1983.
He was knighted in December 1983.
At the time of his death he was Deputy Chief Whip in Thatcher"s government. On 12 October 1984, Berry was killed in the Brighton hotel bombing, when a bomb was planted in the Grand Hotel in Brighton during the Conservative Party"s conference.
He was 59. In September 1986, Patrick Magee who carried out the bombing, received eight life sentences, but was released from prison in 1999 under the terms of the Good Friday agreement.
Since Magee"s release, Berry"s daughter, Jo Berry (a mother of three living in North West England) has received attention for her series of controversial meetings with the Brighton bomber, as part of her quest to come to terms with the bombing and, in her own words, "to bring something positive out of it". Some of their discussions were filmed for an Everyman programme, shown on BBC2 on Thursday 13 December 2001.
She has received some criticism from other families of Ireland Republican Army victims for these meetings
Membership
43rd United Kingdom Parliament. 44th United Kingdom Parliament. 45th United Kingdom Parliament.
46th United Kingdom Parliament.
47th United Kingdom Parliament. 48th United Kingdom Parliament.
49th United Kingdom Parliament.