Background
HOWELL, Ralph Fredrick was born on May 25, 1923. Parents: the late Walter Howell.
HOWELL, Ralph Fredrick was born on May 25, 1923. Parents: the late Walter Howell.
He was educated at Diss Grammar School, Norfolk.
He joined the Royal Air Force in 1941, becoming a navigator and bomb aimer. He was demobilised as a flight lieutenant in 1946, and became an arable farmer, later chairing the local branch of the National Farmers Union. He joined the Conservative Party, and was councillor for Mitford and Launditch Rural District Council from 1961.
He stood for Parliament in North Norfolk at the 1966 general election, but could not displace the incumbent Labour Member of Parliament, Bert Hazell.
He was a proponent of the adoption of a "workfare" system of unemployment benefits, to encourage unemployed people to find jobs. His book, Why Work?, was published in 1976, followed by Why Not Work? (1991) and Putting Britain Back to Work (1995).
He served on several backbench committees, and on the executive of the 1922 Committee from 1984 to 1990. In 1996, he introduced the Right to Work Bill, which proposed the state as the employer of last resort for the unemployed.
He was knighted in 1993.
He retired from the House of Commons at the 1997 general election.
His politics were considered to fall on the right wing of his party, supporting compulsory National Service, reintroduction of the death penalty, tax cuts, reduction of the public sector, stronger controls on immigration rules, and the introduction of identity cards.
45th United Kingdom Parliament. 46th United Kingdom Parliament. 47th United Kingdom Parliament.
48th United Kingdom Parliament.
49th United Kingdom Parliament. 50th United Kingdom Parliament.
51st United Kingdom Parliament]
He served as Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) for North Norfolk for 27 years. Howell was a nominated member of the European Parliament from 1974 to 1979, and a delegate to the Council of Europe and the Western European Union from 1987 to 1997.
Spouse Margaret Bone, 1950. Children: two son, one d.