This film is part of Free

Paul Dean

The social and political revolutions of 1968 seem a long way from the musings of a moderate Tory on the NHS and government .

1968 21 mins

Overview

Few MPs could have fit the definition of a moderate Tory more than Paul Dean in this 1968 interview. He was one of many figures interviewed by Canadian broadcaster Bernard Braden for an unrealised British current affairs series. Before being elected in 1963 Dean, worked on health and social service for the Conservative Research Department, leading this discussion naturally to the NHS on its 20th anniversary. Five decades on and many elements of the discussion seem familiar.

The second half of the interview moves into the role of the politician more generally, with Dean giving strong advocacy for developing the roles of committee in the Government structure. Dean’s affiliation with Ted Heath led to him getting the position of Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Security when the Conservatives came to power 1970. Unfavoured by Margaret Thatcher he was later Deputy Speaker for the House of Commons, was knighted in 1985 and became a life-peer in 1993. He died in 2009.