FORMER deputy Prime Minister Lord Michael Heseltine has told Brits to vote Lib Dem
The intervention comes two years after he given the boot as a government adviser after rebelling over Brexit.
Who is Lord Michael Heseltine?
Born in Swansea in Wales on March 21 1933, Lord Heseltine served as a MP from 1966 to 2001 and was seen to be a prominent figure in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major.
He was elected as the MP for Tavistock in Devon in the 1966 General Election but when that seat was abolished, he represented Henley from February 1974.
Following a Conservative victory in 1970, Lord Heseltine was promoted to Government by the then Prime Minister, Edward Heath, as a junior minister at the Department of Transport.
He rose through the ranks and was eventually promoted to the Cabinet in 1979 in Margaret Thatcher’s Government.
His roles included Secretary of State for Defence in 1983 but he later resigned from Cabinet following a bitter dispute with Thatcher over the Westland Affair.
He returned to the backbench where he was increasingly critical of Thatcher.
Thatcherwas eventually replaced by John Major which paved the way for Heseltine back to Cabinet and he was appointed Secretary of State for the Environment in 1990.
When was he Deputy Prime Minister?
Lord Heseltine served as Deputy Prime Minister under John Major from 1995-97.
In this capacity he chaired a number of key Cabinet committees and was also an early key enthusiast for theMillennium Dome.
When he suffered heart trouble in 1997, Lord Heseltine declined to stand for the Conservative Party leadership after the 1997 General Election.
When did he tell Brits to vote Lib Dem?
The lifelong pro-European had the Tory whip suspended in May for promising to back the Liberal Democrats in the EU elections.
He told lifelong Conservative supporters to “put the country first” and back Lib Dem or independent Tory candidates in the upcoming December 12 election, the Mail reports.
Asked what he would say to long-time Tory voters, Lord Heseltine said: “I’m telling them to vote for what they believe and what the Conservative Party has stood for all my life and certainly all of theirs – and to put country first.”
He made the remarks alongside fellow ousted Tories Dominic Grieve, David Gauke and Anne Milton, who are all standing as independents.
Is Lord Heseltine still an MP?
Lord Heseltine stood down from his Henley-on-Thames constituency at the 2001 election and was succeeded by the now Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
He was madealife peer12 July 2001 taking the titleBaron Heseltine, ofThenfordin the County ofNorthamptonshire.
This gave him a seat in the House of Lords.
In 2016 he again hit the headlines in a rather bizarre fashion – having to deny killing his mother’s dog.
And in January he was fined 5,000 after knocking a cyclist off his bike.
