Sir Timothy Hugh Francis Raison was a British Conservative politician and journalist. He was the MP for Aylesbury from 1970 to 1992, and served in the government of Margaret Thatcher.
Occupation
politician, journalist, writer
Position held
Member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, member of the 50th Parliament of the United Kingdom, member of the 49th Parliament of the United Kingdom, member of the 48th Parliament of the United Kingdom
Citizenship
United Kingdom
Born
November 3, 1929
Died
November 3, 2011
Overview
Sir Timothy Hugh Francis Raison (3 November 1929 – 3 November 2011) was a British Conservative politician.
Early life and education
The son of publisher and editor Maxwell Raison, general manager of Picture Post, and his wife Celia, Raison was educated, through being a scholarship boy, at two independent schools: at Dragon School in Oxford, where he became Head of School. From there he got a scholarship to Eton College, then to Christ Church, Oxford, to which he also attained a scholarship.
Career
Raison began his career as a journalist, first working on Picture Post, then New Scientist. Whilst at New Scientist he also edited Crossbow, journal of the Bow Group (a centre-right group within the Conservative Party).
According to Christopher Chataway, it was Raison, then still a journalist, who first came up with the idea of a World Refugee Year in 1958: 'It came from Tim Raison, who was a friend of mine and, like me, wanted to be a Conservative member of parliament ... He floated the idea past me and I thought it was terrific. He, I and two other journalists, Trevor Philpott and Colin Jones, wrote an article [in the Spring 1958 edition of Crossbow entitled “A Plan to Save the Refugees”] which was the start of the idea'.
