Derbyshire tales

A short addendum to a recent post in which I explained that my father spent his entire working life with Nestlé, his final job being manager of a factory in Ashbourne, Derbyshire.

Last week, at a lunch at the House of Lords, I sat opposite The Rt Hon The Lord McLoughlin. The name was familiar so I asked him if he was the former Conservative MP for Derbyshire Dales (formerly West Derbyshire).

Indeed he was, so I explained that my parents had lived in his constituency and he had been their member of Parliament for many years. When I then mentioned that my father had been manager of the Nestlé factory in Ashbourne, he thought they had probably met because in the mid to late Eighties, when their paths might have crossed, the Nestlé factory was still the largest employer in the town.

A former miner, Patrick McLoughlin entered Parliament in 1986 after winning (by 100 votes) the by-election that followed the resignation of Matthew Parris, who left the Commons for a career in broadcasting and journalism. An MP for 33 years, he was appointed government chief whip by David Cameron in 2010 before serving as Secretary of State for Transport from 2012 to 2016. Later, under Theresa May, he became party chairman.

Impressively, given the size of the largely rural Derbyshire Dales constituency, he was able to describe the tiny hamlet where my parents lived, noting the narrow lane that leads up to the old Norman church.

The funny thing is, it’s exactly a year ago that I found myself sitting next to Sarah Dines, who succeeded McLoughlin as MP for Derbyshire Dales, at a dinner to mark the 20th anniversary of the Guido Fawkes website. Dines won the seat for the Conservatives in 2019 with a majority of 17,381, but lost it (to Labour) in 2024.

It was the first time I had met her but I’ve kind of known her husband, who was also there, for 40 years. As Lord McLoughlin said, after I told him about my family’s connection with his old constituency, “It’s a small world.”

Below: The Derbyshire Dales close to where my parents lived