Thomas Edwin Utley

Thomas Edwin 'Peter' Utley CBE (1 February 1921–21 June 1988) was a journalist and writer. He was 'described by Baroness Margaret Thatcher, who is Patron of the Memorial Fund, as "the most distinguished Tory thinker of our time".'

Bloody Sunday

An April 1972 cable to Maurice Tugwell from Colonel F. M. K. Tuck of MO4, the Ministry of Defence branch responsible for Northern Ireland, suggests that Utley had been shown an Army propaganda document called The Knocking Game. The relevant passage read:

2. The Knocking Game. We have no objection to circulating this on the lines you suggest and will attach it to our next monthly report. However, it is not what is wanted for public use and we intend offering it to IRD for their advice. We hope they may be able to adapt into suitable form for use in Ireland. We see Uttley made good use of this material.

Ulster Unionist

In the general election of February 1974, Utley stood as the Ulster Unionist candidate for North Antrim against Ian Paisley, but lost, getting 21.01% of the vote.

Affiliations

• Salisbury Group

Connections

• His son is the Daily Mail columnist Tom Utley

Books

• Essays in Conservatism (1949).
• Modern Political Thought (1952).
• The Conservatives and the Critics (1956).
• Documents of Modern Political Thought (Joint editor, 1957).
• Not Guilty (1957).
• Edmund Burke (1957).
• Occasion for Ombudsmen (1963).
• Your Money and Your Life (1964).
• Enoch Powell: The Man and his Thinking (1968).
• What Laws May Cure (1968).
• Lessons of Ulster (first edition: 1975, second edition: 1997, republished by Friends of the Union).
• Charles Moore and Simon Heffer (editors), A Tory Seer: The Selected Journalism of T. E. Utley (1989).

Resources

• Written Statement by Mrs. Thatcher on the death of T.E. Utley (22 June 1988)
• Mrs. Thatcher's preface to A Tory Seer (17 July 1989)