Nicholas Budgen (
1938-
1998) was the
Conservative Party MP for
Wolverhampton South West, following
Enoch Powell's resignation from the Conservative Party. A noted maverick and intellectual, who was educated at
Cambridge University and became a
barrister before entering
Parliament. He lost the Conservative Party Whip as one of the 12
Maastricht Rebels[?]. In
1996 he attempted to put through a
Private Members Bill[?] to make the
Bank of England independent; this became law in
1997 as one of the first things the
Labour government did.