Sir Anthony Garner, political organiser - obituary

Sir Anthony Garner, who has died aged 88, was a jovial and effective career political organiser who, as the head of the Conservative Party machine for 12 years, prepared and delivered for Margaret Thatcher her hat-trick of election victories in 1979, 1983 and 1987.

Forty years a Conservative agent, Tony Garner knew exactly what made the party tick. From the moment Lord Thorneycroft brought him to Central Office in 1976, he worked to ensure that the party not only won the seats it needed to get back into power, but also held them. He started by launching the biggest recruiting drive for party agents since the war, for deployment in urban marginal seats lost to Labour in 1974.

It produced some talented young organisers and contributed to victory in 1979, a landslide in 1983 and almost as comprehensive a win in 1987. By then Garner, ever the perfectionist, had identified several apparently safe seats where the organisation was collapsing, and took steps to make sure they were not lost.

Anthony Stuart Garner was born on January 28 1927, the son of Edward Garner, MC, a quantity surveyor, and his wife Dorothy. Educated at Liverpool College, he was recruited as Young Conservative organiser for Yorkshire in 1948 after service with the Grenadier Guards. In 1951 he became agent for Halifax, helping to capture the seat from Labour at the second attempt for Maurice Macmillan. In 1956 he was appointed the YCs’ national organiser.

He organised campaign tours for two prime ministers: Harold Macmillan (father of Maurice) in 1959, and Sir Alec Douglas-Home in 1964. By then he was Central Office agent for London, moving on to the South West, then in 1966 to the North West, where he ran the party organisation for a decade. He was also chief steward for party conferences in Blackpool.

After Mrs Thatcher was elected leader in February 1975, she installed Lord Thorneycroft as party chairman. The Birmingham MP Reginald Eyre, vice-chairman for party organisation, handed Thorneycroft a report criticising its effectiveness in the cities and recommending a shake-up. Sir Richard Webster, director of organisation, argued against radical change, and Thorneycroft forced him out, Garner taking his place.

^{Sir Anthony Garner with Margaret Thatcher at a Conservative ball in the 1980s}

Having overseen Mrs Thatcher’s first victory, Garner aroused some ill feeling by merging Central Office’s community affairs department into his own; several staff first read of their redundancy in the press. He later also took on responsibility for local government.

Prior to the 1983 election, Garner was concerned to discover that constituency associations were being approached by Tact, an ostensibly Conservative group on defence policy but in fact a front for CND. He issued a warning to all agents to give Tact a wide berth.

The Brighton bombing of 1984 was traumatic for Garner because he lost friends. By chance, the party had already decided to try Bournemouth two years on, so the closure of the Grand Hotel for rebuilding was not an inconvenience. Labour had picked Bournemouth for its 1985 conference, and Garner infiltrated it, wearing a stall-holder’s badge, to double-check its suitability. He left with some reservations but little choice in the matter – and with his cover blown by journalists covering the conference.

Throughout his time at Central Office, Garner chaired the Conservative Agents’ Examination Board and was president of the agents’ Benevolent Association.

Retiring in 1988, he became a parliamentary and public affairs consultant, vice-chairman of the British-Iranian Chamber of Commerce, and a director of the Carroll Anglo-American group, Carroll Aircraft Corporation and Farnborough Aerospace Development Corporation. He was a life governor of Liverpool College and president of the Old Lerpoolian Association.

He was knighted in the 1984 New Year’s Honours.

Tony Garner married, in 1967, Shirley Taylor, with whom he had two sons.

Sir Anthony Garner, born January 28 1927, died March 22 2015