Ted Dexter (1935-2021) England cricket captain who secured the political career of Jim Callaghan
The England cricketer Ted Dexter has died at 86. I recall him as one of the most stylish of cricketers and tributes will rightly focus on this aspect of his life.
Dexter did however make a brief foray into politics. He was parachuted into to stand for the Tories at Cardiff South-East in the 1964 General Election.
The seat was at this point marginal held by future Labour PM Jim Callaghan by less than 700 votes in 1959. The seat now abolished covered a wide area from some of Cardiff docks to the now beard friendly area of Roath where I’m typing this (Cardiff Central is held by Labour MP Jo Stevens with a large majority these days).
Dexter apparently knew nothing of Wales or the constituency, urging working class voters to send their children to Eton. Callaghan’s majority was over 7,000.
Fortunately Dexter was much more successful as England cricket captain for which he will rightly be remembered
The Conservative History Group published a fascinating account of Dexter’s campaign in 2015
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