served as PPS to other Ministers. He did not achieve high ministerial office however because of his rebelling tendencies, which saw many label him as a "wet". He opposed the Bill that scrapped the Greater London Council and other metropolitan authorities in 1984, and also the poll tax. He also became Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Drug Misuse. Rathbone was a relation of, and godfather to, the future Conservative leader David Cameron. He employed Cameron as a researcher from January to March 1985. After losing his seat to the Liberal Democrats in the 1997 general election he became chairman of Sponsorship Consultancy Ltd. and in August 1998, was expelled from the Conservative Party by William Hague for his support of the breakaway Pro-Euro Conservative Party. He died from cancer in 2002, aged 69. He is buried in the churchyard of St Peter's Church, Lowick, Northamptonshire. References Times Obituary Guardian Obituary External links 1933 births 2002 deaths Deaths from cancer Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People educated at Eton College UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 Tim Politicians of the Pro-Euro Conservative Party