he would stand down at the next election, but instead put his name forward for the safer seat of Westmorland and Lonsdale. Thurnham was not interviewed, and Tim Collins - formerly an aide to John Major - was selected as the Conservative candidate instead. Thurnham resigned the Conservative party whip in February 1996, reducing John Major's majority in Parliament to two. At the time, Thurnham indicated that this was because of his dismay at the Scott Report and the Nolan Report, but subsequently chose to cross the floor to join the Liberal Democrats in October 1996. He did not contest the seat at the 1997 general election. After leaving the House of Commons, he was chairman of WR Group Holdings. He also ran a farm. Family He had a son and three daughters with his first wife, and they also adopted a son with cerebral palsy. They were divorced in 2004. He died of pancreatic cancer at home in Bentham, North Yorkshire on 10 May 2008, aged 69, the day after he married his second wife, Carole Emery. References Obituaries: The Bolton News, 14 May 2008 The Daily Telegraph, 16 May 2008 The Times, 28 May 2008 The Guardian, 2 June 2008 The Independent, 12 June 2008 1938 births 2008 deaths Alumni of Cranfield University Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Deaths from cancer in England Deaths from pancreatic cancer Harvard Business School alumni Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Liberal Democrats (UK) MPs for English constituencies People educated at Oundle School People from Staines-upon-Thames UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 20th-century British engineers