Michael Henry Colin Hughes-Young, 1st Baron St Helens, MC (28 October 1912 – 27 December 1980) was a British army officer and politician. He served as a Government whip for nine years; after being defeated, he was given an hereditary peerage by the Crown. Family Hughes-Young was the son of Brigadier-General Henry Young, a Northern Ireland-born Cavalry Officer who later served as Sergeant-at-Arms for the Parliament of Northern Ireland. He was sent to Selwyn House Preparatory School in Broadstairs, and then to Harrow School; he followed his father into the Army, studying at Sandhurst. In 1932 he joined the Black Watch. Army career In 1934, Hughes-Young was attached to the French Army on an exchange programme; in 1935 he was seconded to the King's African Rifles. On the outbreak of the Second World War he married Elizabeth Blakiston-Houston, also from Northern Ireland. He fought against Italy in Abyssinia, and later returned to Britain where he participated in the invasion of Europe; he was wounded twice and won the Military Cross. Politics Hughes-Young left the army, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, in 1947, and settled in Englefield Green in Surrey. He became an official of Conservative Central Office in the publicity department. At the 1951 general election, he fought St Helens against Hartley Shawcross, the President of the Board of Trade in the Labour government; this was a safe Labour constituency but it gave Hughes-Young much experience of fighting an election campaign. Election to Parliament Prior to the 1955 general election Hughes-Young was selected as Conservative candidate for Wandsworth Central, a marginal seat. The Labour incumbent Richard Adams retired and Hughes-Young beat Labour's new candidate, Patricia Llewelyn-Davies, by just over 1,000 votes. He took until December to make his maiden speech, which was in a debate on raising the level of National Assistance; he argued that many people resented receiving it because it was charity which brought shame on their family. Whip's Office Hughes-Young served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of State, Board of Trade for some months in 1956. Harold Macmillan appointed Hughes-Young as an Assistant Whip when he became Prime Minister in January 1957. This silenced him in the Chamber of the House of Commons (because whips were not supposed to speak), although it was an unpaid post. In 1958 he was part of a Parliamentary delegation to the United States. He was also a member of