Keith Stainton
Keith Monin Stainton (8 November 1921 – 3 November 2001) was a British Conservative politician World War II decorated veteran. Keith Stainton was born in Kendal, Westmorland, the son of a Kendal butcher father and a Belgian refugee mother who met during the First World War. He left school at 14 and worked as an insurance clerk from 1936 until military service. In early 1940 he volunteered for the Navy and was commissioned into the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, into submarines and served on the famous French submarine . Part French himself, he was awarded the Légion d'honneur, the Croix de Guerre avec Palme and a citation à l'ordre de L'Armée for his spy landings and torpedo actions in the Mediterranean. After the war he read economics at Manchester University where he was founder chairman of the Manchester University Conservative Association. From 1949 to 1952, he was a leader writer for the Financial Times. He was also a founder member of the Bow Group and first chairman of Croydon East Conservative Association. After working as a management consultant, he joined a major food manufacturing and distribution company and became managing director and chairman. He was a Lloyd's underwriter specialising in