Stephen David Wyatt Milligan (12 May 1948 – 7 February 1994) was a British Conservative politician and journalist. He is perhaps best known for dying by autoerotic asphyxiation.
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Education
Educated at Bradfield College, he went on to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he became president of the Oxford Union.
Career
As a journalist he had worked for The Economist and the BBC, but left the trade in 1990 when he was selected as Conservative Party candidate for Eastleigh. He became its member of Parliament at the 1992 election.
Death
Forty-five year old Milligan was found dead in Hammersmith, London.[1] The discovery of his corpse in what was presumed to be a state of autoerotic asphyxiation, combined with self-bondage and cross-dressing, led to a greater public awareness of auto-erotic asphyxiation and self-bondage and their risks. A bizarre detail of his death, which was the subject of much comment and speculation at the time, was that he was found to have had an orange segment in his mouth at the time of his death.
At the time of his death he was engaged to Julie Kirkbride, now Conservative MP for Bromsgrove.
Aftermath
Milligan's death significantly contributed to ending John Major's "Back to Basics" policy initiative. Most commentators reflected that the circumstances of the MP's demise were a personal tragedy that unjustly overshadowed his achievements in life and his promising political career. Meanwhile, PM John Major branded the events and circumstances leading to Milligan's death as being "rather sad".
His death triggered a by-election at a time which was highly volatile for the Conservative Party and saw the election of Liberal Democrat David Chidgey.
A few days after his death, the story resurfaced when an Eastleigh-based local newspaper reporter released a transcript of a tape recorded telephone conversation with the MP in which he spoke at length about his private personal plans and political aspirations.
References
External links
- Guardian obituary of Stephen Milligan
- BBC news report of the circumstances of his death
- Independent news report from newsmedianews.com
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by David Price |
Member of Parliament for Eastleigh 1992–1994 |
Succeeded by David Chidgey |
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