17 Facts About Stephen Milligan

Stephen David Wyatt Milligan was a British Conservative politician and journalist.

Stephen Milligan held a number of senior journalistic posts until his election to serve as Member of Parliament for Eastleigh in 1992.

Stephen Milligan remained in office until he died at his home in Hammersmith, London, apparently self-strangled during an act of autoerotic asphyxiation.

Stephen Milligan was born in Godalming, Surrey, on 12 May 1948, the son of David Stephen Milligan, a company secretary at House of Fraser, and Ruth Seymour, a ballet teacher.

Stephen Milligan was educated at Bradfield College, and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

Stephen Milligan was a contemporary of journalist Libby Purves, whom he once partnered to a College Ball.

Stephen Milligan joined The Economist in 1970, and was industrial editor and chief EEC correspondent from 1972 to 1980.

Stephen Milligan later became foreign editor and Washington correspondent at The Sunday Times from 1984 until 1987, before rejoining the BBC in 1988 as a European correspondent.

Sunday Times editor Andrew Neil described Stephen Milligan: "He possessed an enquiring, original intelligence, a wide knowledge of foreign and domestic affairs and he was great fun to work with, his infectious laugh filling our editorial meetings, where he played a major role in defining the paper's policy positions".

Stephen Milligan left the Conservative Party upon the formation of the Social Democratic Party in 1981.

Stephen Milligan became secretary of the Conservative Foreign and Commonwealth Council in 1991 and was a member of the moderate Bow Group.

At the 1992 general election, Stephen Milligan was elected as Member of Parliament for Eastleigh with a majority of 17,702.

Stephen Milligan was found dead in his house at 64 Black Lion Lane, Hammersmith, London, by his secretary Vera Taggart on 7 February 1994.

Stephen Milligan had failed to appear in the House of Commons as expected, and so Taggart went to look for him.

Stephen Milligan's corpse was found naked except for a pair of stockings and suspenders, with an electrical flex tied around his neck, his head covered and an orange in his mouth.

The pathology report into Stephen Milligan's death discounted the possibility of murder, lending weight to the belief that he died as a result of suicide or, more likely, died accidentally from autoerotic asphyxiation.

The Conservative candidate, Stephen Milligan Allison, came third in the by-election.