Tony Kerpel attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Elstree, Hertfordshire, before going on to study at the University of Bath, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in sociology in 1968.
19 Facts About Tony Kerpel
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Tony Kerpel was the president of the university's students' union in 1968 and 1969 and the editor of the then-student newspaper, SUL.
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Tony Kerpel was then transferred to the Home Office where he continued to serve as a press secretary for ministers of both Labour and Conservative governments.
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In 1972, Tony Kerpel took up an offer to work at the British Board of Film Censors as one of its five film examiners and left the Home Office, fulfilling a dream of his.
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In 1974, Tony Kerpel became a Conservative councillor for Camden London Borough Council, representing the Swiss Cottage ward until his election to the Belsize ward in 1978.
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Tony Kerpel was previously the personal assistant of Edward Heath, who was serving as Prime Minister and Leader of the Conservative Party at the time.
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In 1975 and 1976, Tony Kerpel served as the national chairman of the Young Conservatives and, from 1977 to 1979, he was the president of the European Young Democrats and Conservatives.
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Tony Kerpel became the leader of the Conservative opposition on Camden London Borough Council in 1981, leading the party into the 1982 Camden London Borough Council election.
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Tony Kerpel then stood in the 1983 general election as the Conservative candidate for the newly created Holborn and St Pancras constituency, but lost to Labour candidate Frank Dobson.
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Tony Kerpel planned to set up a national campaign group to fight corruption in the local government.
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From 1986 to 1992, Tony Kerpel was the special adviser to Kenneth Baker.
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But, Baker and Tony Kerpel were some of the few supporters of the City Technology Colleges programme inside the government.
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Tony Kerpel helped Baker write his autobiography The Turbulent Years: My Life in Politics.
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Tony Kerpel continued to advise de Klerk after Apartheid's fall, helping prepare a critical report of the economic policies of the newly elected Black majority government.
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Tony Kerpel has expressed opinion on modern political events, such as when he commented on Prime Minister Boris Johnson's failure to nominate Chris Grayling as Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament in 2020.
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Tony Kerpel was one of the main activists in the Coalition for Peace through Security, a campaigning group strongly opposed to unilateral nuclear disarmament and withdrawal from NATO.
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Tony Kerpel designed some of the group's posters, namely those critical of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
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Tony Kerpel believed the group to be popular enough "to be able to set up an office in Whitehall".
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Tony Kerpel was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1981 Birthday Honours for political service.