LORD MICHAEL SPICER is one of the most talented and influential Conservative politicians of his generation. He was a Member of Parliament from 1974 to 2010, where he served as minister of various committees, including aviation, electricity and coal, and housing. Knighted in 1996, in 2001 Spicer was elected chairman of the 1922 committee, a position he retained until 2010, when he was elevated to the House of Lords