David Mellor-Gap Rating 7/10

He is a British Conservative politician and barrister, broadcaster and journalist.

Educated at Swanage Grammar School, he attended Christ's College, Cambridge. After briefly working for Jeffrey Archer, then a Member of Parliament (MP), while studying for his bar exams, Mellor became a barrister in 1972, and a Queens Counsel in 1987. After contested West Bromwich East in the general election in October 1974, he became the MP for Putney in the 1979 general election. After a prolonged spell in as junior minister in several departments including the Home Office, he was briefly Arts Minister before becoming Chief Secretary to the Treasury (November 1990) in John Major's first Cabinet.

When announcing the Committee on Privacy and Related Matters under David Calcutt in the House of Commons in 1989, Mellor claimed that some sections of the popular press were "drinking in the Last-Chance Saloon" and called for curbs on the "sacred cow" of press freedom. The press was coming under heavy criticism at this time, but his comments would rebound on him later.

After the 1992 general election he was made Secretary of State for the newly created Department for National Heritage (during which period he was vernacularly known as 'Minister for Fun'). As a Minister Mellor made undiplomatic comments about Israel.

In July 1992, Mellor was involved in a kiss-and-tell scandal in which actress Antonia de Sancha sold her story of Mellor's extra-marital affair with her for £30,000. Their conversation had been recorded without his consent, but it turned out that it was not illegal to bug your own property, as de Sancha's landlord had done. The publicist Max Clifford included an unfounded, and almost certainly untrue fact in the story that Mellor had asked her to make love to him whilst he was dressed in his Chelsea F.C. kit, a story which found its way on to the front page of The Sun newspaper.

He survived in office after this, though it allowed Fleet Street and the tabloids to round on Mellor. Evidence emerged that he had enjoyed a free holiday in August 1990 as the guest of Mona Bauwens, a daughter of the Palestine Liberation Organization official Jaweed al-Ghussein, and another paid for by the ruler of Abu Dhabi. It was this that led to his resignation rather than the earlier affair. Eventually Mellor was reportedly told after three weeks of revelations that he was becoming an embarrassment to John Major in a phone call from Sir Marcus Fox - chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee. Mellor resigned on 24 September 1992.

Mellor later suggested that he was hounded out of office, but tabloid editors quickly rejected this. Bill Hagerty, editor of The People said: "This is the first time in ages that David Mellor has done the decent thing".

He contested the 1997 general election, but was defeated by Labour's Tony Colman. However, the election night was more memorable for Mellor's showdown with Referendum Party founder Sir James Goldsmith — Mellor was taunted by Goldsmith and a crowd of other candidates (who gave him a slow hand clap and shouted "Out! Out! Out!") during his speech. 

He was chairman of the incoming Labour government's "Football Task Force" in August 1997 until its dissolution in 1999. He has also pursued a journalism career, and has written for the Evening Standard, The Guardian and The People, usually on sport or the arts. He regularly presented football-related programmes on BBC Radio 5 until 2001, as well as classical music programmes on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 3. He currently presents If You Like That, You'll Like This and The New CD Show on Classic FM.

Mellor married Judith on 20 July 1974. He and his wife divorced in 1995.

Mellor currently lives with his partner, Penelope, Viscountess Cobham, in the Dockmaster's House, a 19th-century listed building at the gateway to the St Katharine Docks, east London. On 30 May 2006 it was reported that Mellor has spoken out against the proposed construction of a 17-storey block of flats in the St Katharine Docks. Mellor said: {{cquote|There is no design involved. It would look tawdry down the wrong end of a beach in Torremolinos. This isn't a case of just not wanting it in my backyard. This area is historically significant with listed buildings and it's next to the Tower of London, which is a world heritage site".