Mary Holt in 1991
Credit: Photoshot/Avalon
Mary Holt, who has died aged 96, was a sparky and persuasive Lancastrian Chancery barrister who lost her seat after a single term as Conservative MP for Preston North and became a circuit judge.
On the Right of the party, she withheld her support when Edward Heath introduced a price freeze in 1972, and co-sponsored a Bill to withdraw benefits from strikers and their families.
She also sought protection for farm animals, telling the Commons: “The white veal industry is, if anything, more vile than the white slave trade. If the public realised how it was produced, most people would refuse to eat it.”