Rob Hayward OBE (1949 – )

Rob Hayward was married and was not openly gay when he entered Parliament as a member of the Thatcher government, serving as Conservative MP for Kingswood, Bristol from 1983. He lost his seat in the 1992 election, by which time his marriage had ended.

During the 1990s he served as an executive member of the lobbying group Stonewall, and was its Finance chairman for five years. As well as working as director of a trade association, he was a rugby referee and a founder member and President of the King’s Cross Steelers, a gay rugby team. He founded and ran the Gulf Support Group to help families of hostages in Iraq prior to the 1991 Gulf war; for this work he was awarded an OBE, the only such honour ever to go to a serving MP for work outside Parliament.

Andrew Foyle
Last edited: 6/11/2011