- published: 03 Aug 2013
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Richard Charles Scrimgeour Shepherd (born 6 December 1942, in Aberdeen, Scotland) is a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom. He is currently a Member of Parliament, having represented the constituency of Aldridge-Brownhills since 1979.
A Eurosceptic, Shepherd was one of the Maastricht Rebels that had the whip withdrawn over opposition to John Major's legislation on the European Union. Shepherd is also a libertarian, and had a three line whip imposed against him by Margaret Thatcher when he introduced an amendment loosening the Official Secrets Act 1911.
Shepherd was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, and educated at Isleworth Grammar School (now Isleworth and Syon School) in Isleworth. He then went on to the London School of Economics where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics, and where he studied with and became a friend of Robert Kilroy-Silk. At the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in the United States, Shepherd received an Master of Science in Economics.