john heddle was first elected to parliament in the 1979 general election when he had gained the lichfield and tamworth constituency from labour. after boundary changes, he represented mid staffordshire from 1983. he was a popular extrovert at westminster but in the late 1980s he found himself with severe financial problems due to the property price crash, and on 19 december 1989 he was found dead in his jaguar car in an isolated spot near chartham, kent. at the previous general election in 1987 the result had been: