Leslie Charles Curran (19 April 1903 – 16 September 1972) was a British Conservative Party politician, barrister, and journalist, who was the MP for Uxbridge from 1959 to 1966, and again from 1970 until his death.
[5][6] He continued to work in journalism through his life, contributing variously to the Evening Standard, the Daily Mirror, and The Sunday Telegraph.
Curran is probably most remembered for a speech he made in the House on 19 June 1964, in which he mistook deliberately nonsensical poems written by John Lennon as a sign of Lennon being poorly educated and virtually illiterate, saying "one can see from it [...] two things about John Lennon: he has a feeling for words and story telling and he is in a state of pathetic near-literacy" and suggesting that he lacked "an education which would have enabled him to develop the literary talent that he appears to have".
[8] Fellow Conservative Norman Miscampbell tried to downplay and make light of the misunderstanding, feeling that his words would be disastrous for the party in the upcoming elections that year.
[10][11] After a period of declining health due to heart problems, he died on 16 September 1972, aged 69, during a holiday in Kyrenia, Cyprus.