Sir Hugh Nicholas Linstead OBE (3 February 1901 – 27 May 1987) was a British pharmaceutical chemist and barrister who served as Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Putney for 22 years.
His politics were on the moderate side of the Conservative Party and he was a strong supporter of the National Health Service.
In March 1942 Linstead supported the Guild system in pharmaceutical retailing, arguing that after the end of the war, "state control, cartels, and individual effort will all be needed".
who stood as an Independent; due to the electoral truce the Labour Party gave their support to Linstead.
[8] The post-war Labour government set up a Joint Negotiating Committee for Hospital Staffs in preparation for the National Health Service in 1946, and Linstead was appointed as chairman.
At the time of the dispute between Health minister Aneurin Bevan and representatives of doctors, Linstead called for arbitration between the two, which was involved in all other professions who were to become part of the new service.
He moved a motion to annul an Order in Council which lifted an embargo on cut glass imports, arguing that to do so would damage the domestic industry.
[17] He kept up his interest in the pharmaceutical industry in Parliament, complaining in February 1955 that the public too often believed "magic .. was attached to a bottle of medicine" and that prescriptions were frequently "no more than a palliative given to the patient to satisfy him in a rather vague psychological way".
In October 1955, Linstead protested that large Communist-inspired delegations urging members of parliament to co-operate more closely with the Soviet Union crowded out "people of good will, anxious to do anything they could to promote international understanding".
[19] In January 1956, he was named as the Parliamentary Charity Commissioner for England and Wales, an appointment in the government's control.
[22] One member of the committee complained that the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry had refused to take part in the inquiry.
[27] Linstead was on the Joint Subcommittee of the English and Scottish Standing Medical Advisory Committee that was set up following the thalidomide disaster, and was in favour of legislation governing the testing of new drugs.