Neil Roxburgh Balfour (born 12 August 1944) is a British merchant banker, financier and politician.
[citation needed] After fighting the Chester-le-Street seat again in the February 1974 general election, Balfour moved jobs to join the European Banking Co. Ltd as an assistant manager.
In December 1982, he made an impressive speech attacking the MEPs voting to withdraw a budget rebate for the United Kingdom that had been accepted by the European Council.
John Spence, the Conservative MP for Ryedale (part of his former European Parliament constituency), died in 1986, and Balfour was selected to defend the seat in a by-election.
[7] The by-election took place at a time when the Conservatives were unpopular and the Liberals nominated a popular local teacher, Elizabeth Shields.
In 1999 he became involved with the emerging Polish market as a Director of Mostostal Warszawa SA, serving as Chief Executive Officer from 2000 to 2002.
[citation needed] In 2000 he wrote a letter to The Spectator in which he declared "as a committed Europhile" that the best solution would be to allow Britain to opt into EU laws it liked, and supported the call from Conrad Black for Britain to negotiate membership of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
On November 4, 1978, he married Serena Mary Spencer-Churchill Russell, who was engaged to Broadway producer Michael Santangelo in 1964 [9] before marrying commodities broker Robert Salant in 1966, then Neil McConnell, a grandson of Avon Products founder David H. McConnell, in 1968.