Robert James Adley (2 March 1935 – 13 May 1993) was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom and a railway enthusiast.
[3] He was a councillor on Slough Borough Council from 1965 and first stood for Parliament in 1966 for Birkenhead, failing to win the strongly Labour seat.
[3] He became a leading opponent of the plans being made by John Major's government for the privatisation of British Rail, describing it a "poll tax on wheels".
[5] Adley had previously opposed the poll tax and bus deregulation, while supporting Concorde and an integrated transport system.
Adley also called for talks with the African National Congress and for the UK government to support the aspirations of the black majority in apartheid-era South Africa.