AFTER 23 years in Parliament Sir Ray Whitney reveals the things he willll miss, the things he won't and what he will be doing with his time. JOE SLADE met Wycombe's former MP.

After a lifetime in the public eye, including 23 years in Parliament, Sir Ray Whitney, is bowing out.

Sir Ray, 70, now the former MP for Wycombe, has held the seat since 1978 before being at various times, a soldier, a diplomat and member of the secretive Information Research Department.

He has survived an uprising, revolution and a riot as a diplomat but, as an MP, best remembers going to Buckingham Palace to receive, first his OBE, and then his knighthood from the Queen.

Sir Ray, married to Lady Sheila with two sons, is also proud at having represented the Wycombe constituency.

He said: "The number of friends I've made and the number of people I've been able to help is memorable."

Sir Ray added that he is able to help about a quarter of all constituents who come to him for assistance.

He said: "They come to their MP when they've tried every other means of help, social services, CAB, the local vicar or doctor.

"It's an important part of an MP's work."

Sir Ray, despite having retired, is still actually helping out constituents with their queries.

But he is looking forward to having the time to do other things after his parliamentary career.

He said: "There's reading, more holidays, I can play more golf. We have a flat in London and that needs more work."

Sir Ray added: "One thing I will miss is having a structured life, having a routine and a full day, knowing what I was doing each hour of the day."

He added: "I won't miss the long hours. If someone said, 'Let's go to the theatre,' I couldn't say yes or no."

But while Sir Ray is retiring from public life, he still has things to say about issues in the news.

Sir Ray, a lay minister at his local parish church in Sunninghill, near Ascot, spoke out about the plummeting numbers of church goers. He said: "People consider themselves as too busy or think the church rather forbidding. To a lot of people the church is not for them."

His words came after a survey revealed a dramatic drop in the number of churchgoers in Buckinghamshire in the last 20 years.

In 1979, 12.7 per cent of the population in the county attended church services on Sundays. The latest figures, from 1998, show that the figure has dropped to 7.7 per cent, which is slightly above average for the whole country.

The data comes from a survey of more than 10,000 churches, including Anglican, Catholic, Baptist, Methodist and Pentecostal churches.

Sir Ray also has a lot of things to say about the NHS.

In the last budget debate, Sir Ray spoke out against present thinking on the NHS, saying the country could not couple a free NHS with spending at the level of countries like Germany.

He believes there should be new thinking on the NHS, with restructuring needed ever since he was a junior health minister.

Sir Ray said: "If you told a German or Dutchman that you had to wait 18 months, they would find it very surprising."

Sir Ray used to work with a think-tank, the Centre for Policy Studies, and believes ideas put forward in 1982 on the NHS funded by an insurance-based system might now be considered.

He said: "I believe that in two or three years time, the idea I put forward will be achieved."

Biography

Born November 29, 1930

Educated Wellingborough School, Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, and Hong Kong universities

Married, 1956 to Sheila Prince. Two children, Simon and Mark

Commissioned to Northamptonshire Regiment 1951. Seconded to Australian Army HQ from 1960 to 1963

Entered Diplomatic Service in 1964 and held various senior posts in Peking, Buenos Aires, Dacca and London

Awarded OBE, 1968

Elected Wycombe MP, 1978

Parliamentary Private Secretary to Treasury ministers 1979-80

Under Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1983-84, DHSS 1982-87

Senior member of Conservative parliamentary committees

Knighted in 1997 for political service