THE FATHER of the Cortina who became the chief executive of Ford UK and then a thorn in the side of the Thatcher government as the head of the Confederation of British Industry has died aged 89.
Sir Terence Beckett, who lived in Margaretting, was the chairman of Ford and later the director general of the CBI during which time he urged its members into "a bare-knuckle fight" with Margaret Thatcher's government as her market-led policies began to bite.
It is perhaps his part in developing the Cortina – Ford's family saloon with a 1,300cc engine in 1962 – that is his most lasting legacy.
He also helped to develop the Transit van and thanks to these models Ford became the market leader, taking 30 per cent of UK new car sales and increasing its profits from £3 million to £347 million in five years.
The decisions made at the Warley-based HQ, helped his appointment as chief executive in 1974 and chairman of ford UK two years later.
In 1980, aged 56, he left his job to become the director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
Sir Terence, who was knighted in 1978, took over at a difficult time for the UK employers' organisation and a poignant moment during Thatcher's stamp on Government economic policies. Within six weeks of the appointment he told a CBI Conference at Brighton "to take the gloves off and have a bare-knuckle fight" for a lower pound, lower interest rates and a reduction of the National Insurance surcharge on employers.
For the next seven years, he not only clashed with trade union leaders but also with the government of Margaret Thatcher during British industry's steady decline from its heights.
Sir Terence, who was born in 1923 in Walsall in Staffordshire, and educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School saw service in India and Malaya as a captain in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during the war.
He graduated in mechanical engineering and economics from the London School of Economics and was said to have been a quiet family man who counted bird watching as a favourite hobby.
Fellow bird-watcher Eric Pickles MP said: "I remember him to be a very pleasant guy who was very switched on."
Sir Terence, who lived in Margaretting, died on May 2.
He married his wife Sylvia in 1950, with whom he had a daughter.