Sir David Mitchell, who has died aged 86, was a Hampshire MP for a third of a century.

His long spell in parliament began in 1964 when he won the Basingstoke seat, transferring to the newly created North West Hampshire constituency in 1983, taking 57 per cent of the vote in the year of Lady Thatcher’s landslide post-Falklands general election victory.

At that time the North West Hampshire Constituency included alarge of the Test Valley including Stockbridge, King’s Somborne, Mottisfont, Lockerley, East Dean, East Tytherley, Houghton and Broughton and the Wallops.

Before and after his time in government David Mitchell was active in the management of El Vino, a Fleet Street watering-hole founded by his grandfather Sir Alfred Bower.

Having started in the cellars and behind the bar he became joint proprietor and chaired the company for nine years from 1992.

During his time in the House of Commons one of his passions was small business promotion and he used his knowledge of running a successful business to good effect.

He was Mrs Thatcher’s choice in opposition to head her Smaller Business Bureau and in 1979 he became minister for small businesses.

He also spent five years at the Department of Transport and was involved in the running of British Rail and the planning for the Channel Tunnel. His time also included bus privatisation.

His ministerial career ended in July 1988 but Mrs Thatcher compensated him with a knighthood. He remained on the back benches until May 1997 when Sir George Young was elected as Andover’s MP. Sir George described Sir David as ‘loyal, unflappable and hard-working’.

He said: “When I was adopted as the Conservative candidate for North West Hants in 1995 David, who had announced his retirement earlier in the year, could not have been more supportive.”

Sir David maintained contact with his former constituency and was often spotted at public events.

he die don August 30 and his funeral was due to be held tomorrow (Thursday) at All Saints Church, Odiham.

His son Andrew Mitchell is currently a Conservative MP and was Chief Whip until 2012 when he resigned from the cabinet following the “plebgate” incident in Downing Street.