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He was a founder member of the Conservative Party when it split from the National Party in 1982 over what was perceived by Derby-Lewis and others as a softening of the government's apartheid policies of racial segregation and discrimination. He was a member of the new party's General Council and Parliamentary Caucus until 1993. He also served on the Transvaal Party Council as well as on that council's Information and Financial Committee.

Derby-Lewis was nominated as a Member of Parliament in 1987 (after the then constitution allowed for political parties to nominate members to the House of Assembly in addition to their elected representatives). This occurred after he was unsuccessful in his election bid in the Krugersdorp constituency. He served on the following parliamentary groups:

    Economic Affairs & Technology (including Mineral Affairs); Administration and Privatisation; Finance; Foreign Affairs; Home Affairs.

He also represented the Conservative Party on the Standing Committees of Parliament dealing with the Provincial Affairs of Natal, and Trade and Commerce.

When the Conservative Party became the Official Opposition he was appointed Chief Spokesman on Economic Affairs, Technology, and Mineral Affairs. He was the only member of the Conservative Party Parliamentary Caucus to have served in all four levels of government in South Africa.

In September 1989 he was formally appointed to the State President's Council, where he served on the Economic Affairs and the Amenities Committees.

He visited London twice in an official Conservative Party delegation, including that of June 1989, which included their leader, Dr.Andries Treurnicht and Natal party chief Carl Werth. About that time he joined the London-based Western Goals Institute as an honorary Vice-President, and was one of their delegation to the 22nd World Anti-Communist League Conference in Brussels in July 1990.

In 1990 he claimed in Parliament that "If AIDS stops Black population growth it will be like Father Christmas."

Derby-Lewis, in spite of his name, insists that he is "an Afrikaner, but with German and Scots ancestry."

He was educated at Christian Brothers' College and was a minister at Blessed Sacrament Church in Johannesburg before he left the Catholic Church in the early 1980s. He later joined the Afrikaanse Protestantse Kerk, notable as a staunch supporter of Apartheid.

He was a volunteer for nineteen years in the South African Citizen Force and became the youngest ever commanding officer of the Witwatersrand Rifles Regiment, which was affiliated to the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). He was awarded the John Chard medal for long and meritorious service.

Source: Wikipedia