William David Mudd (2 June 1933 – 28 April 2020) was a British politician. Mudd was born in Falmouth, Cornwall, in June 1933. He was educated at Truro Cathedral School and was a member of the Tavistock Urban District Council from 1959 to 1961. He carried out his National service on merchant ships in the 1950s and, after working for a brief period as a stage manager in ballrooms all over the UK, he decided to take on a career in radio and television broadcast journalism. He was Conservative MP for Falmouth and Camborne from 1970 until 1992, when he stood down. It was considered a surprise when he decided to stand in his old constituency at the 2005 general election as an independent candidate. He came fifth with 2% of the vote. In the 1970s, Mudd was a member of Mebyon Kernow as well as the Conservative Party. He was also a newsreader on Westward Television in the 1970s and a Cornish bard. He died in Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, Devon in April 2020 at the age of 86.