Stephen David Wyatt Milligan was a British Conservative politician and journalist. He held a number of senior journalistic posts until his election to serve as Member of Parliament for Eastleigh in 1992. Milligan was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Jonathan Aitken, Minister of State for Defence, was regarded as a "rising star" of the Conservative Party. Milligan was found dead in his house in Hammersmith, London, in February 1994 self-strangled during an act of autoerotic asphyxiation. Milligan was born in Godalming, Surrey, on 12 May 1948, the son of David Milligan, a company secretary at House of Fraser, Ruth Seymour, a ballet teacher. Educated at Bradfield College, Magdalen College, where he studied Philosophy and Economics. At Oxford, he became president of both the Oxford Union and the Oxford University Conservative Association, he was a contemporary of journalist Libby Purves. Milligan joined The Economist in 1970, was industrial editor and chief EEC correspondent from 1972 to 1980. In 1976, he published The New Barons, on British trade unions in the 1970s.

Still working for The Economist, he took a position as presenter of The World Tonight on BBC Radio 4 from 1980 until 1983. He became foreign editor and Washington correspondent at The Sunday Times from 1984 until 1987, before rejoining the BBC in 1988 as a European correspondent. Sunday Times editor Andrew Neil described Milligan: "He possessed an enquiring, original intelligence, a wide knowledge of foreign and domestic affairs and he was great fun to work with, his infectious laugh filling our editorial meetings, where he played a major role in defining the paper's policy positions". Milligan left the Conservative Party upon the formation of the Social Democratic Party in 1981. However, he rejoined the Conservatives and in 1990 was selected as the prospective parliamentary candidate for Eastleigh, he became secretary of the Conservative Foreign and Commonwealth Council in 1991 and was a member of the moderate Bow Group. At the 1992 general election, Milligan was elected as Member of Parliament for Eastleigh with a majority of 17,702.

Seen as a'rising star' in the party and noted for his Commons interventions on foreign policy, he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Jonathan Aitken, Minister of State for Defence. His last contribution in Parliament was in a debate on the Energy Conservation Bill on 4 February 1994. Milligan was found dead in his house at 64 Black Lion Lane, London, by his secretary Vera Taggart on 7 February 1994. Milligan had failed to appear in the House of Commons as expected, so Taggart went to look for him. Milligan's corpse was found naked except for a pair of stockings and suspenders, with an electrical flex tied around his neck, a black bin liner over his head and an orange in his mouth; the coroner concluded. The pathologists report into Milligan's death discounted the possibility of murder, lending weight to the belief that he died accidentally, as a result of autoerotic asphyxiation. No drugs or alcohol were found in his blood, no substances were found to have contributed to his death.

Milligan's death contributed to ending John Major's "Back to Basics" policy initiative. In an interview after Milligan's death, Major said that "What I suppose does seem as though it is probable: he must have been pretty unhappy, pretty miserable". Major's characterization of Milligan was criticised by Milligan's cousin, Judge Tim Milligan, who wrote that "...with respect to the Prime Minister, Stephen was neither miserable or unhappy. On the contrary, he was fulfilled and happy in his work in Westminster and his Eastleigh constituency, which gave him the chance to be of service to others as he always wished."Milligan left an estate worth £846,860, leaving £5,000 to Oxfam and £500 to St Peter's Church, Hammersmith. Milligan's death triggered a by-election for his Eastleigh seat, held on 8 June; the by-election was won by the Liberal Democrat candidate David Chidgey, who would hold the seat until the 2005 general election. The Conservative candidate, Stephen Allison, came third in the by-election.

Following Milligan's death, Hat Trick Productions, the producers of the BBC's satirical television programme Have I Got News For You, sent black bin bags and black stockings to journalists to publicise a new series of the show. The BBC subsequently apologised to Milligan's parents for the incident. Independent news report from newsmedianews.com

Miss Chinese International Pageant 2001 was held on January 20, 2001 in Hong Kong. At the end of the pageant, Bernice Liu of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada was crowned the 13th Miss Chinese International; this was the first of five victories for the Canadian city. Prior to this, Vancouver has never placed higher than 2nd runner up; the theme to this year's pageant is "The Gathering of Cosmopolitan Treasure, The Brightness of Eastern Pearl" 「名都瑰寶滙聚 東方明珠生輝」. The Masters of Ceremonies were Vincent Kok. Special performing guests were cantopop singers Alan Tam, Edison Chen, Ding Fei Fei and mandopop singer Elva Hsiao. Miss Friendship: Hsin-Ting Chiang 江欣婷 Miss Cosmopolitan: Bernice Liu 廖碧兒 Miss Internet Goodwill: Mandy Chen 陳育嬬 Miss Talent: Bernice Liu 廖碧兒 Contestants who competed or will be competing at other international beauty pageants: Miss Universe2001: Taipei, Chinese Taipei: Hsin-Ting Chiang The delegate representing Brisbane, Mandy Chen 陳育嬬, became entangled in a photo scandal with one of the pageant's performers Edison Chen, when suspected nude pictures of Mandy Chen engaging in sexual acts, along with pictures of other Hong Kong female celebrities surfaced in early 2008.

During the pageant, Edison Chen has stated. Mandy Chen has yet to comment on the incident. Johnny's Pageant Page - Miss Chinese International Pageant 2001 Official Webpage