Croydon’s ruling Conservative group plans to name the council’s new £145m headquarters after a Tory grandee.

The new Public Services Delivery Hub in Fell Road will replace the council’s 40-year-old Taberner House HQ when it is opened in 2013.

Its current home was named after the apolitical public servant Ernest Taberner, who was town clerk in Croydon for more than 25 years from 1937.

The current Tory group has decided to name the new building after former Conservative MP Bernard Weatherill, who represented the party in Croydon North East for almost 30 years.

He became a Conservative party whip in 1967, and was promoted to deputy chief whip six years later.

Lord Weatherill acted as Speaker of the House between 1983 and 1992, becoming world-famous when Prime Minister’s Questions began being televised internationally.

He was given a life peerage on his retirement from the House and became a Freeman of Croydon in 1983.

In 2005 he announced he was suffering from prostate cancer, and passed away two years later aged 86 in the Marie Curie Community Hospice in Caterham.

The PSDH, which will be named Bernard Weatherill House, is part of the council’s plan to raise £450m by redeveloping sites it owns in the town centre.

It has come under fire for handing over so much of its land to investment vehicle CCURV, a partnership with developer John Laing, as well as being forced to borrow about £90m to finance the construction.

But the authority has maintained the scheme will not cost the taxpayer a penny, as its investment will be recouped from its 50 per cent profit share of any CCURV developments.

The grandee’s wife, Lady Weatherill, welcomed the recognition of her late husband’s enormous contribution to the borough.

She said: “My husband was enormously proud to have represented Croydon.

“The family is immensely touched that the council is doing him the honour of naming such an important new building in his name.”

Council Leader Mike Fisher said: “In short, Lord Weatherill set the standard for public servants in Croydon, working tirelessly for this borough for 50 years.

“His contribution to all of us who live and work here was simply immense, and I cannot think of a more suitable person to honour in this way.”