Michael Platt Winstanley, Baron Winstanley (27 August 1918 – 18 July 1993) was the Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Cheadle from 1966 to 1970 and, after boundary changes, for Hazel Grove, a newly created seat comprising half his former seat, from February to October 1974.

Winstanley was born in Nantwich, Cheshire, to Sydney Adams Winstanley (1878-1953), GP.^[1] He was educated at Manchester Grammar School and the University of Manchester where he was President of the University Union and captain of cricket.^[2] He graduated in medicine and served in the RAMC before becoming a general practitioner in Urmston.

Winstanley became a media personality as a television and radio doctor in the 1960s. Between 1972 and 1986, he presented Granada Television's This Is Your Right, an early-evening, five-minute consumer advice and legal rights bulletin which ultimately credited him as Lord Michael Winstanley.

Following his return to the House of Commons in 1974, Winstanley discovered that he held a post which would disqualify him from being a member of the House of Commons, medical officer at a Royal Ordnance Factory that amounted to employment in the Civil Service of the Crown. On 3 April 1974, the Commons passed a motion under section 6 of the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1957 to override the disqualification and allow Winstanley to sit.^[3]

Winstanley was created a life peer on 23 January 1976 with the title Baron Winstanley, of Urmston in Greater Manchester.^[4] He was chairman of the Countryside Commission from 1978 to 1980.

Winstanley's daughter, Diana, became a highly respected academic and teacher at Kingston University, where bursaries are offered in her memory.^[5][6] His niece is journalist and newsreader Anna Ford.^[7][8]