David Lidington
From Ukpolitics
David Lidington
David Lidington was born in 1956. He was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School, Elstree, and at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. He took an honours degree in History and then a doctorate for research on Elizabethan history. He is married to Helen and has four sons.
David worked for BP and for RTZ before being appointed in 1987 as Special Advisor to the then Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd. He moved to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1989 when Mr Hurd became Foreign Secretary.
In the 1987 General Election, David fought the seat of Vauxhall. He was adopted as prospective Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Aylesbury in December 1990 and was elected as a Member of Parliament in 1992.
Since his election, David has served as a member of the Education Select Committee and as joint-secretary of the Conservative Backbench Home Affairs Committee. He successfully promoted a Private Members Bill which became the Chiropractors Act 1994.
David was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the then Home Secretary, the Rt Hon Michael Howard QC MP, from August 1994 to 1997. He was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition, William Hague, in June 1997.
David was appointed Frontbench Spokesman for Home Affairs in June 1999. In September 2001, he was appointed a Frontbench Spokesman for the Treasury. In June 2002, he was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. From November 2003 to June 2007, he was Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. From June 2007, he attended Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Foreign Office Minister.
