David Davis
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The Right Honourable David Davis (born December 23, 1948) is a British politician, Conservative MP for Haltemprice and Howden and Shadow Home Secretary.
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Early Life
Born to a single mother in Yorkshire, Davis was initially brought up by his grandparents in York. His mother later married a Polish Jewish printworker, Ronald Davis, who had strong trade union links. They moved to a council estate in Tooting, South London.
He was educated at Warwick University (B.Sc. Joint Hons Molecular Science/Computer Science 1968-1971), London Business School (Master's Degree in Business 1971-1973) and Harvard University (Advanced Management Program 1984-1985).
Before entering politics, Davis worked mainly for Tate and Lyle. He was also for a short period a member of the Territorial SAS.
Political Career
Davis was first elected to Parliament in the 1987 general election as the MP for Boothferry which later became the constituency of Haltemprice and Howden. He progressed through the Conservative ranks, eventually becoming Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (1994-1997).
In the following parliament, Davis held the position of Chairman of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee. In this role he began to build a reputation, and some Conservatives started to mention him as being a potential future leader of the Conservative Party.
Following the resignation of William Hague he contested the 2001 election for the leadership of the Conservative Party, finishing fourth and being appointed Chairman of the Conservative Party by the eventual winner, Iain Duncan Smith. His most notable action in this post was the suspension of the Monday Club's affiliation with the Conservative Party because of its perceived inflammatory views on race.
In 2002 Duncan Smith replaced Davis with Theresa May. Davis was on a family holiday in Florida at the time and the manner of his sacking ensured a significant amount of sympathy among Conservative Party members. His new position was to shadow the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott as Shadow Secretary of State for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. This was largely viewed as a demotion. When Duncan Smith was removed as Conservative leader by a vote of no confidence, Davis surprised commentators by quickly announcing that he would not stand for the leadership. He lent his support to Michael Howard who was not challenged allowing an uncontested election to take place. He was rewarded for this with a new role as Shadow Home Secretary.
In the role he successfully gained the 'scalp' of the then Immigration Minister Beverley Hughes who was forced to resign in the wake of allegations that checks on Eastern European migrants had been waived, and for misleading the House of Commons. Davis was praised for his role in holding her to account at that time, and is widely tipped as one of the main candidates for the Conservative leadership election due soon.
Davis is perceived to be socially conservative, but he is not a stereotypical right-winger. When the gay Conservative MP Michael Brown British Politician was pictured on holiday with a 20-year-old man (when the age of consent was still 21), Davis's reaction was to drive to Brown's home to help. Brown was quoted in the Sunday Telegraph as saying of Davis "He took care of me and got me through it when Michael Portillo and others ran 10,000 miles in the opposite direction."
His personal support for the death penalty is said not to sit comfortably with much of the party.
His seat Haltemprice and Howden is in part the seat that was occupied by the fictional Conservative MP Alan B'Stard in the 1980s ITV sitcom The New Statesman.
At the UK 2005 General Election, he was targetted by the Liberal Democrats as part of their "decapitation plan", an attempt to undermine the Conservatives in Parliament by defeating their leading members. In the end he increased his majority to over 5,000 votes (5,116) his share of the voting increasing by 4.3%.
Identity Cards
A strong candidate to replace Michael Howard as Party leader late in 2005, he has turned the Conservatives away from the Labour Party's plan to reintroduce Identity cards in the weeks after the general election. Though this is supposedly a popular policy, Davis cited spiralling costs and libertarian issues. Critics have scoffed at the idea of Davis opposing ID cards for anything other than political purposes. However he has consistently argued against them, arguing unsuccessfully in the Shadow Cabinet the first time they were discussed. He then proceeded to turn initial Conservative support into one of concern and abstention, making the final change to one of opposition that much easier.
Davis believes that once the true cost and unreliability of the ID card scheme is explained to the general public, they will turn against it. His opposition is, undeniably, a useful way of demonstrating that he is flexible and not traditionally right-wing. Softening his image would make it a lot easier for him to become the next Conservative leader.
See also
External links
- David Davis (http://www.david-davis.co.uk) official site
- Conservative Party - Rt Hon David Davis MP (http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=people.person.page&personID=4881) official biography
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: David Davis MP (http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-1329,00.html)
- They Work For You - David Davis MP (http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/david_davis/haltemprice_and_howden)
- The Public Whip - David Davis MP (http://publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?mpc=Haltemprice+%26amp%3B+Howden) voting record
- BBC News - Profile: David Davis (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2088462.stm) 17 October 2002
- BBC News - Profile: David Davis (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2145977.stm) 23 July 2002
- Open Directory Project - David Davis (http://dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/United_Kingdom/Society_and_Culture/Politics/Parties/Conservative/MPs/Davis,_David/) directory categorysv:David Davis