From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Rt Hon. David Davis MP
Shadow Home Secretary
In office 6 November 2003 – present
Leader	Michael Howard David Cameron
Preceded by	Oliver Letwin
Succeeded by	Incumbent
Chairman of the Conservative Party
In office 18 September 2001 – 23 July 2002
Preceded by	Michael Ancram
Succeeded by	Theresa May
Born	December 23, 1948 (1948-12-23) (age 58) York, England, UK
Political party	Conservative

David Michael Davis (born December 23, 1948) is a British politician, Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Haltemprice and Howden and Shadow Home Secretary.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Political career 3 2005 leadership contest 4 English Parliament – his views 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References 8 External links

Born to a single mother Betty Brown in York, Davis was initially brought up by his grandparents in York. His grandfather Walter Harrison was the son of a wealthy trawlerman and was disinherited after joining the Communist Party. His father, whom he has never looked for, was Welsh.^[1] When his mother married a Polish Jewish printworker, Ronald Davis, he moved to London. They lived initially in a flat in a "slum" in Wandsworth before moving to a council estate in Tooting, South London.

On leaving school (Bec Grammar School in Tooting), his 'A' Level results were not good enough to secure a university place. Davis worked as an insurance clerk and became a member of the Territorial Army's 21 SAS Regiment in order to earn the money to retake his examinations. On doing so he won a place at Warwick University (B.Sc. Joint Hons Molecular Science/Computer Science 1968-1971). He later studied at London Business School (Master's Degree in Business 1971-1973) and Harvard University (Advanced Management Program 1984-1985).

Whilst at Warwick University, he was one of the founding members of the Student Radio station, University Radio Warwick, now known as Radio Warwick.

Davis worked for Tate & Lyle for 17 years rising to become a senior executive having saved a failing subsidiary in Canada.^{[citation needed]}

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.

Davis was first elected to Parliament in the 1987 general election as the MP for Boothferry which, in 1997, became the constituency of Haltemprice and Howden. He was a government whip when parliament voted on the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, angering many of the Maastricht rebels on his own right-wing of the party. Davis's progression through the Conservative ranks eventually led to him becoming a Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (1994-1997).

In 1999 Davis presented the Parliamentary Control of the Executive Bill to the House of Commons, in which he proposed to transfer ministerial exercise of the Royal Prerogative to the Commons in the following areas: the signing of treaties, the diplomatic recognition of foreign governments; European Union legislation; the appointment of ministers, peers and ambassadors; the establishment of Royal Commissions; the proclamation of Orders-in-Council unless subject to resolutions of the Commons; the exercise of the powers of the executive not made by statute; the declarations of states of emergency; the dissolution of Parliament.[1], [2]

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 of Shadow Home Secretary, 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.

More recently Davis has turned the Conservatives away from the Labour Party's plan to reintroduce Identity cards citing spiralling costs and libertarian issues. He turned initial Conservative support into one of concern and abstention, making the final change to one of opposition 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. Davis had maintained the Conservative's pledge to curb the moral degradation that he and other front benchers have declared part and parcel of "Blair's Britain".

Davis is perceived to be socially conservative. He expressed support for the restoration of the death penalty as recently as November 2003. He is highly sceptical of the political expansion of the European Union. He voted against the repeal of Section 28 (which banned local government from promoting homosexual relationships in schools). However, he has consistently attracted support on a personal level from all sections of the party. Thus, when the gay Conservative MP Michael Brown was pictured on holiday with a 20-year-old man in 1994 (when the age of consent was still 21), Davis drove to Brown's home to offer his help.

At the 2005 General Election, he was targeted by the Liberal Democrats as part of their "decapitation plan", an attempt to undermine the Conservatives in Parliament by defeating their leading members. The targeting was an outright failure as Davis trebled his majority to over 5,000 votes (5,116, up from 1,903), his share of the votes increasing by 4.3%.

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.

Davis was initially the front runner in the 2005 Conservative leadership contest but after a poorly received speech at that year's Conservative Party Conference his campaign was seen to lose momentum.

In the first ballot of Conservative MPs on 18 October 2005, Davis came top with 62 votes. As this was less than the number of his declared supporters, it became clear that the Davis bid was losing momentum. The elimination of former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke left the bookmakers' favourite, David Cameron, without a rival on the centre of the party. In the second ballot, held two days later on 20 October 2005, Cameron polled 90 votes, David Davis 57 votes and Liam Fox was eliminated with 51 votes [3]so David Davis went through to the next stage with David Cameron.

In spite of a strong performance in a BBC Question Time head-to-head debate in the final stage of the leadership contest, Davis could not match his rival's general popularity. Conservative party members voted to elect Cameron the new Conservative leader, Davis losing by a margin of 64,398 votes to 134,446 votes. Cameron appeased him by keeping him on as Shadow Home Secretary.

Equality for the English – an English Parliament Rt Hon David Davis MP (Shadow Home Secretary)

Those members of the Parliament at Westminster who are committed to preserving the United Kingdom have to face a ferociously difficult question. Now that the Scots and Welsh have decided to have devolution, how do we deliver a fair deal for England, and do the best job of preserving the Union.

William Hague has, quite rightly, announced that an incoming Conservative government would respect the outcome of the referenda. But Labour's compromise proposals are a constitutional mess. They do not solve the so-called West Lothian question, the problem of Scottish MPs voting on matters that solely affect the English, whilst the English MPs cannot vote on similar matters that solely affect the Scots. This treats the English (and to some extent the Welsh) very unfairly.

Nobody should doubt that the English feel as passionately about their country as do the Scots or Welsh. The willingness of the English to subordinate their 'Englishness' to the greater interests of the Union is a measure of the strength of their commitment to that Union, not of any weakness in their love of their own country.

The best demonstration of this is the extent to which the English have been willing to make sacrifices in the interests of the Union. For example, on the basis of population, Scotland has fourteen more MPs than it would have with English-sized constituencies. In terms of public expenditure per head, Wales receives one sixth more money than England, Scotland a fifth more, and Northern Ireland a third more. Neither should the clamouring of the Scottish Nationalists to the contrary confuse us. Even if we, quite wrongly, allocated all the North Sea revenues to Scotland, they would still be receiving a net £6 billion from the English taxpayer. In addition – unlike England – Scotland and Wales have their own Cabinet Minister to represent their own unique interests, as well as all the other Scots and Welsh members that have occupied positions in every Cabinet in modern times.

There are, of course, reasons for these differences, and the English have accepted them because the vast majority place enormous value on the Union. They recognise the energy that the United Kingdom has gained from the amalgamation of the talents of all parts of the Kingdom. They recognise the huge advantage in all areas of endeavour – scientific, literary, military, commercial or political – which arises out of their hybrid vigour. They know that the United Kingdom is very much more than the sum of its parts.

Which is why Labour's proposals are potentially so disastrous. The Government is meddling with a finely balanced structure, which has historically worked to everybody's advantage. They are taking the risk of starting a process that will unravel the tightly woven fabric of our country. If it goes wrong, this process will be slow at first, but will accelerate under the pressure of the discontent and disunity that devolution will stir up.

The compromises that Labour are putting together to achieve their ends, whilst still maintaining their political advantage, will exacerbate this dis-content. Those Welsh people that want an Assembly will resent the stronger Scottish institution. As for the English, Labour's attempts to provide supposed "fairness" with regional councils is, of course, nonsense. It will not solve the West Lothian question. They will simply create soulless regional bureaucracies; bleak outstations of Brussels.

Nobody could with any serious constitutional sense equate, say, a Yorkshire and Humberside regional council with the Scottish parliament. The constant constitutional mess that we are being offered in exchange for our heritage and history is not going to satisfy anyone.

It is no accident that Labour's proposals fit well with the wishes of the European Commission. In the federalist lexicon, the nation state is seen as the source of many evils, from unemployment to war. Whilst this dogma is unsurprising given the history of some parts of Europe, it is an ideology wholly unsuited to the United Kingdom, a country that has enjoyed hundreds of years of democracy, peace and tolerance under one national government.

The nation state is the strongest manifestation of the democratic will of the people. It is a moral concept, indissolubly tied to the emotional identity of the people, and is not an administrative convenience to suit Labour's apparent urge to bypass Westminster by every means possible.

Accordingly, if this change is inevitable, then the people of England deserve nothing less than equal treatment. And, the people of Britain deserve a constitutional settlement that is at least logical. Otherwise, it will unravel under the pressure of its own inconsistencies.

If each of the other nations of the United Kingdom is going to have its own parliament , then England's choice should be no less. If Labour truly believes that this is the proper future for the people of Scotland and Wales, their logic must mean the same for England. This means equal treatment in all respects. Not just financially, although we should have funding equality for England, Scotland and Wales. Nor just in Westminster representation – although we should have that equalised from the next election, not in fifteen years time as Labour propose.

The people of England deserve no less than the same choice as the peoples of Wales and Scotland last September: a referendum on whether they want a parliament of their own. In their own words, Labour should trust the people – in this case the people of England. An English parliament, on the same basis as the Scottish one, will be the minimum that the English people are likely to be satisfied with.

Anything less will lead to disaffection and discontent, to a belief that the English are being treated as second class citizens in their own land. If Labour wanted to bring about the dissolution of the United Kingdom, that disaffection would be the way to do it.

• Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (UK)

• David Davis official website
• Conservative Party – Rt Hon David Davis MP official biography
• Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: David Davis MP
• They Work For You – David Davis MP
• The Public Whip – David Davis MP voting record
• BBC News – Profile: David Davis 17 October 2002
• BBC News – Profile: David Davis 23 July 2002
• Open Directory Project – David Davis directory category
• Full text of 2005 conference speech

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Sir Paul Bryan	Member of Parliament for Boothferry 1987–1997	Succeeded by (constituency abolished)
Preceded by (new constituency)	Member of Parliament for Haltemprice and Howden 1997 – present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Michael Ancram	Chairman of the Conservative Party 2001–2002	Succeeded by Theresa May
Preceded by Office created	Shadow Deputy Prime Minister of the UK 2002–2003	Succeeded by Office abolished
Preceded by Oliver Letwin	Shadow Home Secretary 2003 – present	Incumbent