David Lidington

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David Roy Lidington (born 30 June 1956) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom, and has been Member of Parliament for Aylesbury since 1992. He had previously been a special advisor to Douglas Hurd. He is currently Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

Mr Lidington was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School, Elstree, and at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he took an honours degree in History and then a doctorate for research on Elizabethan history. Whilst at Cambridge, he was president of the Cambridge University Students' Union. After graduation, he 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, he stood unsuccessfully in the Vauxhall constituency. He was then adopted as prospective Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Aylesbury in December 1990, where he was successful at the 1992 general election. He was again successful in holding his seat in the 1997 general election, 2001 general election and 2005 general election

At Westminster, he has participated in the Education Select Committee and Conservative Backbench Home Affairs Committee. In 1994, he successfully promoted a Private Members Bill which became the Chiropractors Act 1994.

He has since held the following political appointments:

He became a member of the shadow cabinet in May 2002, replacing Ann Winterton as Shadow Agriculture Minister after the former had to resign. Michael Howard reduced the size of the shadow cabinet drastically on becoming leader of the opposition in November 2003, so, though he remained a shadow secretary of state, Lidington was not a member of the shadow cabinet. In May 2005, Howard enlarged it again and Lidington rejoined the group. He was one of the few shadow cabinet ministers left in his old post by David Cameron when the latter became leader in December 2005.

He was the captain of the Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge team that won the 1978 series of University Challenge. The team returned for the 2002 University Challenge - Reunited "champion of champions" series for the show's 40th anniversary, and they won the series in convincing style, beating Keele University in the final 375-185.

Mr Lidington is married with four children.

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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Timothy Raison		 Member of Parliament for Aylesbury
1992 – present		 Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Quentin Davies		 Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
2003 – present		 Incumbent
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