Oliver Letwin
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| The Right Honourable Oliver Letwin MP |
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Chairman of the Policy Review and Chairman of the Conservative Research Department
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| In office 6 December 2005 – present |
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| Leader | David Cameron |
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| Preceded by | Office Created |
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| In office 5 May 2005 – 6 December 2005 |
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| Preceded by | Theresa May |
| Succeeded by | Peter Ainsworth |
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| In office 6 November 2003 – 5 May 2005 |
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| Leader | Michael Howard |
| Preceded by | Michael Howard |
| Succeeded by | George Osborne |
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| In office 18 September 2001 – 6 November 2003 |
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| Leader | Iain Duncan Smith |
| Preceded by | Ann Widdecombe |
| Succeeded by | David Davis |
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| Born | 19 May 1956 Hampstead, London, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
Oliver Letwin (born 19 May 1956, Hampstead) is the British Member of Parliament for West Dorset, Chairman of the Policy Review, and Chairman of the Conservative Research Department.
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[edit] Early life
He is the son of William Letwin, Emeritus Professor at the London School of Economics, and conservative academic Shirley Letwin. Letwin was educated at Hall School in Hampstead, then Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge. Whilst at Cambridge, he was an active member of the Cambridge University Liberal Club and the London Business School gaining a BA and PhD. From 1980-1, he was a visiting fellow (a Procter Fellow) of Princeton University, then a research fellow at Darwin College, Cambridge from 1981-2.
[edit] Political career
From 1983 to 1986, he was a member of then-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher's Policy Unit. He stood at the 1987 election for Hackney North, and again unsuccessfully stood against Glenda Jackson for the Hampstead and Highgate seat in the 1992 election, before winning the West Dorset seat in 1997, by the narrow margin of 1,840 votes. In September 2001 he was appointed Shadow Home Secretary, by Iain Duncan Smith. In late 2003, the new party leader, Michael Howard, appointed Letwin his successor as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.
During the campaign for the 2001 general election, Letwin, as shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, expressed an aspiration to curtail future public spending by 20 billion pounds per annum relative to the plans of the Labour government. When this proposal came under attack as regressive, Letwin found few allies among his colleagues prepared to defend it, and adopted a low profile for the remainder of the campaign. He famously went into 'hiding' during the 2001 election, and for some time after the election had finished.
[edit] Member of Parliament
He is a member of the Conservative Party. He is also a non executive director of N.M. Rothschild Corporate Finance Ltd (a merchant bank).
[edit] Shadow Cabinet
As Shadow Home Secretary he attracted plaudits for his advocacy of a "neighbourly society", which manifested itself in calls for street by street neighbourhood policing modelled on the philosophy of the police in New York. He was also largely credited with forcing the Home Secretary to withdraw his proposal in 2001 to introduce an offence of incitement to religious hatred. He successfully argued that such an offence would be impossible to define, so there would be little chance of prosecution. He also argued that Muslims would feel persecuted by such a law.
As Shadow Chancellor he focused on reducing waste in the public sector. At the 2005 election the Conservative Party claimed to have found £35bn worth of potential savings, to be used for increased resources for front line services and for tax cuts. This approach was credited with forcing the government to introduce bureaucracy reduction and cost-cutting proposals of their own.
At the 2001 election Letwin had a majority of just 1,414 in his constituency. Given his higher profile since the previous election there was some speculation as to whether he could retain his seat if Labour voters voted tactically for the Liberal Democrats in order to unseat him. However his hugely increased and more favourable profile neutralised any increase in tactical voting and at the 2005 general election, increased his majority to 2,461.
In May 2005, Letwin was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It was reported that he had requested a role less onerous than his former treasury brief so that he would have time to pursue his career in the City.[1]
Following the decision by Michael Howard to stand down as Conservative Party leader after the May 2005 general election, Letwin publicly backed the youngest candidate and eventual winner David Cameron, a fellow Etonian. He was subsequently given the newly created role of Chairman of the Policy Review, when Cameron formed his first shadow cabinet in December 2005.
[edit] Personal life
He married Isabel Grace Davidson on 14 September 1984 in Cambridge. They have twin son and daughter born in July 1993. His grandparents were Jewish Ukrainians who moved to America. After two strangers on his London street had asked if they could use his toilet at 5 a.m. in the morning in 2002, and he charitably obliged, they then stole his credit cards and other belongings. He luckily retrieved his credit cards after chasing the accomplices in his dressing gown and pyjamas[2]. In January 2008, in a discussion on the BBC Question Time programme, Letwin stated that he is an atheist.
[edit] See also
[edit] Offices held
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by James Spicer |
Member of Parliament for West Dorset 1997 – present |
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| Preceded by Ann Widdecombe |
Shadow Home Secretary 2001–2003 |
Succeeded by David Davis |
| Preceded by Michael Howard |
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer 2003–2005 |
Succeeded by George Osborne |
[edit] Select bibliography
- Oliver Letwin (1987) Ethics, Emotion and the Unity of the Self. Routledge. ISBN 0709941102.
- Oliver Letwin and John Redwood. (1988) Britain's Biggest Enterprise - ideas for radical reform of the NHS. Centre for Policy Studies. ISBN 187026519X
- Oliver Letwin (1988) Privatizing the World: A Study of International Privatization in Theory and Practice. Thomson Learning. ISBN 0304315273
- Oliver Letwin (1989) Drift to union: Wiser ways to a wider community. Centre for Policy Studies. ISBN 1870265742
- Oliver Letwin (2003) The Neighbourly Society: Collected Speeches. Centre for Policy Studies. ISBN 1903219604
[edit] External links
- Oliver Letwin official site
- ePolitix.com - Oliver Letwin profile
- Guardian Unlimited Politics Ask Aristotle - Oliver Letwin MP
- TheyWorkForYou.com - Oliver Letwin MP
- The Public Whip - Oliver Letwin MP voting record
- BBC News - Oliver Letwin profile 30 March, 2006
- Open Directory Project - Oliver Letwin directory category
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