David Willetts

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David Lindsay Willetts (born March 9, 1956) is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Havant, in the United Kingdom.

He was appointed as Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Skills by David Cameron MP in his Shadow Cabinet. He served as Shadow Secretary of State for Trade & Industry in the Shadow Cabinet, under Michael Howard MP. Under Iain Duncan Smith MP he had been Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Educated at Christ Church, Oxford, he was a whip, then junior minister (Paymaster General), under John Major but was forced to resign from the latter post by the Standards and Privileges Committee over an investigation into Neil Hamilton in 1996, when it found that he had "dissembled" in his evidence to the Committee over whether pressure was put onto an earlier investigation. Some critics such as Roy Hattersley were quick to judge his career as a finished one. However Willetts returned to the front bench a few years later under William Hague, initially serving in the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Education Secretary. After the third Conservative defeat in May 2005, he was made Shadow Trade & Industry secretary - but, to the surprise of his detractors, emerged as a likely leadership candidate [1] after penning several articles about the party's future. That August, commentators speculated that he was gunning for the post Shadow Chancellor position and would cut a deal with either David Davis or David Cameron. On September 15th he confirmed his support for David Davis, at that time the bookies' favourite.

Willetts' academic manner, prodigious output of think-tank documents and intellectual approach to politics have led to his being nicknamed 'Two Brains'. He is the author of several books on conservatism, including "Why Vote Conservative" (1996) and "Modern Conservatism" (1992).

The constituency of Havant notably contains Leigh Park, one of Britain’s largest council estates. David Willetts was re-elected for Havant in 2005 with an increased majority of 6,508 votes.

He was a founding signatory in 2005 of the Henry Jackson Society principles, advocating a proactive approach to the spread of liberal democracy across the world, including when necessary by military intervention.

The register of members interests records that he is also chairman of the board of Universal Biosensors Ltd, and holds shares in its parent company, Sensor-Tech Limited.

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