Peter Lilley

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The Right Honourable Peter Bruce Lilley (born August 23, 1943, Hayes, Kent, educated at Dulwich College) is a British MP. He currently represents the constituency of Hitchin and Harpenden and, prior to boundary changes, represented St Albans which was its predecessor seat.

He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Nigel Lawson, and Financial Secretary to the Treasury before joining the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to replace Nicholas Ridley in mid-1990 after the latter was force to resign over an anti-German gaffe. After the 1992 UK General Election he became Secretary of State for Social Security and the coincidence of his youthful, good looks, right wing reputation and area of departmental responsibility resulted in the satirical television show Spitting Image potraying him as an SS Officer.

He contested the Conservative Party leadership election, 1997 coming fourth in a field of five candidates. In opposition he held the post of Shadow Chancellor from 1997 - 1998 and was Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party 1998 - 1999.

Peter Lilley has twice given singing performances at Conservative Party conferences. In 1995 as Secretary of State at the DSS, he sang a riff on "I have a little list", from The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan, condemning those who unfairly claimed benefits. In 1998, he changed the words of "Land of Hope and Glory", singing "Land of Chattering Classes", in condemnation of the apparent abandonment of British values and history by Tony Blair's New Labour.

In 2001 Lilley provoked some controversy in his party and Britain more widely by calling for cannabis to be legalised.

In 2005 Lilley produced a report for the Bow Group centre-right think tank that was highly critical of Government plans to introduce national identity cards.

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