David Willetts

Profile

David Linsay Willetts (born 9 March 1956) is British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he is currently the Minister of State for Universities and Science, and a Member of Parliament (MP) representing the constituency of Havant in Hampshire.

Willetts was educated at King Edward’s School, Birmingham, and Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

Having served as Nigel Lawson’s private researcher, Willetts took charge of the Treasury monetary policy division at 26 before moving over to Margaret Thatcher’s Policy Unit at 28. Aged 31, he subsequently took over the Centre for Policy Studies.

Aged 36, Willetts entered Parliament in 1992 as the MP for Havant. He quickly established himself in Parliament, becoming a Whip, a Cabinet Office Minister, and then Paymaster General in his first term (when that role was split between the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury as a policy co-ordination role). During this period Willetts’ gained “Two Brains” as a nickname, a monicker reportedly coined by The Guardian’s former political editor Michael White.

However, Willetts 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 into Hamilton.

Following the 2010 general election, Prime Minister David Cameron appointed Willetts as the Minister of State for Universities and Science. In this capacity, he attends the meetings of the Cabinet, although he is not a full member.

Willetts is in the unusual position of being a junior Conservative minister in a department headed by a Liberal Democrat minister. This has created some tension over which bits of his speeches are recognised as statements of BIS policy and which are not.

Source: Wikipedia

Further Information:

• Guardian Summary
• BBC Summary