David Willetts
Lord Commissioner of the Treasury | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
In office 6 July 1995 – 28 November 1995 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | John Major | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Andrew Mitchell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Liam Fox | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Life Peerage | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Member of Parliament for Havant | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 9 April 1992 – 30 March 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Ian Lloyd | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Alan Mak | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | David Linsay Willetts 9 March 1956 Birmingham, England, UK | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Political party | Conservative | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouse | Sarah Butterfield | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Education | King Edward's School, Birmingham | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alma mater | University of Oxford (BA) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | www | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
David Linsay Willetts, Baron Willetts,
Education
Willetts was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied philosophy, politics and economics.[2][3] Willetts graduated with a first-class degree.
Policy researcher
Having served as Nigel Lawson's private researcher,[4] Willetts took charge of the Treasury monetary policy division at 26 before moving over to Margaret Thatcher's Policy Unit at 28. He subsequently took over the Centre for Policy Studies, aged 31.[5]
First period in government
Aged 36, Willetts entered
Shadow Cabinet
Despite the resignation, Willetts was able to return to the shadow front bench a few years later while
Following the 2005 election, he served as
Following Cameron's win, Willetts was appointed
On 19 May 2007, Willetts made a controversial speech on grammar schools in which he defended the existing Conservative Party policy of not reintroducing grammar schools. The speech received a mixed reception. The analysis was applauded by The Guardian and The Times.[7][9][10][11] However, the more right-wing The Daily Telegraph was strongly critical of the speech, which was unpopular with some Conservative Party activists.[12] The speech was made more controversial when David Cameron weighed into the argument, backing Willetts' speech and describing his critics as "delusional", accusing them of "splashing around in the shallow end of the educational debate" and of "clinging on to outdated mantras that bear no relation to the reality of life".[13]
The Department for Education and Skills was abolished by the new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who established two new departments. On 2 July 2007, Cameron reshuffled Willetts down to the junior of the two departments: the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.
Second period in government
Following the 2010 general election, Prime Minister David Cameron appointed Willetts as the Minister of State for Universities and Science.
Feminism claim
In June 2011, Willetts said during the launch of the Government's social mobility strategy that movement between the classes had "stagnated" over the past 40 years, and Willetts attributed this partly to the entry of women into the workplace and universities for the lack of progress for men. "Feminism trumped egalitarianism", he said, adding that women who would otherwise have been housewives had taken university places and well-paid jobs that could have gone to ambitious working-class men. He went on to say that,
"One of the things that happened over that period was that the entirely admirable transformation of opportunities for women meant that with a lot of the expansion of education in the 1960s, '70s and '80s, the first beneficiaries were the daughters of middle-class families who had previously been excluded from educational opportunities [...] And if you put that with what is called 'assortative mating' – that well-educated women marry well-educated men – this transformation of opportunities for women ended up magnifying social divides. It is delicate territory because it is not a bad thing that women had these opportunities, but it widened the gap in household incomes because you suddenly had two-earner couples, both of whom were well-educated, compared with often workless households where nobody was educated".[14]
Tuition fees and student loan debts
As the minister responsible for universities, Willetts was an advocate and spokesperson for the coalition government's policy of increasing the cap on tuition fees in England and Wales from £3,225 to £9,000 per year.[15][16]
In November 2013, Willetts announced the sale of student loans to
Peerage and further ventures
In July 2014, Willetts announced that he would not contest the
Brexit
Willetts is one of the signatories of a statement by senior Conservatives calling for a second referendum over Brexit. This states, "If we are to remain a party of government, it is absolutely critical that we increase our support among younger generations. To do this, we must listen to and engage with their concerns on Brexit. They voted overwhelmingly to Remain in the European Union in 2016 – and since then have become even stronger in their views. Since the referendum, nearly 2 million young people are now of voting age. Of those in this group who are certain to vote, an astounding 87% support the United Kingdom staying in the European Union. If we do not hear their voices, who could blame them for feeling excluded and powerless on this most vital issue. The truth is that if Brexit fails this generation, we risk losing young people for good. Our party's electoral future will be irrevocably blighted."[24] In early 2019, he co-founded the group Right to Vote.[25]
Free votes record
According to the Public Whip analyses,[26] Willetts was strongly in favour of an elected House of Lords and was strongly against the ban on fox hunting. TheyWorkForYou additionally records that, amongst other things, Willetts was strongly in favour of the Iraq War, strongly in favour of an investigation into it, moderately against equal gay rights, and very strongly for replacing Trident.[27]
Other interests
Following his decision to stand down at the 2015 General Election, Willetts joined the Resolution Foundation in Summer 2015. He Chaired the Foundation's Intergenerational Commission
Willetts is the author of several books on conservatism, including "Why Vote Conservative" (1996) and "Modern Conservatism" (1992), as well as numerous articles. 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.[31][32] He is an honorary member of Conservative Friends of Poland.[33]
Civic conservatism
This article is part of a series on |
Conservatism in the United Kingdom |
---|
Willetts has pioneered the idea of "
Fourteen years after the publication of "Civic Conservatism" Willetts gave the inaugural Oakeshott Memorial Lecture to the London School of Economics in which he made an attempt to explain how game theory can be used to help think about how to improve social capital. The lecture[35] was described by the Times as "an audacious attempt by the Conservative Party's leading intellectual to relate a new Tory narrative".[36]
Civic conservatism, like free market economics, proceeds from deep-seated individual self-interest towards a stable cooperation. It sets the Tories the task not of changing humanity but of designing institutions and arrangements that encourage our natural reciprocal altruism.[37]
Personal life and member's interests
Willetts is married to the artist Sarah Butterfield.[38] The couple have one daughter, born 1988, and one son, born 1992. His wealth in 2009 was estimated at £1.9m,[39] and his declarations for the Register of Members' Financial Interests may be viewed here.
Honours
- He was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 2010, giving him the honorific title "The Right Honourable" and after ennoblement the post nominal letters"PC" for life.
- He was awarded a life peerage in 2015, allowing him to sit in the House of Lords. He took the title Baron Willetts, of Havant in the County of Hampshire. He sits with the Conservative Party benches.
Scholastic
- University degrees
Location | Date | School | Degree |
---|---|---|---|
England | Christ Church, Oxford | First-class honours Bachelor of Arts (BA) in PPE |
- Chancellor, visitor, governor, and fellowships
Location | Date | School | Position |
---|---|---|---|
England | 21 October 2014 – | King's College London | Visiting Professor[40]
|
England | July 2018 – | University of Leicester | Chancellor[30] |
England | – | Nuffield College, Oxford | Honorary Fellow[41]
|
- Honorary degrees
Location | Date | School | Degree |
---|---|---|---|
England | 21 November 2014 | University of Bedfordshire | Doctor of Arts (D.Arts)[42][43] |
England | 17 July 2016 | University of Leicester | |
England | 4 July 2017 | University of Bath | |
England | 2017 | Richmond, The American International University in London |
Doctor of Public Administration (DPA)[48] |
England | 2017 | University of Chester | Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)[49] |
Memberships and fellowships
Country | Date | Organisation | Position |
---|---|---|---|
United Kingdom | 2014 – | Academy of Social Sciences | Fellow (FAcSS)[50][51] |
United Kingdom | 2016 – | Academy of Medical Sciences |
Honorary Fellow (FMedSci)[52][53] |
United Kingdom | 2017 – | Royal Society of Chemistry | Honorary Fellow (HonFRSC)[54] |
United Kingdom | 2018 – | Royal Society | Honorary Fellow (FRS)[55] |
United Kingdom | 2023 – | Royal Academy of Engineering | Honorary Fellow (FREng)[56] |
Published works
- Willetts, David (1991). Happy Families? Four Points to a Conservative Family Policy. ISBN 1-870265-62-9.
- Willetts, David (1992). Modern Conservatism. ISBN 0-14-015477-9.
- Willetts, David (1992). Welfare to Work. ISBN 1-874097-18-6.
- Willetts, David (1996). Blair's Gurus. ISBN 0-14-026304-7.
- Willetts, David (1997). Why Vote Conservative?. ISBN 0-14-026304-7.
- Willetts, David (1997). Blair's Gurus. ISBN 1-897969-47-3.
- Willetts, David (1998). Who do we think we are?. ISBN 1-897969-81-3.
- Willetts, David; Willets, Hillman; Bogdanor, Adam (2003). Left Out, Left Behind. ISBN 0-9545611-0-4.
- Willetts, David (2003). Old Europe? Demographic Change and Pension Reform. ISBN 1-901229-47-5.
- Willetts, David (2010). The Pinch: How the Baby Boomers Took Their Children's Future – And Why They Should Give It Back. ISBN 978-1-84887-231-8.
- Willetts, David (2017). A University Education. ISBN 978-0-19-876726-8.
References
- ^ a b "Lord David Willetts appointed as Chair of UK Space Agency Board". GOV.UK. 26 April 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
- ^ "Rt Hon David Willetts MP (1974)". The King Edward's School Birmingham Trust website. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
- ^ Heidi Blake (10 November 2010). "Grants, loans and tuition fees: a timeline of how university funding has evolved". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
- ^ Aitkenhead, Decca (20 November 2011). "David Willetts: 'Many more will go to university than in my generation – we must not reverse that'". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
- ^ Alice Thomson (13 March 2004). "Willetts takes 'two pensions' Blair to task". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
- ^ Foot, Paul (19 March 2004). "P. F. Eye: An idiot's guide to the Private Finance Initiative" (PDF). Private Eye. No. 1102. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 September 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
- ^ a b Michael White (22 May 2007). "It's over". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
- ^ Finkelstein, Daniel (2 November 2005). "A David Davis guide to fiscal strategy: two and two make... um, er...". The Times. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ Anatole Kaletsky (24 May 2007). "Lesson one: get the yobs out of the classroom". The Times. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
- ^ Daniel Finkelstein (21 May 2007). "Fisking Janet Daley". The Times. Archived from the original on 9 July 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
- ^ Daniel Finkelstein (22 May 2007). "Do Cameron's critics really want grammar schools?". The Times. Archived from the original on 9 July 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
- ^ Janet Daley (21 May 2007). "When did wanting the best for your children become a crime?". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
- ^ "Cameron steps up grammars attack". BBC News. 22 May 2007. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
- ^ Prince, Rosa (1 April 2011). "David Willets: feminism has held back working men". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ David Willetts (6 December 2010). "Tuition fees will be 'fair and affordable'". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
- ^ "Tuition fees vote: Plans approved despite rebellion". BBC News. 9 November 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
- ^ Read, Simon (26 November 2013). "Government sells £900 million in student loans to debt collection company". The Independent. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
- ^ O'Leary, Miles (14 July 2014). "Havant MP to stand down at next General Election after more than two decades". The News. Portsmouth. Archived from the original on 30 June 2018. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ Morgan, John (21 October 2014). "Willetts appointed to teach and research at King's College London". Times Higher Education (THE). Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ "No. 61388". The London Gazette. 22 October 2015. p. 19846.
- ^ "About us: David Willetts". Resolution Foundation. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
- ^ "Distinguished scientists elected as Fellows and Foreign Members of the Royal Society" (Press release). The Royal Society. 9 May 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
- ^ "SYNBIOVEN LIMITED people – GOV.UK". Find and update company information. 21 February 2022. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
- ^ Helm, Toby (16 December 2018). "Party activists pile pressure on Corbyn to back second vote". The Observer. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ Lee, Phillip (19 March 2019). "Letter to the Prime Minister from Dr Phillip Lee MP" (PDF). Letter to Theresa May. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
- ^ "Voting Record – David Willetts MP, Havant". Public Whip. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
- ^ "David Willetts MP, voting record". TheyWorkForYou.com. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
- ^ "A New Generational Contract: The final report of the Intergenerational Commission • Resolution Foundation". 8 May 2018.
- ^ "Intergenerational Centre • Living standards through a generational lens".
- ^ a b "Lord Willetts former Universities and Science Minister announced as Universitys new Chancellor". www2.le.ac.uk. University of Leicester. 8 February 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
- ^ "Signatories to the Statement of Principles". The Henry Jackson Society. 27 July 2010. Archived from the original on 8 August 2010. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
- ^ "Statement of Principles". The Henry Jackson Society. 27 July 2010. Archived from the original on 8 August 2010. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
- ^ Conservative Friends of Poland website Archived 31 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Fraser Nelson (24 June 2006). "The real father of Cameronism". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
- ^ "Renewing civic conservatism. The Oakeshott Lecture. LSE, 20th February 2008" (PDF). London School of Economics. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
- ^ Daniel Finkelstein (20 February 2008). "Blood, bats and bonding: a new way". The Times. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
- ^ Daniel Finkelstein (20 February 2008). "Civic conservatism replies to compassionate conservatism". The Times. Archived from the original on 31 January 2011. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
- ^ Steven Morris (13 June 2002). "Paintings row ends in division of oils". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
- ^ Samira Shackle; Stephanie Hegarty; George Eaton (1 October 2009). "The new ruling class". New Statesman. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
- ^ "King's College London – David Willetts appointed Visiting Professor". kcl.ac.uk. 22 June 2023.
- ^ "Honorary and Emeritus fellows".
- ^ "MP David Willetts presented with honorary degree – beds.ac.uk | University of Bedfordshire".
- ^ "Al Murray and David Willetts MP to be among honorands – beds.ac.uk | University of Bedfordshire".
- ^ "Honorary Graduates – University of Leicester".
- ^ "Rt Hon Lord David Willetts – Honorary Degree – University of Leicester", 17 July 2016.
- ^ "The Rt Hon. The Lord Willetts: Oration".
- ^ "Lord Willetts receives honorary degree".
- ^ "Honorary Degree Recipients". Archived from the original on 30 September 2018. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
- ^ "Honorary graduates 2017". 21 November 2017.
- ^ "Academy of Social Sciences Names 2014 Fellows". Social Science Space. 14 October 2014. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
- ^ "Academy of Social Sciences Fellows". The Academy of Social Sciences. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
- ^ "Lord David Willetts | The Academy of Medical Sciences".
- ^ Mark Walport, "Citation for Lord David Willetts on his admission as an Honorary Fellow", The Academy of Medical Sciences.
- ^ "Honorary Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry".
- ^ "David Willetts' Royal Society Fellowship Biography". The Royal Society. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
- ^ "Royal Academy of Engineering welcomes 73 new Fellows". Retrieved 4 October 2023.
For Willetts' roles in the 1980s–1990s as a welfare specialist:
- ISBN 0-00-710264-X.
External links
- David Willetts MP official constituency website
- Profile at the Conservative Party
- Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
- Voting record at Public Whip
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
- Article archive at The Guardian
- The Tories don't have to make a false choice between roots or freedom, David Willetts, The Times, 2 June 2005
- David Willetts collected news and commentary at The Guardian
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Profile: David Willetts BBC News, 22 October 2002