1. David Ross Howarth was born on 10 November 1958 and is a British academic and politician who was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Cambridge from 2005 to 2010.
16 Facts About David Howarth
1. 2.
David Howarth served as an Electoral Commissioner between 2010 and 2018.
3.
David Howarth is Professor of Law and Public Policy at the University of Cambridge.
4.
David Howarth is the author of Textbook on Tort, Law as Engineering: Thinking about What Lawyers Do and articles in academic journals and chapters in academic books.
5.
David Howarth has engaged in policy making and leadership in public roles, previously as Leader of Cambridge City Council, and as a member of the Liberal Democrats' Federal Policy Committee.
6.
David Howarth was elected Leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Cambridge City Council in 1990 when it was in third place, and then leading it to become the principal opposition on the council, eventually becoming Leader of the Council in 2000.
7.
David Howarth continued as Leader until 2003, stepping down to concentrate on winning the Cambridge parliamentary seat.
8.
David Howarth stood unsuccessfully for Parliament in Cambridge in 1992 and 2001, and in the nearby seat of Peterborough in 1997.
9.
David Howarth was the first Liberal or Liberal Democrat to win Cambridge since the 1906 general election.
10.
David Howarth was successively Shadow Minister for Local Government ; Shadow Minister for Energy ; Shadow Solicitor General ; and Shadow Secretary of State for Justice.
11.
David Howarth served on the Constitutional Affairs, Justice and Environmental Audit Select Committees.
12.
In 2008 David Howarth criticised Home Office minister Vernon Coaker's defence of the policing of the Camp for Climate Action at Kingsnorth power station, which was widely criticised as disproportionate, and called on the government and police to end the practice of likening environmental protesters to terrorists.
13.
David Howarth was one of the relatively few MPs not implicated in the 2009 expenses scandal, being singled out by The Guardian as one of the "Angels" for having "not claimed a penny in second home allowances" and commuting the 60 miles from Cambridge to Westminster.
14.
David Howarth was reinstated in his old job, as a Reader in Law and Land Economy at Cambridge University.
15.
David Howarth served as the Liberal Democrat nominee as an Electoral Commissioner, for two four year terms between October 2010 and October 2018.
16.
David Howarth has two children and is married to Edna Howarth.