18 Facts About Iain Duncan Smith

1. Iain Duncan Smith married Elizabeth "Betsy" Fremantle, daughter of the 5th Baron Cottesloe, in 1982.

2. Iain Duncan Smith says Britain needs an immigration system that gives the unemployed "a level playing field".

3. Iain Duncan Smith has stated his support for early interventions to reduce and prevent social breakdown.

4. Iain Duncan Smith has become significantly involved in issues of family and social breakdown.

5. Iain Duncan Smith announced a far more radical series of reforms intended to simplify the benefits and tax credits scheme into a single payment to be known as Universal Credit.

6. Iain Duncan Smith said; "This picture is set against a backdrop of 13 years of continuously increasing expenditure, which has outstripped inflation.

7. Iain Duncan Smith was one of the only early supporters of the Iraq surge policy.

8. Iain Duncan Smith became a member of the House of Commons with a majority of nearly 15,000.

9. Iain Duncan Smith ceased to belong to the Reserve of Officers on 29 June 1983.

10. Iain Duncan Smith was promoted to lieutenant on 28 June 1977, and retired from the military on 2 April 1981, moving to the Regular Army Reserve of Officers.

11. Iain Duncan Smith resigned from the Cabinet on 18 March 2016, in opposition to Chancellor George Osborne's proposed cuts to disability benefits.

12. Iain Duncan Smith joined the Conservative Party in 1981, and eventually succeeded William Hague as Conservative Leader in 2001; he won the leadership election partly owing to the support of Margaret Thatcher for his Eurosceptic beliefs.

13. Iain Duncan Smith was first elected to Parliament at the 1992 general election as the MP for Chingford—which he represented until the constituency's abolition in 1997—and he has since represented its successor constituency of Chingford and Woodford Green.

14. Iain Duncan Smith was previously the leader of the Conservative Party and leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003.

15. Iain Duncan Smith was particularly critical of the PM's backstop blueprint, telling.

16. Iain Duncan Smithcalled Duncan Smith's leadership a "handicap" as he had "failed to make the necessary impact on the electorate" and said that he should be replaced.

17. Iain Duncan Smith helps launch Esther McVey's unique careers guide for teenage girls.

18. Iain Duncan Smith talks to bomb disposal expert Kim Hughes.