50 Facts About Iain Duncan Smith

Iain Duncan Smith was Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2010 to 2016.

Iain Duncan Smith has been Member of Parliament for Chingford and Woodford Green, formerly Chingford, since 1992.

Duncan Smith, a Royal Air Force flying ace, Duncan Smith was born in Edinburgh and raised in Solihull.

Iain Duncan Smith was not a minister during the premiership of John Major.

Iain Duncan Smith then founded the Centre for Social Justice, a centre-right think tank independent of the Conservative Party, and became chair of its Social Justice Policy Group.

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

Iain Duncan Smith then attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Scots Guards as a second lieutenant on 28 June 1975, with the Personal Number 500263.

Iain Duncan Smith was promoted to lieutenant in the Scots Guards on 28 June 1977.

Iain Duncan Smith retired from the army on 2 April 1981, moving to the Regular Army Reserve of Officers.

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

Duncan Smith worked for GEC Marconi in the 1980s and attended the company's staff college Dunchurch College of Management.

Iain Duncan Smith did not gain any qualifications at Dunchurch and completed six separate courses lasting a few days each, adding up to roughly a month in total.

At the 1987 general election Duncan Smith contested the constituency of Bradford West, where the incumbent Labour Party MP Max Madden retained his seat.

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

Duncan Smith remained on the backbenches until 1997, when the new Conservative leader William Hague brought him into the Shadow cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Social Security.

In September 2001, Duncan Smith was the successful candidate in the Conservative Party leadership election.

Iain Duncan Smith called 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.

Duncan Smith became the first Conservative leader who did not lead his party in a general election campaign since Neville Chamberlain.

In 2004, Duncan Smith established the Centre for Social Justice, a centre-right think tank working with small charities with the aim of finding innovative policies for tackling poverty.

Duncan Smith was re-elected comfortably in Chingford and Woodford Green at the 2005 general election, almost doubling his majority.

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

Iain Duncan Smith looked at "how to make it harder for sick and disabled people to claim benefits" by giving DWP staff more powers to conduct benefit eligibility tests and to strip benefits from claimants with serious but time-limited health conditions, but he was advised it would be illegal to introduce legislation not requiring parliamentary approval.

Duncan Smith himself was criticised by the UK Statistics Authority and National Institute of Economic and Social Research for breaking the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

Shortly after being appointed, Duncan Smith said the government would encourage people to work for longer by making it illegal for companies to force staff to give up work at 65 and bringing forward the planned rises in the state pension age.

Iain Duncan Smith announced reforms to simplify benefits and tax credits into a single Universal Credit payment, arguing welfare reform would make low earners better off in employment.

Iain Duncan Smith promised targeted work activity, sanctions and possible removal of benefits for up to three years for those who refused to work.

Iain Duncan Smith said benefits were not a route out of child poverty but hundreds of thousands of children could be lifted out of child poverty if one of their parents were to work at least a 35-hour week at the national minimum wage.

In June 2011, Duncan Smith announced welfare-to-work programmes would be replaced with a single Work Programme, which included incentives for private sector service providers to help the unemployed find long term employment.

Duncan Smith dismissed allegations in Matthew d'Ancona's 2013 book In It Together that the Chancellor George Osborne had referred to him as "not clever enough".

Iain Duncan Smith stated that he was unable to accept the government's planned cuts to disability benefits.

Iain Duncan Smith was knighted in the 2020 New Year Honours, for political and public service.

In June 2020, Duncan Smith launched the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, becoming the co-chair of the alliance in the UK with Labour peer, Helena Kennedy.

On 26 March 2021, it was announced that Duncan Smith was one of five MPs to be sanctioned by the Chinese government for spreading what it called "lies and disinformation" about the country.

Iain Duncan Smith was banned from entering China, Hong Kong and Macau and Chinese citizens and institutions became prohibited from doing business with him.

Iain Duncan Smith was hit in the head with a traffic cone and Greater Manchester Police made five arrests.

In September 2022, Duncan Smith declined an offer to serve in Liz Truss's first Cabinet.

In September 2022, Duncan Smith joined a number of senior Conservative Party members in calling for the Chinese government's invitation to the Queen's funeral to be withdrawn.

Duncan Smith endorsed Rishi Sunak in the October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election.

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

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

Duncan Smith said he was keen to explore ways in which similar approaches could be encouraged in Britain.

Duncan Smith said couples in Norway were able to "work through what is going to happen with their children", which has "a very big effect on their thinking".

Duncan Smith said in February 2011 that it was "absurd and damaging" for ministers not to extol the benefits of marriage for fear of stigmatising those who choose not to marry.

Duncan Smith has said that tighter immigration controls are vital if Britain is to avoid "losing another generation to dependency and hopelessness".

Duncan Smith believes that some companies are using immigration as "an excuse to import labour to take up posts which could be filled by people already in Britain".

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

Duncan Smith has called for cuts to Universal Credit to be reversed.

In December 2019, Duncan Smith voted in favour of the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

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

Iain Duncan Smith has been reported to support both Tottenham Hotspur, where in 2002 he held a season ticket, and Aston Villa.