34 Facts About Oliver Letwin

Sir Oliver Letwin was born on 19 May 1956 and is a British politician, Member of Parliament for West Dorset from 1997 to 2019.

Oliver Letwin was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer under Michael Howard and Shadow Home Secretary under Iain Duncan Smith.

Oliver Letwin was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from 2014 to 2016.

Oliver Letwin was educated at The Hall School, Hampstead and at Eton College.

Oliver Letwin then went to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he received a double first in history.

From 1980 to 1981, Oliver Letwin was a visiting fellow of Princeton University, then a research fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge, from 1981 until 1982.

Oliver Letwin is a graduate of the London Business School.

Oliver Letwin was a member of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Policy Unit from 1983 to 1986.

Oliver Letwin co-authored Britain's biggest enterprise: ideas for radical reform of the NHS, a 1988 Centre for Policy Studies pamphlet written with John Redwood which advocated a closer relationship between the National Health Service and the private sector.

Oliver Letwin stood unsuccessfully against Diane Abbott in Hackney North and Stoke Newington at the 1987 election, and against Glenda Jackson for the Hampstead and Highgate seat at the 1992 election.

Oliver Letwin won the historically safe Conservative seat of West Dorset at the 1997 general election, achieving a majority of 1,840 votes over the next candidate.

Oliver Letwin supported Michael Portillo and Michael Howard in their consecutive tenures as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Oliver Letwin had previously been an official Opposition spokesman on Constitutional Affairs, Scotland and Wales from 1998, and was promoted to Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury in 1999.

When this proposal came under attack as regressive, Oliver Letwin found few of his colleagues to defend it, and he adopted a low profile for the remainder of the campaign.

Oliver Letwin was largely credited with forcing the then Home Secretary to withdraw his proposal in 2001 to introduce an offence of incitement to religious hatred.

Oliver Letwin successfully argued that such an offence would be impossible to define, so there would be little chance of prosecution.

Oliver Letwin argued that Muslims would feel persecuted by such a law.

Oliver Letwin's responsibilities included developing government policies with the Cabinet Office, as set out in the Coalition's programme for government, as well as implementing departmental business plans.

Oliver Letwin attended the Cabinet, although not as a full member or Cabinet Minister.

Oliver Letwin was appointed as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 14 July 2014, succeeding Lord Hill of Oareford who became the United Kingdom's next European Commissioner.

Oliver Letwin continued in his role as Minister for Policy until the 2015 general election, when the position was abolished.

Oliver Letwin was returned with a much increased majority of 16,130 votes by his West Dorset constituents at the 2015 general election.

Oliver Letwin was awarded a knighthood by David Cameron in the 2016 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours List.

In 2018, Oliver Letwin led an "independent review" into the delivery of housing on large development sites.

Oliver Letwin's amendment attracted the support of ten former Conservative and ten Democratic Unionist Party members, while the government attracted the votes of six Labour MPs and seventeen independents.

Oliver Letwin maintained in June 2017 that the public is willing to increase taxes carefully for large numbers of people to pay for improved public services.

Oliver Letwin wants to see better public services rather than higher public sector pay.

Oliver Letwin believes reducing the deficit is important so Britain is protected when the next downturn comes.

In 2003, while Shadow Home Secretary, Oliver Letwin announced a policy to prevent any asylum seekers entering the UK instead suggesting a "far off-shore processing centre".

Oliver Letwin had previously suggested holding asylum seekers on prison ships for vetting by security services.

In October 2011 the Daily Mirror reported a story that Oliver Letwin had thrown away more than 100 secret government documents in public bins in St James's Park, with no real care to dispose of them properly.

Enquiries made by the Information Commissioner's Office found that although Oliver Letwin did not dispose of any government documents, he had in fact disposed of constituents' personal and confidential letters to him and therefore did breach data protection rules.

Oliver Letwin married government lawyer Isabel Davidson in 1984; the couple have two children.

In 2003, The Independent reported Oliver Letwin saying that he would "go out on the streets and beg" rather than send his children to the state schools in Lambeth where he and his family lived.