Phil Willis is a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords, and was Member of Parliament for Harrogate and Knaresborough from 1997 until retiring at the 2010 general election.
10 Facts About Phil Willis
2.
Phil Willis attended Burnley Grammar School and the City of Leeds and Carnegie College, where he gained a Cert Ed in 1963.
3.
Phil Willis was first elected in 1997, beating Norman Lamont, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, and was re-elected with increased majorities in 2001 and 2005.
4.
From 1999 to 2005, Phil Willis was the Liberal Democrat Shadow Education and Skills Secretary, having previously served as Higher Education spokesman and acting spokesman on Northern Ireland.
5.
Phil Willis considered running in the deputy leadership election but did not submit a nomination.
6.
In September 2008, Mr Phil Willis provoked the resignation of Professor Michael Reiss from his position as Director of Education at the Royal Society.
7.
Phil Willis suggested an alternative approach: that such pupils should be allowed to express their opinions, not as science, but as 'a world view'.
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Norman Lamont 8.
On 18 June 2010, Phil Willis was created a life peer with the title Baron Phil Willis of Knaresborough, of Harrogate in the County of North Yorkshire and was introduced in the House of Lords on 7 July 2010.
9.
Phil Willis is a keen supporter of Burnley Football Club.
10.
Phil Willis's daughter Rachel is a television personality best known for her role of Connie, the so-called "AOL lady" in the AOL adverts, a role which she played from 1998 to 2003.