David Laws | |
|---|---|
 Laws in 2014 | |
| Minister Assisting the Deputy Prime Minister[a] | |
| In office 4 September 2012 – 8 May 2015 | |
| Prime Minister | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | David Miliband (2005) |
| Succeeded by | The Lord True (2020) |
| Minister of State for Schools | |
| In office 4 September 2012 – 8 May 2015 | |
| Prime Minister | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | Nick Gibb |
| Succeeded by | Nick Gibb |
| Chief Secretary to the Treasury | |
| In office 12 May 2010 – 29 May 2010 | |
| Prime Minister | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | Liam Byrne |
| Succeeded by | Danny Alexander |
| Member of Parliament for Yeovil | |
| In office 7 June 2001 – 30 March 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Paddy Ashdown |
| Succeeded by | Marcus Fysh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | David Anthony Laws 30 November 1965 Farnham, England |
| Political party | Liberal Democrats |
| Domestic partner | James Lundie (2001–present) |
| Alma mater | King's College, Cambridge |
David Anthony Laws (born 30 November 1965) is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Yeovil from 2001 to 2015. A member of the Liberal Democrats, in his third parliament he served at the outset as a Cabinet Minister, in 2010, as Chief Secretary to the Treasury; as well as later concurrently as Minister of State for Schools and Minister Assisting the Deputy Prime Minister – an office where he worked cross-departmentally on implementing the coalition agreement in policies - from 2012 to 2015.
After a career in investment banking, Laws became an economic adviser and later Director of Policy and Research for his party. In 2001, he was elected as MP for Yeovil, succeeding former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown. In 2004, he co-edited The Orange Book: Reclaiming Liberalism, followed by Britain After Blair in 2006. After the 2010 general election, Laws was a senior party negotiator in the coalition agreement which underpinned the party's parliamentary five-year coalition government with the Conservative Party.
He held the office of Chief Secretary to the Treasury for 17 days before resigning owing to the disclosure of his parliamentary expenses claims, described by the Parliamentary Standards and Privileges Committee as "a series of serious breaches of the rules, over a considerable period of time", albeit unintended; the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards found "no evidence that [he] made his claims with the intention of benefiting himself or his partner in conscious breach of the rules."[1] His was among the six cabinet resignations during the expenses scandal; he was suspended from Parliament for seven days by vote of the House of Commons. In the 2012 cabinet reshuffle, he attended cabinet as Minister of State for School Standards and Minister Assisting the Deputy Prime Minister. He was unseated by Conservative nominee Marcus Fysh in the 2015 general election.
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