Sir David Anthony Evennett (born 3 June 1949,
Romford
Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romford ...
) is a
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
politician. He was elected as
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP) for
Bexleyheath and Crayford at the
2005 general election. Previously he was the MP for
Erith and Crayford between the
1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...
and
1997 general elections. He served as
Lord Commissioner of the Treasury
In the United Kingdom there are at least six Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, serving as a commission for the ancient office of Treasurer of the Exchequer. The board consists of the First Lord of the Treasury, the Second Lord of the ...
from September to October 2022.
Early life
Sir David was educated at
Buckhurst Hill County High School
Buckhurst Hill County High School, BHCHS, (1938–1989) was a secondary school in Chigwell, Essex.
History
It opened on 15 September 1938. It was near to RAF Chigwell and the River Roding.
In 1953 there were 549 boys and the staff consisted o ...
and the
London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 millio ...
, where he was awarded an
MSc in Economics. He began his career as a teacher at
Ilford County High School
Ilford County High School (often abbreviated to ICHS) is a selective secondary grammar school for boys located in the town of Barkingside of the London Borough of Redbridge. The school was formerly called ''Park High Grade School'' and as a res ...
between 1972 and 1974, from which post he resigned when he was elected to
Redbridge London Borough Council
Redbridge London Borough Council is the local authority for Redbridge in Greater London, England, and one of the capital's 32 borough councils. Redbridge is divided into 21 wards and elects 63 councillors. , Redbridge Council comprises 55 Labou ...
(1974–78). From 1974 to 1981 he was also a marine
insurance broker
An insurance broker is an intermediary who sells, solicits, or negotiates insurance on behalf of a client for compensation. An insurance broker is distinct from an insurance agent in that a broker typically acts on behalf of a client by negoti ...
at
Lloyd's
Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gov ...
, and he worked as a lecturer in management between 1997 and 2005.
At the
1979 general election he contested the
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
seat of
Hackney South and Shoreditch
Hackney South and Shoreditch is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Meg Hillier of Labour Co-op.
History
The seat was created in February 1974 from the former seat of Shoreditch and Finsbury.
...
where he came second to
Ronald Brown.
Parliamentary career
Erith and Crayford
Sir David was elected as the Conservative MP for
Erith and Crayford at the
1983 general election, when he defeated
James Wellbeloved
Alfred James Wellbeloved (29 July 1926 – 10 September 2012) was a British politician who was the MP for Erith and Crayford from 1965 to 1983. He was elected as a member of the Labour Party, but defected to the Social Democratic Party after i ...
who had defected from the Labour Party to the newly formed
Social Democrats
Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...
in 1981. Sir David gained the seat with a majority of 920 votes over Wellbeloved. He remained the MP until the seat was redrawn in boundary changes at the
1997 general election.
In
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
he joined the
Education and Science Select committee in 1986. Following the
1992 general election he was appointed the
Parliamentary Private Secretary
A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...
(PPS) to the
Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...
at the Department for Education,
Emily Blatch
Emily May Blatch, Baroness Blatch, (née Triggs; 24 July 1937 – 31 May 2005) was a British Conservative politician.
Born in Birkenhead, the daughter of Stephen and Sarah Triggs, she was educated at Prenton High School for Girls and ...
. In 1993 he became the PPS to
John Redwood
Sir John Alan Redwood (born 15 June 1951) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wokingham in Berkshire since 1987. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Secretary of State for Wales in the Major governm ...
, the
Secretary of State for Wales
The secretary of state for Wales ( cy, ysgrifennydd gwladol Cymru), also referred to as the Welsh secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Wales Office. The incumbent is a member ...
, until 1995 when he was made PPS to the
Home Office minister
David Maclean
David John Maclean, Baron Blencathra, (born 16 May 1953) is a Conservative Party life peer. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Penrith and The Border from 1983 to 2010.
Early and later life
Born in Scotland, Maclean was educated at F ...
, and then PPS to
Gillian Shephard
Gillian Patricia Shephard, Baroness Shephard of Northwold, (''née'' Watts; born 22 January 1940), is a British Conservative politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Norfolk from 1987 to 2005. Shephard served as a Cabin ...
at the
Department for Education
The Department for Education (DfE) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for child protection, child services, education (compulsory, further and higher education), apprenticeships and wider skills in England.
A Department ...
in 1996, where he remained until he was defeated at the
1997 general election.
Bexleyheath and Crayford
He contested the newly drawn
Bexleyheath and Crayford seat in 1997, but lost to Labour's
Nigel Beard
Christopher Nigel Beard (10 October 1936 – 31 July 2017) was a British Labour politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bexleyheath and Crayford in London from 1997 to 2005.
He previously contested several parliamentary constit ...
by 3,415 votes. He narrowly lost to Beard again at the
2001 general election but reduced his majority to 1,475. He was re-elected to Parliament for Bexleyheath and Crayford at the
2005 general election, ousting Beard by 4,551 votes. By winning back a seat which, albeit after boundary changes, he had lost in 1997, he became the only MP to have lost his seat in the Labour landslide of 1997, fought the same seat unsuccessfully in 2001 and then to have fought and won it back at the second attempt.
Following his re-election in 2005, he was made a member of the
Education & Skills Select Committee
The Education & Skills Select Committee was a Committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The official name was the ''House of Commons, Education and Skills Committee''.
The committee was abolished as a result of the ...
and was appointed as an
Opposition Whip
A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology ...
by
Michael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet posi ...
, and remained a whip under the new leadership of
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
. In January 2009, he was appointed Shadow Minister for Skills in the Conservative Innovation, Universities and Skills team.
At the
2010 general election he was returned with a majority of 10,344, and was appointed PPS to
Michael Gove
Michael Andrew Gove (; born Graeme Andrew Logan, 26 August 1967) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations since 2021. He has been Member of Parli ...
, Secretary of State for Education. In 2012, he was appointed Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury (Government Whip) and remained in the role until January 2018.
In March 2015, he was appointed to the
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of e ...
and therefore granted the title
The Right Honourable
''The Right Honourable'' ( abbreviation: ''Rt Hon.'' or variations) is an honorific style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations. The term is ...
.
From January 2016 to July 2016, he was the Acting
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (or just Parliamentary Secretary, particularly in departments not led by a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), Secretary of State) is the lowest of three tiers of Minister (government), government minist ...
for Sport, Tourism and Heritage, to cover the maternity leave of
Tracey Crouch
Tracey Elizabeth Anne Crouch (born 24 July 1975) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chatham and Aylesford since 2010. A member of the Conservative Party, she gained the seat from Labour's Jonathan S ...
.
On
18 May 2018, it was announced that David Evennett would be
knighted
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
.
In July 2019, the new Prime Minister
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
appointed Evennett as a Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party.
On 6 June 2022, after
a vote of no confidence in the leadership of Boris Johnson was called, Evennett announced that he would be supporting the
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
.
Personal life
He married Marilyn Smith in 1975 in
Redbridge; the couple have two sons and two grandchildren.
References
External links
David Evennett -- personal website davidevennett.org.uk
*
"Tourism Minister visits North Tyneside" newsguardian.co.uk
Politics, bbc.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evennett, David
1949 births
Living people
Councillors in the London Borough of Redbridge
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Alumni of the London School of Economics
UK MPs 1983–1987
UK MPs 1987–1992
UK MPs 1992–1997
UK MPs 2005–2010
UK MPs 2010–2015
UK MPs 2015–2017
UK MPs 2017–2019
UK MPs 2019–present
People from Romford
People educated at Buckhurst Hill County High School
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Knights Bachelor
Politicians awarded knighthoods