Peter Lilley
The Right Honourable
Peter Bruce Lilley (born
August 23,
1943,
Hayes,
Kent, educated at
Dulwich College) has been a
British MP since 1983. He currently represents the constituency of
Hitchin and Harpenden and, prior to boundary changes, represented
St Albans which was its predecessor seat.
He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to
Nigel Lawson, and
Financial Secretary to the Treasury before joining the Cabinet as
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to replace
Nicholas Ridley in mid-
1990 after the latter was force to resign over an anti-
German gaffe. After the
1992 UK General Election he became Secretary of State for Social Security and the coincidence of his youthful, good looks,
right wing reputation and area of departmental responsibility resulted in the
satirical television show
Spitting Image potraying him as an .
He contested the
Conservative Party leadership election, 1997 coming fourth in a field of five candidates. In opposition he held the post of Shadow Chancellor from 1997 - 1998 and was Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party 1998 - 1999.
Peter Lilley has twice given singing performances at Conservative Party conferences. In
1995 as Secretary of State at the
DSS, he sang a riff on "I have a little list", from
The Mikado by
Gilbert and Sullivan, condemning those who unfairly claimed benefits. In
1998, he changed the words of
"Land of Hope and Glory", singing "Land of
Chattering Classes", in condemnation of the apparent abandonment of British values and history by
Tony Blair's New Labour.
In
2001 Lilley provoked some controversy in his party and Britain more widely by calling for
cannabis to be legalised in a
Social Market Foundation pamphlet.[
1]
In
2005 Lilley produced a report for the
Bow Group centre-right
think tank that was highly critical of Government plans to introduce
national identity cards.[
2]
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The Rt Hon Peter Lilley MP official site
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ePolitix.com - Peter Lilley*
Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Peter Lilley MP*
TheyWorkForYou.com - Peter Lilley MP*
The Public Whip - Peter Lilley MP*
BBC News - Peter Lilley profile 22 October, 2002
*
BBC article about Lilley's legalise cannabis proposal 6 July, 2001
