Peter Lilley

The Right Honourable Peter Lilley MP
Lilley in 2012
Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party
In office 11 June 1997 – 15 June 1999
Leader	William Hague
Preceded by	Michael Heseltine
Succeeded by	Michael Portillo
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office 11 June 1997 – 2 June 1998
Leader	William Hague
Preceded by	Kenneth Clarke
Succeeded by	Francis Maude
Shadow Secretary of State for Social Security
In office 2 May 1997 – 11 June 1997
Leader	John Major
Preceded by	Harriet Harman
Succeeded by	Iain Duncan Smith
Secretary of State for Social Security
In office 8 April 1992 – 2 May 1997
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	Tony Newton
Succeeded by	Harriet Harman
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
In office 14 July 1990 – 11 April 1992
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher John Major
Preceded by	Nicholas Ridley
Succeeded by	Michael Heseltine (President of the Board of Trade)
Financial Secretary to the Treasury
In office 24 July 1989 – 28 November 1990
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Norman Lamont
Succeeded by	Francis Maude
Economic Secretary to the Treasury
In office 11 June 1987 – 24 July 1989
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Ian Stewart
Succeeded by	Richard Ryder
Member of Parliament for Hitchin and Harpenden St Albans (1983–1997)
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 June 1983
Preceded by	Victor Goodhew
Succeeded by	Kerry Pollard (for St Albans)
Majority	15,271 (27.9%)
Personal details
Born	(1943-08-23) 23 August 1943 Hayes, Kent, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Gail
Alma mater	Clare College, Cambridge

Peter Bruce Lilley (born 23 August 1943) is a British Conservative Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1983. He currently represents the constituency of Hitchin and Harpenden and, prior to boundary changes, represented St Albans. He was a Cabinet minister in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, serving as Trade and Industry Secretary from July 1990 to April 1992, and as Social Security Secretary from April 1992 to May 1997.

Early life

Lilley, whose father was a personnel officer for the BBC, was born at Hayes in Kent. He was educated at Dulwich College and Clare College, Cambridge, where, according to the biography on his official constituency website, he studied natural sciences and economics. His Cambridge contemporaries included Kenneth Clarke, Michael Howard and Norman Lamont. Before entering Parliament, he was an energy analyst at the City of London stockbroker, W. Greenwell & Co.

Lilley was chairman of conservative think tank the Bow Group from 1973–75.

Member of Parliament

In October 1974 he fought the safe-Labour seat of Tottenham, being beaten by Norman Atkinson.

Having been selected and elected for St. Albans, a safe Conservative seat, in 1983, he served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Nigel Lawson, then as Economic Secretary to the Treasury 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 forced to resign over an anti-German remark. After the 1992 general election he became Secretary of State for Social Security.

He contested the 1997 Conservative Party leadership election, placing fourth in a field of five. In opposition, he held the post of Shadow Chancellor from 1997 to 1998 and was Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party from 1998 to 1999.

Lilley is known for being an advocate of marijuana legalization. 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.

Lilley produced a report for the Bow Group in 2005 that was highly critical of Government plans to introduce national identity cards.

When David Cameron was elected leader of the Conservatives in December 2005, Lilley was appointed Chairman of the Globalisation and Global Poverty policy group, part of Cameron's extensive 18-month policy review.

Social Security Secretary

In 1992, as Secretary of State at the Department of Social Security, Lilley entertained the Conservative Party conference with a plan to "close down the something for nothing society", delivered in the form of a parody of the Lord High Executioner's "little list" song from The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan:

"I've got a little list / Of benefit offenders who I'll soon be rooting out / And who never would be missed / They never would be missed. / There's those who make up bogus claims / In half a dozen names / And councillors who draw the dole / To run left-wing campaigns / They never would be missed / They never would be missed. / There's young ladies who get pregnant just to jump the housing queue / And dads who won't support the kids / of ladies they have ... kissed / And I haven't even mentioned all those sponging socialists / I've got them on my list / And there's none of them be missed / There's none of them be missed."

The speech was well received by party members and tabloid newspapers but some commentators "saw his performance as symbolic of a party out of touch with some of society’s most vulnerable people". Spitting Image depicted him as a commandant at a Nazi concentration camp and commentator Mark Lawson of The Independent said that if Lilley stayed as Secretary of State for Social Security, it would be "equivalent to Mary Whitehouse becoming madam of a brothel".

In 1995, Lilley introduced Incapacity Benefit in the hope of checking the rise in sickness benefit claims. Unlike its predecessor, Invalidity Benefit, this new welfare payment came with a medical test that gauged claimants' ability to do any job and was taxable. Nevertheless, after 1995, the number of claimants and the cost to the taxpayer continued to balloon, with the caseload only stabilising in 2004 when the Conservatives were out of power.

Conference Song

Lilley reprised his lampooning of people on social security by singing another song to the Conservative Party conference a year after Tony Blair became Prime Minister. He changed the words of "Land of Hope and Glory" to create a song "Land of Chattering Classes", in condemnation of the purported abandonment of British values and history by Tony Blair's New Labour. Lilley joked that a Labour version of Land and Hope and Glory had been "leaked" to him. He said, "They call it `Land of Pseudo Tories' and it goes like this:

"Land of chattering classes, no more pageantry / Darlings, raise your glasses, to brave modernity / Who needs Nelson or Churchill? The past is so passe / Britain's now about Britpop and the River Cafe / God, this place is so frumpy, let's be more like LA!"

After cheers from the conference, he continued: "Not to be outdone, [Chancellor] Gordon Brown has tried to trump his neighbour [Mr Blair] with a new version of Rule Britannia":"

"Cool Britannia, where saving costs you more / Unless, like Geoffrey Robinson, your Trust's offshore!"

Oil Interests

Lilley was Vice Chairman and Senior Independent Non-Executive Director at Tethys Petroleum between 2006 and 2014, when he resigned from the board. For this position he received, between 2007 and 2012, a number of share options, which lapsed when he left the board. Between 2012 and mid-June 2013, he was paid more than £70,000 by the company.

Controversy and Climate Change

In November 2012, it was reported that Lilley had been selected by the Conservative Party to join the House Of Commons Select Committee on Climate Change. Lilley, who was at that time Vice Chairman and Senior Independent Non-Executive Director of Tethys Petroleum was seen by some as being unsuitable for the position because of this role and a perceived conflict of interest. He was one of only three MPs to vote against the Climate Change Act. Further scrutiny came from the highlighting by Private Eye that Lilley had previously lobbied then climate change minister Ed Miliband with letters requesting the 'cost of global warming'.

Family

He is married to Gail, an artist.

External links

• The Rt Hon Peter Lilley MP official constituency website
• Profile at the Conservative Party
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Profile at BBC News Democracy Live
• Articles authored at Journalisted
• Peter Lilley profile at BBC News, 22 October 2002
• BBC article about Lilley's legalise cannabis proposal 6 July 2001
• Lilley speaks about his work as Chair of the Globalisation and Global Poverty policy group Clare Politics

Offices held

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Victor Goodhew	Member of Parliament for St Albans 1983–1997	Succeeded by Kerry Pollard
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Hitchin and Harpenden 1997–present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Ian Stewart	Economic Secretary to the Treasury 1987–1989	Succeeded by Richard Ryder
Preceded by Norman Lamont	Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1989–1990	Succeeded by Francis Maude
Preceded by Nicholas Ridley	Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 1990–1992	Succeeded by Michael Heseltine as President of the Board of Trade
Preceded by Tony Newton	Secretary of State for Social Security 1992–1997	Succeeded by Harriet Harman
Preceded by Harriet Harman	Shadow Secretary of State for Social Security 1997	Succeeded by Iain Duncan Smith
Preceded by Kenneth Clarke	Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer 1997–1998	Succeeded by Francis Maude
Party political offices
Preceded by Michael Heseltine	Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party 1997–1999	Succeeded by Michael Portillo