David Davis (British politician)

David Michael Davis (born 23 December 1948 in York, United Kingdom ) is a British politician. He was a member of the Conservative Party for the electoral district of Haltemprice and Howden and Minister of the Interior of the Shadow Cabinet.

Life

The first annual Davis grew up with his grandparents in York. When his mother married the Polish-Jewish printing house worker Ronald Davis, she moved to London.

Davis final grades were not good enough to secure him a place at university. In order to save money for the repetition of the exam, Davis took a job as an insurance clerk and was a member of the Special Air Service. After improving his final grades, he studied from 1968 to 1971 at Warwick University, the computer science subjects and Molecular Sciences, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree. Subsequently, he attended the London Business School, where he graduated in 1973 with the Master in Economics. In addition, he attended from 1984 to 1985 continuing education management courses at the University of Harvard.

For 17 years, Davis worked for the international food company Tate & Lyle and rose to become managing director of a Canadian branch in need of rehabilitation, which he successfully preserved from ruin.

Political career

At the general election in 1987 Davis was first elected as MP for the constituency of Boothferry, who later became the Haltemprice and Howden constituency in parliament. When in 1992 was in the British Parliament voted on the Treaty of Maastricht, Davis appeared as a big proponent of this Agreement and so angered many of the strict Maastricht opponents in his own ranks. Davis 's political rise earned him the post of Minister of State at the Foreign Ministry, which he held from 1994 to 1997.

Subsequently, Davis worked in the House as Chairman of the Finance Committee. He quickly made ​​a name for themselves in this position and some conservatives attracted him as a future party leaders to consider.

After William Hague's resignation, he took up in the election for party chairman of the Conservative Party. He was fourth and appointed by the election winner Iain Duncan Smith as Secretary-General. His most important official act was the defection of the Conservative Party from the association Monday Club because of its controversial racist views.

At the behest of Duncan Smith Davis was fired in 2002 from his post and replaced by Theresa May. When Davis learned of his dismissal, he was just on a family vacation in Florida; the unacceptable circumstances of his dismissal brought him sympathy of his party colleagues. His new position was that the shadow Minister of the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. General towards this was perceived as a demotion. When Duncan Smith was removed by a vote of no confidence of the party presidency, Davis made ​​surprisingly clear that he would not be a candidate and made available instead for Michael Howard strong. After the election, he received the post of interior minister in the Conservative shadow cabinet.

In this post he managed the then Immigration Minister Beverly Hughes in the wake of the scandal at the controls of Eastern European immigrants to force them to resign. At that time it was designed as Davis credit that Hughes was held accountable.

Davis merit it was also that his party time not too long ago their attitude to the project of the Labour Party to introduce identity cards again, changed and henceforth set against such plans. The main arguments are the staggering costs of the project and the restriction of personal rights were listed. Davis was convinced that the disclosure of the costs incurred and not yet fully developed concept of the identity card would have a broad rejection of the public order.

Davis has the reputation of being ultra conservative. Thus he spoke in November 2003 for the reintroduction of the death penalty. The European Union, he is hostile to. He is responsible for maintaining the "Section 28", which the district governments forbids equality and recognition of homosexuals. He enjoys high reputation within his party. When his homosexual Party member Michael Brown in 1994 was photographed during his vacation with his 20 - year-old boyfriend (at that time the age of consent was only 21 years old reached), Davis offered him his help. Also strives Davis to a boundary of legal and decisive fight against illegal immigration. In the election of the House of 2005, he became the target of " Enthauptungskampagne " the Liberal Democrats. The campaign was aimed at the Conservatives weaken decisively by their leadership should be dismantled. This plan failed, and Davis was able to extend his lead to over 5000 votes.

On 12 June 2008, he resigned from his mandate. He protested against a previously passed by the House of Commons on the day the law, which allows for the detention of suspects for 42 days without a court order. The law was part of a steady undermining of civil rights. The step following from his election in his constituency won Davis on July 10, 2008. At very low turnout, he had no serious opponent, which is why the by-elections not likely good preparation for a test atmosphere on the issue of anti-terror laws.

Candidacy for the party leadership in 2005

Davis was the favorite in the election of the party leader in 2005. After his speech had not achieved at the Conservative Party conference the desired resonant, his campaign but lost noticeable momentum. On 18 October 2005 Davis won win the first ballot among the conservative members of parliament itself. The election result was, however, worse than expected. Following the resignation of Kenneth Clarke and Liam Fox, David Davis stepped to the third round against David Cameron. Despite a convincing appearance in the television debate the BBC did not succeed Davis to surpass the popularity of his rival: Cameron was elected by the party members overwhelmingly as the new Chairman of the Conservative Party. Davis retained his post as " Shadow Home Secretary ."