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Coordinates: 53°26′45″N 2°59′21″W / 53.4457°N 2.9891°W / 53.4457; -2.9891

Bootle
Bootle  Bootle shown within Merseyside
Population	77,640  (2001 Census)[1]
OS grid reference	SJ340944
Metropolitan borough	Sefton
Metropolitan county	Merseyside
Region	North West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BOOTLE
Postcode district	L20, L30
Dialling code	0151
Police	Merseyside
Fire	Merseyside
Ambulance	North West
EU Parliament	North West England
UK Parliament	Bootle
List of places: UK • England • Merseyside

Bootle (pronounced /ˈbuːtəl/) is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England, and a 'Post town' in the L postcode area. Formally known as Bootle-cum-Linacre, the town is 4 miles (6.4 km) to the north of Liverpool city centre, and has a total resident population of 77,640.^{[1][disputed – discuss]} Historically part of Lancashire, Bootle's economy has been centred around the docks and their associated industries for decades.

Geography and administration[link]

Bootle, along with Southport, is one of the two main administrative headquarters for the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton. Among Bootle's neighbouring districts are Kirkdale to the south, Walton to the east, with Seaforth and Litherland to the north. To the west the Port of Liverpool flanks the River Mersey.

The old civic centre of Bootle contains large Victorian buildings such as the town hall and the municipal baths. East of this centre is a sizable area of large office blocks, to the west is the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and large areas of docks lining the River Mersey. To the north lies the New Strand Shopping Centre, which gained notoriety after the abduction and murder of two-year-old James Bulger in 1993.

History[link]

Toponymy[link]

Etymologically Bootle derives from the Anglo Saxon Bold or Botle meaning a dwelling.^[2] It was recorded as Boltelai in the Domesday Book in 1086. By 1212 the spelling had been recorded as Botle. The spellings Botull, Bothull and Bothell are recorded in the 14th century.^[3]

Resort[link]

Bootle was originally a small hamlet built near the 'sand hills' or dunes of the river estuary. The settlement began to grow as a bathing resort for wealthy residents of Liverpool in the early 19th century. Some remaining large villas which housed well-to-do commuters to Liverpool are located in the area known locally as 'Bootle Village'.

Development[link]

Bootle Town Hall

Bootle-cum-Linacre inscription on the town hall's external stonework

The Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway arrived in the 1840s and Bootle experienced rapid growth. By the end of the 19th century^[4] the docks had been constructed along the whole of the river front as far as Seaforth Sands to the north. The town became heavily industrialised. Bootle was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1868^[5] under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, and was granted the status of a county borough by the Local Government Act 1888 in 1889, becoming independent from the administrative county of Lancashire. During this time period it was sometimes formally known as Bootle-cum-Linacre. Orrell was added to the borough in 1905. There are still large areas of Victorian terraced houses in Bootle, formerly occupied by dock workers. These are built in distinctive pressed red brick.

Bootle's town hall and other municipal buildings were erected in the last quarter of the 19th century. The population of the town swelled during this period, boosted by Irish immigration and the attraction of plentiful work on the docks.^[6] The wealth to pay for the splendour of the town hall and the gentrified 'Bootle Village' area was generated by these docks. The skilled workers lived in terraced houses in the east of the town, while the casual dock labourers lived in cramped, dwellings near the dockside. Stories about three streets in particular caused great alarm. They were Raleigh Street, Dundas Street and Lyons Street. The last was the scene of a crime dubbed 'The Teapot Murder' by local press. Lyons Street was so notorious that it metaphorically 'died of shame' and was renamed Beresford Street shortly before the Great War.

Bootle was remarkable in other, more positive ways. It was the first borough to elect its own School Board, following the passage of Forster's Education Act of 1870. In 1872 Dr R J Sprakeling was appointed the first Medical Officer of Health, and was instrumental in improving sanitary conditions in the town. The Metropole Theatre on Stanley Road played host to stars such as music hall singer Marie Lloyd. The emporia in the Stanley Road and Strand Road areas of the town were filled with goods from all over the British Empire^{[citation needed]}. Tree lined streets surrounded magnificent open spaces, such as Derby Park, North Park and South Park. Beautiful Roman Catholic and Anglican churches sprang up all over the town, and Welsh immigration brought with it Nonconformist chapels and the temperance movement. Local societies thrived, including sports teams, scouts and musical groups. The Bootle May Day carnival and the crowning of the 'May Queen' were real highlights of the social year. The town successfully fought against absorption by neighbouring Liverpool in 1903. This was a matter of some civic pride to the people of Bootle and the Latin motto of the town, 'Respice, Aspice, Prospice,' (look to the past, the present, the future) was emblazoned on school buildings, stationery, the local press, police uniforms and all manner of other places. The development of the area can be seen by looking back at one of the earliest old Ordnance Survey maps of the area published by Alan Godfrey Maps (ISBN 9780850542455)^[7] and what it looks like now on Multimap.

Second World War[link]

The docks made Bootle a target for Nazi German Luftwaffe bombers during the Liverpool Blitz of the Second World War, with approximately 90% of the houses in the town damaged.^[8] Situated immediately adjoining the city of Liverpool, and the site of numerous docks, Bootle had the distinction of being the most heavily-bombed borough in the UK.^[9] Bootle played an important role in the Battle of the Atlantic.^[10] The famous u-boat hunter the Royal Navy's Captain Frederic John 'Johnny' Walker, would rest in the Mayor's Parlour of Bootle Town Hall and his ship, HMS Starling, sailed out of Bootle and the ship's bell and flags signalling the General Chase can still be seen in Bootle Town Hall's council chamber today.

Post war[link]

After the Second World War large council housing estates were built inland from the town centre, including the area of Netherton, which was built on New Town principles. The Liverpool Overhead Railway and Liverpool Tramways Company closure in the 1950s reduced Bootle's connection to Liverpool.

Bootle did share in the postwar boom. The centre of the town was redeveloped and the 'Bootle New Strand' shopping centre was opened in the late 1960s. At the same time, new offices were built in the town centre. The town lost its access to the beach when neighbouring Seaforth Sands was redeveloped in the early 1970s, but the Seaforth Container Port brought new jobs into the area. The local authority, and other 'social' landlords, saw to it that new housing was built and older stock renovated. Bootle did not go down the route of massive housing clearance, and many local communities remained intact.

The borough celebrated its centenary in 1968 and civic pride was much in evidence.

Decline[link]

The docks declined in importance in the 1960s and 1970s,^[11] and Bootle suffered high unemployment and a declining population. The establishment of large office blocks housing government departments and the National Girobank provided employment, but this was filled largely by middle class people from outside the Bootle/Liverpool area. A further blow came in the early 1970s when local government reorganisation saw Bootle lose its borough status, to be absorbed into the new local authority of Sefton. While in the long run this was to be beneficial, the old borough being too small to support modern local government services, the town was robbed of its identity and few could muster any civic pride for the new creation. More fundamental than political change was economic change. The very reason for Bootle's existence, the access to the Mersey, became almost irrelevant as the docks closed and the new container port required far fewer workers than the old docks had. This in turn affected practically every other industry in the town. The problems slowly gathered pace until Merseyside hit crisis point in the early 1980s. Even by 2006 the area was one of the poorest in the country and had high levels of unemployment.^[12]

Regeneration[link]

Bootle is undergoing a massive regeneration project, which has already begun with the new HSE buildings and the new-look Strand Road. Many old houses are being demolished to make way for new housing projects and lots of regeneration projects for existing properties and council buildings are to begin shortly.

A number of other development projects have recently been submitted for planning permission and should commence development within late 2006 or 2007 after being accepted. These include the significant refurbishment of Oriel Road Station, promoted by Merseytravel, the creation of a new block of apartments on the site of the Stella Maris building and a Lidl store on Stanley Road. Walmart stores inc, owners of Asda superstores have invested in building a new superstore on Strand Road. It is perhaps in this new spirit of optimism, that banners have appeared, adorning the town centre with the Latin motto of the former borough: 'Respice, Aspice, Prospice.' In 2008, the town centre management programme was introduced, via the Stepclever initiative, to support SME businesses and drive the regeneration of Bootle as a retail destination. The programme has delivered a new brand image, and a website, [www.visitbootle.com].

Unemployment[link]

The economic recovery on Merseyside since the 1980s has meant that Bootle is ranked as only the tenth worst area for unemployment in Britain, and all other parts of the region have lower unemployment - a stark contrast to the 1970s and 1980s when areas of Merseyside dominated the list of Britain's least economically active areas. As of 2009, in the depth of a recession, unemployment stands at 12%.^[13]

Transport[link]

There are two railway stations served by frequent electric services from Liverpool to Southport. These are Oriel Road near the Victorian era civic centre, and New Strand, serving the Shopping Centre. A freight line, the Bootle Branch, is still in use. Sefton has pushed for the reopening of the North Mersey Branch.

The bus station is underneath the New Strand Shopping Centre.

Amenities[link]

The town has a leisure centre located in the North Park area, which includes a modern gym, swimming pool, and various indoor sports halls. The Bootle New Strand shopping centre contains many of the regular high street stores, combined with a smaller collection of local businesses. For entertainment there is a wide varienty of public houses, snooker clubs and late night bars. There are also a number of restaurants.

Politics[link]

Originally a Conservative seat, Bootle elected early MPs such as Andrew Bonar Law, a future Tory Prime Minister. The seat was briefly Liberal in the early 1920s. Labour first captured the seat in 1929, in the personage of local hairdresser John Kinley, but lost it in 1931. Although Kinley recaptured it in 1945 it did not become safely Labour until the long tenure of Simon Mahon. It is now impregnable, politically, and since 1997 the Bootle constituency has been the safest Labour Party seat in the whole of the United Kingdom. The area is currently represented in parliament by Joe Benton.

For elections to Sefton Council the town of Bootle is split between the electoral wards of Netherton and Orrell, whose three representatives, who are all members of the Labour Party, are Susan Ellen Bradshaw, Robert John Brennan, and Ian Ralph Maher. Derby, whose three representatives are Linda Cluskey and Carol Gustafson, who are members of the Labour Party, and Paul Larkin who is a member of the Liberal Democrats, and finally Linacre whose three representatives, who are all members of the Labour Party, are John Fairclough, Gordon Friel, and Doreen Kerrigan. Overall there are nine councillors representing the Bootle area, all of them are members of the Labour Party. Overall the electoral wards of Sefton Council in and around Bootle and the parliamentary constituency itself are extremely safe seats for the Labour Party, sometimes standing uncontested by the other parties. This strong support for the Labour Party is mainly due to the town's working class population, whose mentality is very politically Left-wing, and active both from within the area and from outside. The population generally feel that they suffered badly from the Thatcherite political reforms of the Conservative Party and Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s and 90's. During this period the area developed a reputation as a stronghold of Militant tendency and opposition to Thatcherism, as epitomised with Bootle's enthusiastic support of the Liverpool dockers' strike from 1995–1998.^{[citation needed]} As a result of this strong Left-wing mentality, Conservative Party support in Bootle is minimal with the party struggling to retain its deposit during the general and local elections. However, as a result of the militants being expelled from the Labour Party and the negative reputation that the area received in the local and national press,^{[citation needed]} most local politicians today are relatively moderate Centre-left.

Notable people[link]

Many notable footballers were born in Bootle. Jamie Carragher,^[14] Steve McManaman^[15] and Roy Evans^[16] came to prominence playing for Liverpool (with Evans later going on to become the club's manager) whilst Alvin Martin^[17] is regarded as one of West Ham United's greatest ever players. Everton F.C rising star Jose Baxter was born in Bootle.

Well known comedian, Ladybird Ladybird and Benidorm star Crissy Rock was born and bred in Bootle.

In the arts, Bootle has produced the actor Craig Charles, the comedian Tom O'Connor,^[18] the television presenter Keith Chegwin, and early rock and roll singer Billy J. Kramer.^[19] The BBC news and features presenter Will Hanrahan, is originally from Bootle, and the poet and intellectual, Mark Ford, has resided in the borough. The fashion retailer George Davies was educated in Bootle.^[20]

The linguist John C Wells was born in Bootle and attended school in Wigan, Greater Manchester, but has lived the majority of his life in London.

Virtual Worlds Entrepreneur Madddyyy Schnook (Andrew Sullivan) from Second Life and author of How To Get A Second Life is from Bootle.

Psychic medium Derek Acorah, perhaps best known for starring as the medium at the beginning of the paranormal documentary reality television series Most Haunted, was born in Bootle in 1950.

James Bulger was snatched from his mother whilst shopping in Bootle.

Alex Smith (April 2, 1902 – November 29, 1963) was a British professional ice hockey defenceman who played 11 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Ottawa Senators, Detroit Falcons, Boston Bruins and New York Americans, winning the Stanley Cup in 1927 with Ottawa. He was born in Bootle.

The 2011 X Factor hopeful, Marcus Collins was brought up in Bootle. He finished runner-up in 2011.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bootle, Merseyside

• 800 years of Liverpool
• Liverpool Street Gallery - Liverpool 20
• Bootle History website
• Bootle Past photos
• Genuki website on Bootle
• www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Bootle and surrounding area
• http://www.visitbootle.com

Roger Bootle
Born	(1952-06-22)June 22, 1952 UK
Education	Oxford
Occupation	Economist

Roger Bootle is an economist and a weekly columnist^[1] for the Daily Telegraph. He is currently the Managing Director of Capital Economics, an independent macroeconomic research consultancy.

Background[link]

After studying at Merton and Nuffield Colleges, Oxford,^[2] Bootle began his career in the academic world as a lecturer in Economics at St Anne’s College, Oxford.

Career[link]

He worked as an economist for Capel-Cure Myers and Lloyds Merchant Bank. From 1989 until 1998, he was an economist at Midland Bank/HSBC, rising to the position of Group Chief Economist of the HSBC group. During the John Major government in the 1990s, he was appointed to the UK treasury’s panel of economic forecasters under Kenneth Clarke.

Bootle founded Capital Economics in 1999.

Publications[link]

• Theory of Money, joint author with W. T. Newlyn, 1978, ISBN 0-19-877099-5
• Index-Linked Gilts - a practical investment guide, 1985, ISBN 0-85941-289-X
• The Death of Inflation,^[3] 1998, ISBN 1-85788-145-1
• Money for Nothing – Real Wealth, Financial Fantasies and the Economy of the Future,^[4] 2003, ISBN 1-85788-282-2
• The Trouble with Markets - saving capitalism from itself, Second edition, 2011, ISBN 978-1-85788-558-3

External links[link]

• Journalisted - Articles by Roger Bootle
• Capital Economics

References[link]

This biography of a British economist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

It has been suggested that Betsygate be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Proposed since February 2011.

The Right Honourable Iain Duncan Smith MP
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 May 2010
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Yvette Cooper
Leader of the Opposition
In office 13 September 2001 – 6 November 2003
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	William Hague
Succeeded by	Michael Howard
Leader of the Conservative Party
In office 13 September 2001 – 6 November 2003
Preceded by	William Hague
Succeeded by	Michael Howard
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
In office 15 June 1999 – 13 September 2001
Leader	William Hague
Preceded by	John Maples
Succeeded by	Bernard Jenkin
Shadow Secretary of State for Social Security
In office 2 June 1997 – 15 June 1999
Leader	William Hague
Preceded by	Harriet Harman
Succeeded by	David Willetts
Member of Parliament for Chingford and Woodford Green Chingford (1992–1997)
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 April 1992
Preceded by	Norman Tebbit
Majority	12,963 (30.1%)
Personal details
Born	George Iain Duncan Smith (1954-04-09) 9 April 1954 (age 58) Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Betsy Fremantle
Children	4
Alma mater	Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
Profession	Politician businessman soldier
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Military service
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1975–1981
Rank	10px Captain
Unit	Scots Guards

George Iain Duncan Smith (born 9 April 1954; often referred to by his initials "IDS") is a British Conservative politician. He is currently the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and was previously leader of the Conservative Party from September 2001 to October 2003. He was first elected to parliament at the 1992 General Election as the MP for Chingford and has represented its successor constituency of Chingford and Woodford Green since the 1997 General Election.

Duncan Smith was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and served in the Scots Guards from 1975 to 1981, with service in Northern Ireland and Rhodesia. He joined the Conservative Party in 1981, and was elected as a Member of Parliament in 1992. When William Hague resigned as Conservative Party leader in 2001, Duncan Smith won the subsequent leadership election, bolstered by the support of Margaret Thatcher and his Eurosceptic ideology. Duncan Smith was the first Roman Catholic to serve as Conservative Party leader, and the first born in Scotland since Arthur Balfour.

In 2003, the Conservative Party passed a Vote of No Confidence in Duncan Smith, as many considered him unable to return the party to government. He resigned, and was succeeded as party leader by Michael Howard. As a backbencher, Duncan Smith founded the Centre for Social Justice, a centre-right think tank independent of the Conservative Party and became a published novelist. On 12 May 2010, Conservative leader and Prime Minister David Cameron appointed Duncan Smith to serve in the cabinet as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Early life[link]

Duncan Smith was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1954. He is the son of W. G. G. Duncan Smith, a Royal Air Force Group Captain highly decorated in World War II, and Pamela Summers, a ballerina; they married in 1946. Duncan Smith's great-grandmother was a Japanese woman, Ellen Oshey Matsumuro, who married Pamela's grandfather, merchant seaman Captain Samuel Lewis Shaw. He is thus one-eighth Japanese (Yonsei).^[1] Other relatives include British Canadian CBC wartime broadcaster Peter Stursberg, whose 2002 book No Foreign Bones in China records the story of the Anglo-Japanese couple, and his son, current CBC vice-president Richard Stursberg.^[2] Through Captain Shaw, Duncan Smith is also a distant relative (3rd cousin once removed) of George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright and socialist.^[3]

Education[link]

Duncan Smith was educated at St. Peter's RC Secondary School, Solihull until the age of 14^[4] and was subsequently educated at HMS Conway, a naval training school on the isle of Anglesey (where he allegedly played rugby union in the position of fly-half alongside Clive Woodward at centre) until he was 18. He then also attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

Military Service[link]

He was commissioned into the Scots Guards as a second lieutenant on 28 June 1975. He was assigned the service number 500263.^[5] He was promoted to lieutenant on 28 June 1977.^[6] He was moved to the Regular Army Reserve of Officers on 2 April 1981, signalling his retirement from the military.^[7]

His six-year service including spells in Northern Ireland and Rhodesia, where he served as aide-de-camp to Major-General Sir John Acland^[8]

Other Work[link]

On leaving the Guards, Duncan Smith joined the Conservative Party and took up employment at the General Electric Company in 1981.

Political Career[link]

Member of Parliament[link]

At the 1987 general election, Duncan Smith contested the constituency of Bradford West, where he was defeated by the incumbent Labour Party MP Max Madden. At the 1992 general election, he stood in the constituency of Chingford (where the Conservative MP, Norman Tebbit, was retiring), and was elected to parliament. (Following boundary changes, Duncan Smith's constituency became Chingford and Woodford Green in 1997.)

A committed Eurosceptic, Duncan Smith was a constant thorn in the side of Prime Minister John Major's government in 1992–97, disrupting Major's pro-European agenda at the time (something that would often be raised during his own subsequent leadership when he called for the party to unite behind him).

Duncan Smith remained on the backbenches until 1997, when the new Conservative leader William Hague brought him into the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Social Security Secretary. In 1999, Duncan Smith was moved to replace John Maples as Shadow Defence Secretary.

Leader of the Conservative Party[link]

William Hague resigned after the Labour Party's victory in the 2001 general election. On 13 September 2001, Duncan Smith won the Conservative Party leadership election. He had initially been seen as an outsider candidate, but his support was bolstered when Margaret Thatcher publicly announced her support for him. His victory in the contest was helped by the fact that his opponent in the final vote of party members was Kenneth Clarke, whose strong support for the European Union was at odds with the views of much of the party.^[9]

As a mark of respect for the victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001, the announcement of Duncan Smith's victory in the leadership contest was delayed until 13 September 2001. In November 2001, he was one of the first politicians to call for an invasion of Iraq and held talks in Washington, DC, with senior US officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice and Paul Wolfowitz.^[10]

In local elections, the only elections in which Duncan Smith led the party, the Conservatives gained over 500 extra seats on local councils, primarily in England.

Problems as leader[link]

In 2002, Michael Crick on the TV programme Newsnight caused some embarrassment when probing Duncan Smith's curriculum vitae, which had been in circulation for years, for example, being reproduced in the authoritative annual Dod's Parliamentary Companion for the previous ten years. The CV claimed that he had attended the University of Perugia when he had in fact attended the Università per Stranieri, which did not grant any degrees at that time, and a claim that he had attended the prestigious-sounding Dunchurch College of Management turned out to refer to some weekend courses at GEC Marconi's staff college.^[11][12]

Duncan Smith proved not to be a particularly effective public speaker in the rowdy atmosphere of Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons. His seeming troubles with a "frog in his throat" throughout most of his two years as leader prompted Private Eye to refer to him incessantly as "Iain Duncan Cough". As well as this, there were continued rumours of discontent among his backbenchers, not dampened by his warning to his party in November 2002: "My message is simple and stark, unite or die".

The 2002 Conservative Party conference saw an attempt to turn Duncan Smith's lack of charisma into a positive attribute, with his much-quoted line, "do not underestimate the determination of a quiet man". The line was as much derided as it was admired. During PMQs, Labour backbenchers would raise their fingers to their lips and say "shush" when he was speaking. The following year, Duncan Smith's conference speech appeared to have abandoned this technique in favour of an aggressive hard-man approach that few found convincing, even if the party members in the hall punctuated the speech with several ovations. The most remembered sound bite from the speech was his, "the quiet man is here to stay, and he's turning up the volume."

Duncan Smith stated in December 2002 that he intended to be party leader for a "very long time to come." This did little to quell the speculation in Westminster regarding his future. On 21 February 2003, The Independent newspaper published a story saying that a number of MPs were attempting to start the process of petitioning for a vote of no confidence in Duncan Smith, as many Conservative MPs considered him to be unelectable.

These worries came to a head in October 2003. Michael Crick revealed that he had compiled embarrassing evidence, this time of dubious salary claims Duncan Smith made on behalf of his wife that were paid out of the public purse from September 2001 to December 2002. The ensuing scandal, known as "Betsygate" weakened his already tenuous position.^[13]

Vote of no confidence[link]

Under leadership vote of confidence rules, 15% of Conservative MPs (at this point twenty-five MPs) had to write to the Chairman of the 1922 Committee demanding the vote. On 26 October, amid mounting claims that the threshold of 25 was about to be reached, Duncan Smith made an appearance on television daring his opponents to show their hand by the evening of 29 October or to withdraw their challenge. He also stated that he would not step down if a vote was called. Duncan Smith's demand that 25 MPs write to the Chairman by 29 October had no bearing on party regulations. Had the votes not been delivered until later, the vote of no confidence would still have gone ahead. Nevertheless, by 28 October, 25 Conservative MPs had indeed signed on to demand a vote.

After the vote was announced, Duncan Smith made an appearance in front of Conservative Party headquarters in Smith Square, where he stated that he was "absolutely" going to contest the vote, which was held on 29 October. He lost by 90 votes to 75. He stepped down as leader eight days later when Michael Howard was confirmed as his successor (Howard was unopposed for the role and so no election was required).

Duncan Smith followed William Hague as only the second Conservative Party leader since Austen Chamberlain not to have become Prime Minister and was the first since Neville Chamberlain not to have led the party in a general election.

Return to the backbenches[link]

Iain Duncan Smith at Nightingale House, London, in March 2010 in his role as Chairman of the Centre for Social Justice

After his term as party leader, Duncan Smith established the Centre for Social Justice in 2004. This organisation is a centre-right think tank which works with small charities with the aim of finding innovative policies for tackling poverty. (Duncan Smith served as the centre's Chairman until he joined the Cabinet in May 2010, and remains its Life Patron.^[14]) He also served under Michael Howard on the Conservative Party's advisory council, along with John Major, William Hague and Kenneth Clarke.^[15]

On 7 December 2005, Duncan Smith was appointed Chairman of the Social Justice Policy Group, which was facilitated by the Centre for Social Justice. The group's aim was to "study the causes and consequences of poverty in Britain and seek practical ideas to empower the least well-off," and was one of several that were set up by Conservative Party leader David Cameron. Duncan Smith's Deputy Chair was Debbie Scott, the Chief Executive of the charity Tomorrow's People. The group released two major reports, "Breakdown Britain" and "Breakthrough Britain". "Breakdown Britain"^[16] was a three hundred thousand word document that analysed what was going wrong in the areas of Economic Dependence and Unemployment, Family Breakdown, Addiction, Educational Failure, Indebtedness, and the Voluntary Sector. "Breakthrough Britain"^[17] recommended almost two hundred policy ideas using broadly the same themes. On their website the group claimed that the Government has so far taken on sixteen of the recommendations, and the Conservatives twenty-nine.

Duncan Smith was re-elected comfortably in Chingford and Woodford Green at the 2005 general election, almost doubling his majority, and remained a backbencher for the Conservative Party. He has been Member of Parliament for Chingford and Woodford Green since 1997, having succeeded Norman Tebbit as MP for the predecessor constituency of Chingford at the 1992 General Election.^[18]

In September 2006 he was one of fourteen authors of a report concerning Anti-Semitism in Britain. He was also one of the only early supporters^[19] of the Iraq surge policy. In September 2007, he called for Britain to withdraw from the war against Afghanistan and to fight in the war in Iraq indefinitely.^[20] In his 2009 Conservative Party Conference speech, Conservative Party leader David Cameron signalled that Duncan Smith might serve in his Cabinet, with responsibility for social justice, should he be called upon to form an administration after the next general election.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions[link]

Following the 2010 general election, the Conservative Party formed coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, with David Cameron as Prime Minister. Cameron appointed Duncan Smith to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with responsibility for seeing through changes to the welfare state.

Outlining the scale of the problem, Duncan Smith said almost five million people were on unemployment benefits, 1.4 million of whom had been receiving support for nine or more of the last 10 years. In addition, 1.4 million under-25s were neither working nor in full-time education. "This picture is set against a backdrop of 13 years of continuously increasing expenditure, which has outstripped inflation," he said. "Worse than the growing expense though, is the fact that the money is not even making the impact we want it to. He continued saying "A system that was originally designed to support the poorest in society is now trapping them in the very condition it was supposed to alleviate."^[21]

It was also announced that Duncan Smith will chair a new Cabinet Committee, involving Cabinet members from the Treasury, Home Office, Health, and Communities and Local Government departments, to tackle the underlying causes of poverty.

In June 2010, Duncan Smith said that the Government will encourage people to work for longer by making it illegal for companies to force staff to give up work at 65. At the same time, the age at which employees can claim the state pension will rise to 66 as soon as 2016 for men – 10 years earlier than the last government had decreed. Life expectancy is currently 77.4 for men and 81.6 for women. At present rates, there will be three people in their nineties for every newborn by 2050. Duncan Smith told The Daily Telegraph that the radical pension reform he will oversee was designed to “reinvigorate retirement”. “People are living longer and healthier lives than ever, and the last thing we want is to lose their skills and experience from the workplace due to an arbitrary age limit,” he said. “Now is absolutely the right time to live up to our responsibility to reform our outdated pension system and to take action where the previous government failed to do so. If Britain is to have a stable, affordable pension system, people need to work longer, but we will reward their hard work with a decent state pension that will enable them to enjoy quality of life in their retirement. He continued saying, “That is why we are issuing a call for evidence on moving the state pension age to 66, and thereafter plan to take a frank look at the relationship between state pension age and life expectancy.” The announcement coincides with John Hutton, the former Labour minister, beginning a review of public sector pensions which is expected to recommend that staff contributions increase substantially as soon as 2011.^[22]

In July 2010, Duncan Smith said that more workers will have to wait until they are 68 to claim their state pension as the Government speeds up plans to raise the retirement age saying the move would save billions of pounds. Labour set out plans to increase the retirement age to 66 by 2024 and 68 by 2046 to reflect growing life expectancy. Before the election, the Tories suggested that it should rise to 66 sooner – by 2016. Duncan Smith said workers would have to accept even quicker increases as Britain tightens its belt. The Government's timetable suggests that the retirement age is likely to reach 68 by 2038, meaning millions more will be forced to wait for their pension.^[23]

On 30 July 2010, Duncan Smith announced a series of reforms that are intended to ensure that low earners will always be better off in employment. They are in a document that will form the basis of a White Paper to be published this autumn and herald the end of Labour’s complicated tax credits system, with many benefits being rolled into one. "After years of piecemeal reform the current welfare system is complex and unfair," said Duncan Smith. One example cited by Duncan Smith involves the case of a lone parent with three school-age children earning £7.50 an hour as an office administrator. Working 23 hours a week, he says, she would have a net weekly income (including benefits and tax credits) of £345 after paying rent and council tax. However, if she were to increase her hours to 34 a week she would get only about £10 more due to a loss of benefits.^[24] The new system will be called the Universal Credit.

In November 2010, as Work and Pensions Secretary, Duncan Smith said a major shake-up in the welfare system would benefit all those who "play by the rules". The plan, which will see people who refuse to take up job opportunities stripped of benefits for up to three years, is part of a "contract" with the unemployed. Duncan Smith said simplifying the welfare system would ensure "work always pays more" than relying on the state by easing the rate at which benefits are withdrawn as income rises.

In a Commons statement on 11 November 2010, he said: "This is our contract: we make work pay and support you through the Work Programme to find a job. "But in return, if we do that, we also expect co-operation from those who are seeking work. "That is why we are developing a regime of sanctions for those who refuse to play by the rules as well as targeted work activity for those who need to get used to the habits of work".^[25]

Duncan Smith, in December 2011 has drawn up proposals to stop “under-employed” people “topping up” their wages with hand-outs when they are capable of working for longer. Individuals will be told they must earn a minimum amount each week from their jobs and will face being stripped of their housing benefit and tax credits if they fall short, under the plan. The reforms, which could come into force from 2013, mark the latest stage of Mr Duncan Smith’s drive to encourage more people to move from a dependency on benefits to earning a living through work. Duncan Smith said benefit claimants “must take responsibility for themselves” and their families. “We are already requiring people on out of work benefits to do more to prepare for and look for work,” he said. “Now we are looking to change the rules for those who are in-work and claiming benefits, so that once they have overcome their barriers and got into work, in time they can reduce their dependency or come off benefits altogether.”^[26]

In January 2012 Duncan Smith said that imposing a planned £26,000-a-year benefits cap would not lead to a rise in homelessness or child poverty. He admitted that peers may want to "vent" their feelings over the cap, the equivalent of £35,000 before tax, but said it would help families who are trapped by a dependence on benefits. "The reality is that with £26,000 a year, it’s very difficult to believe that families will be plunged into poverty – children or adults," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "Capping at average earnings of £35,000 before tax and £26,000 after, actually means that we are going to work with families make sure that they will find a way out."^[27] He added that there would still be some flexibility in the system to help struggling families who were genuinely attempting to get back into work. Mr Duncan Smith said: "For people who fall out of work, we have always said there will be discretionary measures to make sure that this does not punish people but we make sure that we help them to change their circumstances. "For those who are doing the right thing who have fallen out of work, we will support them and make sure they get back to work. "Councils will be able to work with certain key families who may need a little bit more time to make some changes to their circumstances while they push them through the cap and into new housing."^[27]

Political views[link]

Iain Duncan Smith has become significantly involved in issues of family and social breakdown. He has stated his support for early interventions to reduce and prevent social breakdown.^[28]

During Duncan Smith's leadership campaign in 2001, he changed his stance on the now repealed Section 28 from opposing repeal to supporting it.^[29] In 2003, Duncan Smith's decision to compromise on repeal of Section 28 was described as "illogical" and "messy" by other Conservative MPs.^[30]

Views on marriage[link]

In December 2010 Duncan Smith studied a state-sponsored relationship education programme in Norway, under which couples are forced to “think again” and confront the reality of divorce before formally separating. The policy has been credited with reversing Norway’s trend for rising divorce rates and halting the decline of marriage in the country over the past 15 years. Duncan Smith said he was keen to explore ways in which similar approaches could be encouraged in Britain. Officials point out that such a programme would be expensive but an approach could reduce the long-term cost of family breakdown, which has been estimated at up to £100 billion. Duncan Smith said couples in Norway were able to “work through what is going to happen with their children”, which has “a very big effect on their thinking”. “Many of them think again about what they are going to embark on once they really understand the consequences of their actions subsequently,” he said.^[31]

Duncan Smith said in February 2011 that it is "absurd and damaging" for ministers not to extol the benefits of marriage for fear of stigmatising those who choose not to marry. Duncan Smith said: "We do a disservice to society if we ignore the evidence which shows that stable families tend to be associated with better outcomes for children." He added: "There are few more powerful tools for promoting stability than the institution of marriage." He added that "The financial costs of family breakdown are incredibly high. But what is most painful to see is the human cost – the wasted potential, the anti-social behaviour, and the low self-esteem."^[32]

In late April 2012, Duncan Smith signalled his support for same-sex marriage on the basis that it would promote stability in relationships.^[33]

Views on immigration[link]

In July 2011 Duncan Smith said that tighter immigration controls are vital if Britain is to avoid “losing another generation to dependency and hopelessness”. In a speech delivered in Spain he said that only immigrants with “something to offer” should be allowed into the country and that too often foreign workers purporting to be skilled take low-skilled jobs that could be occupied by British school leavers. According to the Daily Telegraph's analysis, the speech contained a warning to David Cameron "that a 'slack' attitude to immigration will result in the Coalition repeating the mistakes made under Labour, when the vast majority of new jobs generated before the recession were taken by immigrants". However, the published text of the speech does not refer to the prime minister in its comments on "seeing the situation repeat itself, with more than half of the rise in employment in the past year accounted for by foreign nationals".

Mr Duncan Smith believes that some companies are using immigration as “an excuse to import labour to take up posts which could be filled by people already in Britain”. He says Britain needs an immigration system that gives the unemployed “a level playing field”. “If we do not get this right then we risk leaving more British citizens out of work, and the most vulnerable group who will be the most affected are young people,” he said.^[34][35]

Creative writing[link]

On 6 November 2003, Iain Duncan Smith released his novel The Devil's Tune. The book received heavily critical reviews such as, "Really, it's terrible ... Terrible, terrible, terrible.", by Sam Leith in the Daily Telegraph. The book was never published in paperback.

Personal life[link]

Family[link]

He married Elizabeth "Betsy" Fremantle, daughter of the 5th Baron Cottesloe, in 1982. The couple have four children.^[36]

Wealth[link]

His wealth is estimated at £1 million much of which has been earned by working as a high end after dinner speaker.^[37]

Football[link]

Duncan Smith has been reported to support both Tottenham Hotspur^[38] where he holds a season ticket^[39] and Aston Villa.^[40] Gareth Southgate cited Duncan Smith when he remarked after England's 2002 World Cup quarter-final defeat against Brazil that "we were expecting Winston Churchill and instead we got Iain Duncan Smith."^[41] This comparison was seen as being a scathing criticism of the then England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson's quiet and understated approach to management.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Iain Duncan Smith

• Iain Duncan Smith 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
• Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
• Voting record at PublicWhip.org
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou.com
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Profile at BBC News Democracy Live
• Articles authored at Journalisted
• Article archive at The Guardian
• Iain Duncan Smith collected news and commentary at The Guardian
• Iain Duncan Smith collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Department for Work and Pensions official channel at YouTube, has a number of videos featuring Duncan Smith.

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v t e Iain Duncan Smith Politics Chingford · Chingford and Woodford Green · Betsygate · Conservative Party (UK) leadership election, 2001 · Centre for Social Justice · The Devil's Tune