Norman Lamb MP
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 February 2012
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Ed Davey
Chief Parliamentary and Political Adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister
In office 12 May 2010 – 3 February 2012
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Vacant
Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister
In office 12 May 2010 – 3 February 2012
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Paul Clark [a]
Succeeded by	Jo Swinson
Assistant Government Whip
In office 12 May 2010 – 3 February 2012
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Lyn Brown
Succeeded by	Jenny Willott
Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Health
In office 18 December 2006 – 12 May 2010
Leader	Menzies Campbell Nick Clegg
Preceded by	Steve Webb
Succeeded by	John Pugh and Baroness Jolly as Co-chairs of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Policy Committee on Health and Social Care
Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
In office 16 May 2005 – 3 March 2006
Leader	Charles Kennedy Menzies Campbell
Preceded by	Malcolm Bruce
Succeeded by	Edward Davey
Member of Parliament for North Norfolk
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 June 2001
Preceded by	David Prior
Majority	11,626 (23.4%)
Personal details
Born	(1957-09-16) 16 September 1957 (age 54) Watford, Hertfordshire, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal Democrat
Spouse(s)	Mary Lamb
Children	2 sons
Alma mater	University of Leicester
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Solicitor, Author
Website	Official website
a. ^ Office vacant from 27 June 2007 to 12 May 2010.

Norman Peter Lamb (born 16 September 1957) is a British Liberal Democrat politician, and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs. He was formerly Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg.

He is the Member of Parliament for North Norfolk.

Early life[link]

Lamb was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, the son of climatologist Professor Hubert Lamb. He went to Wymondham College, then the University of Leicester, getting an LLB

Employment lawyer[link]

After graduating from the University of Leicester, Lamb worked as a solicitor. He began to specialise in employment law whilst working for Steele and Co Solicitors (now called Steeles Law). In 1998 he wrote a book, Remedies in the Employment Tribunal: Damages for Discrimination and Unfair Dismissal, but any chances of a follow up or update to this book were put aside when Lamb was elected to Parliament in June 2001.

Political career[link]

Lamb worked for a year for Labour MP Greville Janner in the early 1980s, working as a researcher. His politics were always in the centre ground, but a meeting with Shirley Williams in Parliament at this time, shortly after the formation in 1981 of the SDP-Liberal Alliance, spurred Lamb in to front line active politics and he was elected to Norwich City Council where he led the Lib Dem group until he stood down in 1991 in order to pursue his Westminster ambitions.

Parliamentary career[link]

Having first stood for election in North Norfolk in 1992, when he dented the Conservative majority, he came close to a major shock in the 1997 general election when he reduced a Conservative majority of more than 10,000 to only 1,293 votes. He was finally elected in 2001, at the third attempt, narrowly defeating the incumbent Conservative MP David Prior by 483 votes. He was re-elected in 2005 with a massively increased majority of 10,606, despite an effort by the Conservatives and their candidate Iain Dale to unseat him in what had been one of their top target seats. He was re-elected for a second time in 2010 with a majority of 11,626.

Norman Lamb's first appointment after being elected was as a Lib Dem spokesman on International Development. Soon after this, he was picked out by then Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy to act as his Parliamentary Private Secretary. After the 2005 general election, he was promoted and appointed Liberal Democrat Trade spokesman (2005–2006), securing the endorsement of the Liberal Democrat Spring 2006 Conference for a policy to part-privatise the Royal Mail, and to use the proceeds to invest in a publicly owned Post Office network. In March 2006, he moved to the post of Chief of Staff to the newly elected leader, Sir Menzies Campbell. In December 2006, he became the party's Health spokesman and was succeeded by Ed Davey as Campbell's Chief of Staff. In 2009 he took up the case of an LBC broadcast by Jeni Barnett in which she cast doubt on the safety of the MMR vaccine, tabling an Early Day Motion criticising those involved.^[1]

Following the formation of the Cameron Ministry in May 2010, Lamb was appointed a parliamentary private secretary to Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Nick Clegg.^[2]

On February 3, 2012, Norman Lamb was promoted to the role of junior minister in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills after Ed Davey was appointed Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change following the resignation of Chris Huhne consequent on his prosecution for perverting the course of justice.

Personal life[link]

He married Mary in 1978, and they have two sons. They live in Norwich. Their son Archie Lamb is co-founder of the independent record label Takeover Entertainment which promotes Tinchy Stryder.^[3]

See also[link]

• Liberal Democrat Frontbench Team

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Norman Lamb

• Norman Lamb MP official constituency website
• Profile at the Liberal Democrats
• 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
• Profile: Norman Lamb, BBC News, 17 October 2002

Video clips

• YouTube
• Explaining Liberal Democrat health policy

The Right Honourable Andy Burnham MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Health
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 October 2011
Leader	Ed Miliband
Preceded by	John Healey
In office 11 May 2010 – 8 October 2010
Leader	Harriet Harman Ed Miliband
Preceded by	Andrew Lansley
Succeeded by	John Healey
Shadow Secretary of State for Education
In office 8 October 2010 – 7 October 2011
Leader	Ed Miliband
Preceded by	Ed Balls
Succeeded by	Stephen Twigg
Secretary of State for Health
In office 5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Alan Johnson
Succeeded by	Andrew Lansley
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
In office 24 January 2008 – 5 June 2009
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	James Purnell
Succeeded by	Ben Bradshaw
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In office 28 June 2007 – 24 January 2008
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Stephen Timms
Succeeded by	Yvette Cooper
Member of Parliament for Leigh
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 June 2001
Preceded by	Lawrence Cunliffe
Majority	15,011 (31.1%)
Personal details
Born	Aintree, Lancashire, England (1970-01-07) 7 January 1970 (age 42)
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Marie-France van Heel
Alma mater	Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Andrew Murray Burnham (born 7 January 1970) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Leigh since 2001. He served in the Cabinet under Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010 as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Culture Secretary and Health Secretary. He was a candidate in the 2010 Labour leadership election, coming fourth out of five candidates. Burnham was initially appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Education within Ed Miliband's Shadow Cabinet, but was moved back to the Shadow Department for Health in a reshuffle.

Early life[link]

Burnham was born Old Roan, Aintree, Lancashire (now Merseyside),^[1] the son of a telephone engineer father and a receptionist mother, and brought up in Culcheth, near Warrington where his family moved to when his father was promoted to a job in Manchester. He was educated at St. Lewis' Primary School and St Aelred's Roman Catholic High School (now St Aelred's Catholic Technology College) in Newton-le-Willows, Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, before moving on to study English at London Metropolitan University.^[2]

Joining the Labour Party[link]

He joined the Labour Party aged 14 in 1984,^[3] during the miners' strike, and was a researcher to Tessa Jowell from 1994 until the 1997 election. He joined the Transport and General Workers' Union in 1995. After the 1997 election, he was briefly a Parliamentary Officer for the NHS Confederation from August to December 1997, before taking up the post as an administrator with the Football Task Force for a year.^[4]

In 1998, he became a Special Adviser to the then-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Chris Smith, a position he remained in until his election to Parliament in 2001.

Member of Parliament[link]

After the retirement of Lawrence Cunliffe, Burnham applied to be the Parliamentary Candidate for the safe Labour seat of Leigh. Burnham managed to secure selection to contest the safe seat at the next General Election. At the 2001 election, he was elected with a majority of 16,362, and gave his maiden speech on 4 July 2001.^[5]

In Government[link]

Following his election to Parliament, he became a member of the Health Select Committee from 2001 until 2003, when he was appointed the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Home Secretary David Blunkett. Following Blunkett's first resignation in 2004, he went on to become the PPS to Education Secretary Ruth Kelly. He was promoted to serve in the Government after the 2005 election as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, with responsibility for implementing the Identity Cards Act 2006.

In the government reshuffle of 5 May 2006, Burnham was promoted from the Home Office to a Minister of State at the Department of Health.

In Cabinet[link]

In Gordon Brown's first Cabinet, announced 28 June 2007, Burnham was appointed as the new Chief Secretary to the Treasury, a position he held until 2008.

The Daily Telegraph published an interview with Burnham on 13 October 2007 in which he stated that: "I think it’s better when children are in a home where their parents are married" and "it’s not wrong that the tax system should recognise commitment and marriage", which created some controversy because following through this argument would replicate the current policies of the Conservative Party.^[6]

In a re-shuffle in January 2008, he was appointed as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, replacing James Purnell.^[7]

In June 2008, he was forced to apologise to the director of pressure group Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, after she threatened to sue him for libel for smearing her reputation.^[8]

In late 2008, he announced Government plans to crack down on the Internet, tightening up controls in order to "even up" what he claimed was an imbalance with TV regulations.^[9][10][11] This was followed by a speech to the UK music industry's lobbying group, UK Music, in which he announced a "a time that calls for partnership between Government and the music business as a whole: one with rewards for both of us; one with rewards for society as a whole. (...) My job – Government’s job – is to preserve the value in the system."^[12]

In Opposition[link]

Following the election of Ed Miliband as Leader, Burnham stood and was elected to the Shadow Cabinet. He was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Education. In this role, he organised Labour's opposition to raising tuition fees to £9,000. Burnham had previously voted to introduce top up fees in 2004.^[13]

After a year, Burnham was moved back to Shadow Health Secretary in a reshuffle.

Expenses claims[link]

The Daily Telegraph's revelation of expenses claims by Members of Parliament showed that Burnham requested the Commons Fees Office for the £16,644 cost of renovations and work on a London flat he was buying. The claims, which included a new kitchen were at first rejected. Burnham had written three notes asking for the money to be paid, including one at Christmas 2005 complaining "Otherwise I might be in line for divorce!" Ultimately the Fees Office accepted the claim and reimbursed Burnham. The Fees Office refused to pay a June 2006 claim for mortgage interest which covered both the Lambeth flat and Burnham's constituency home, and also a mortgage claim which included capital repayment. The rules allowed reimbursement of mortgage interest only and on one home at a time. Burnham also attempted to claim £19.99 for a bathrobe from IKEA, which was rejected by officials; Burnham said it was a "genuine oversight".^[14]

Political commentary[link]

250,000 women, some of them cancer patients, were sent a leaflet featuring a message from a breast cancer survivor who praised Labour's health policy. The cards asked: "Are the Tories a change you can afford?". Both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats called this tasteless, and the Tories claimed that they were actually calling for more funding for the NHS. Andy Burnham, the health secretary, said: "It is categorically incorrect to imply that we targeted cancer sufferers, and we regret if any offence or anxiety was given to people who have suffered cancer. But we make no apology for highlighting the difference between Labour and the Conservatives on cancer care."^[15]

2010 Labour Party leadership election[link]

Following the resignation of Gordon Brown as Leader of the Labour Party after the 2010 general election, Andy Burnham declared his intention to stand in the subsequent Labour leadership contest.^[16] He launched his leadership campaign in his Leigh constituency on 26 May.^[17] Burnham led on his philosophy of "aspirational socialism", aligning himself with Intern Aware's campaign to end unpaid internships. He also made key policy commitments to the creation of a National Care Service and also called for inheritance tax to be replaced with a land value tax instead. The leadership contest was eventually won by Ed Miliband. Burnham finished fourth.

Until after the Shadow Cabinet election, Burnham continued in his role as Shadow Health Secretary, and at the end of September 2010 he openly criticised new Prime Minister David Cameron for the Tory-Lib Dem Coalition Government's public spending cuts and health reforms to the NHS.^[18]

In the new Shadow Cabinet under Ed Miliband, Burnham was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Election Co-ordinator for the Labour Party.

Personal life[link]

Burnham is married to Marie-France van Heel, whom he wed in 2000 after 11 years together.^[6] The couple had been dating since university. Van Heel was formerly head of marketing at MTV, BSkyB and Littlewoods Gaming and until recently the Planning Director at Creative Communication Agency WRG in Manchester. She is now a director at MvH Marketing Ltd. The couple have a son and two daughters. Burnham is a Roman Catholic.^[19]

Burnham was the Honorary Chairman of Leigh Rugby League Club for a short period of time. Burnham was also a talented junior cricketer (playing for Lancashire CCC Juniors) and keen footballer, and competed at both sports for his college. He has played for Labour's "Demon Eyes" football team and is a life-long fan of Premier League football club Everton.^[20][21]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Andrew Burnham

• Andy Burnham MP Official constituency website
• 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

Audio clips

• Interview with GMR after 2005 election BBC Manchester

Video clips

• Delivering 18 week NHS target YouTube

v t e Brown Cabinet Cabinet Members Lord Adonis • Bob Ainsworth • Douglas Alexander • Baroness Ashton • Ed Balls • Hilary Benn • Hazel Blears • Ben Bradshaw • Gordon Brown • Des Browne • Liam Byrne • Andy Burnham • Yvette Cooper • Alistair Darling • John Denham • Peter Hain • Harriet Harman • Geoff Hoon • John Hutton • Alan Johnson • Tessa Jowell • Ruth Kelly • Lord Mandelson • David Miliband • Ed Miliband • Jim Murphy • Paul Murphy • James Purnell • Baroness Royall • Jacqui Smith • Jack Straw • Shaun Woodward Also Attended Meetings Margaret Beckett • Nick Brown • Lord Drayson • Caroline Flint • Lord Grocott • John Healey • Jim Knight • Lord Malloch-Brown • Pat McFadden • Tony McNulty • Baroness Scotland Attended While on Agenda Beverley Hughes • Sadiq Khan • Dawn Primarolo • Rosie Winterton

v t e Secretaries of State for Culture of the United Kingdom Secretary of State for National Heritage (1992-1997) Mellor · Brooke · Dorrell · Bottomley Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1997-2010) Smith · Jowell · Purnell · Burnham · Bradshaw Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (2010-present) Hunt

v t e Secretaries of State for Health of the United Kingdom Ministers of Health Christopher Addison · Alfred Mond · Arthur Griffith-Boscawen · Neville Chamberlain · William Joynson-Hicks · John Wheatley · Neville Chamberlain · Arthur Greenwood · Neville Chamberlain · Edward Hilton Young · Kingsley Wood · Walter Elliot · Malcolm MacDonald · Ernest Brown · Henry Willink · Aneurin Bevan · Hilary Marquand · Harry Crookshank · Iain Macleod · Robin Turton · Dennis Vosper · Derek Walker-Smith · Enoch Powell · Anthony Barber · Kenneth Robinson Secretaries of State for Social Services Richard Crossman · Sir Keith Joseph · Barbara Castle · David Ennals · Patrick Jenkin · Norman Fowler · John Moore Secretaries of State for Health Kenneth Clarke · William Waldegrave · Virginia Bottomley · Stephen Dorrell · Frank Dobson · Alan Milburn · John Reid · Patricia Hewitt · Alan Johnson · Andy Burnham · Andrew Lansley

v t e Chief Secretaries to the Treasury Brooke · Boyd-Carpenter · Diamond · Macmillan · Jenkin · Boardman · Barnett · Biffen · Brittan · Rees · MacGregor · Major · Lamont · Mellor · Portillo · Aitken · Waldegrave · Darling · Byers · Milburn · Smith · Boateng · Browne · Timms · Burnham · Cooper · Byrne · Laws · Alexander

The Right Honourable Andrew Lansley CBE MP
Secretary of State for Health
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 May 2010
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Andy Burnham
Shadow Secretary of State for Health
In office 19 June 2004 – 11 May 2010
Leader	Michael Howard David Cameron
Preceded by	Tim Yeo
Succeeded by	Andy Burnham
Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office
In office 15 June 1999 – 18 September 2001
Leader	William Hague
Preceded by	New position
Succeeded by	Tim Collins
Member of Parliament for South Cambridgeshire
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 May 1997
Preceded by	Constituency created
Majority	7,838 (13.3%)
Personal details
Born	(1956-12-11) 11 December 1956 (age 55) Hornchurch, Essex, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Dr Marilyn Biggs (separated 1997) Sally Low
Children	5
Alma mater	University of Exeter
Religion	Church of England
Website	andrewlansley.co.uk
Nickname(s)	Angela Lansbury[1]

Andrew David Lansley, CBE, MP (born 11 December 1956) is a British politician who has been the Secretary of State for Health since 2010, the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for South Cambridgeshire since the 1997 general election, and was the Shadow Secretary of State for Health from June 2004 until becoming Secretary of State for Health in May 2010. Lansley's Health and Social Care Act 2012 is one of the most controversial plans of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, resulting in strong opposition from both the Royal College of Nursing and British Medical Association.

Early life[link]

Born in Hornchurch, Essex, Lansley was educated at Brentwood School and the University of Exeter, gaining a BA in politics. During his time at Exeter University, Lansley was elected as President of the Guild of Students (Student Union), as a Broad Left candidate. His father, Thomas, worked in a pathology laboratory and was co-founder of the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine and chair of the Institute of Medical Laboratory Scientists.^[2]

Before entering politics, Lansley had "a promising career in the civil service".^[3] Lansley worked for Norman Tebbit for three years as his principal private secretary at the Department of Trade and Industry.^[3] This encompassed the period of the IRA's 1984 Brighton hotel bombing at the Conservative Party Conference in which Tebbit was seriously injured. Lansley and others are praised by Tebbit for their support at that time.

Lansley went on to become more fully involved in politics. In 1990, he was appointed to run the Conservative Research Department. He ran the Conservative campaign for the 1992 General Election, which he describes as one of "his proudest career achievements"^[4] and for which he was awarded a CBE.^[3] He suffered a minor stroke in 1992, initially misdiagnosed as an ear infection,^[3] but made a full recovery save from permanently losing his sense of "fine balance".

Member of Parliament[link]

Lansley sought to enter parliament and was selected for the South Cambridgeshire seat where he was subsequently elected as an MP in 1997. He immediately joined the House of Commons health select committee.^[3]

At the 2001 election he again took on a strategy role as a Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party. As part of his duties Shadow Ministers had to clear the timing of their announcements with Lansley. He fitted them into a timetable known as the 'Stalingrid'. The 2001 election was not a success for the Conservative Party and party leader, William Hague, resigned in its wake. Iain Duncan Smith, the new leader, offered Lansley a position after the election but was turned down and, until Michael Howard became leader, Lansley was a backbencher.

He was appointed as a Privy Counsellor on 13 May 2010.^[5]

Shadow Cabinet[link]

After Howard's election as party leader, Lansley soon returned to the Conservative frontbench. He served as the Shadow Secretary of State for Health. In his post he developed policies centred on using choice to improve the National Health Service, and was author of a chapter in The Future of the NHS.^[6]

Secretary of State for Health[link]

After becoming Prime Minister in May 2010, David Cameron named Lansley as Health Secretary in the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government.^[7]

Proposed reform[link]

In January 2011, Ministers published the Health and Social Care Bill, detailing planned reforms that will pave the way for GP consortia to take over management of the NHS from Primary Care Trusts. Prime minister David Cameron said "fundamental changes" are needed in the NHS.^[8] But doctors' leaders believe that GPs could simply have taken charge of PCTs instead—and achieved the same results.^[9] The reforms will pave the way for groups of GPs to take control of the NHS budget. The consortia will take charge of about 80% of the funding, and will be in charge of planning and buying everything from community health centres to hospital services. However, some specialist services such as neurosurgery will be provided by the national board. The consortia will take charge from 2013, although pilots are beginning to start.^[9]

In a letter to The Times, BMA chairman Hamish Meldrum, Royal College of Nursing chief executive Peter Carter and the heads of Unison, Unite and others said the speed and scale of the reforms proposed risked undermining the care of patients by putting cost before quality.^[9] Criticism of the reform had been mounting ahead of the publication of the Health and Social Care Bill on 19 January 2011.

Lansley’s white paper on the NHS has led to him being the subject of an unflattering hip hop track and video written by rapper NxtGen and poet Rob Gee with the chorus "Andrew Lansley, greedy / Andrew Lansley, tosser / the NHS is not for sale, you grey-haired manky codger,"^[10] which was viewed over 500,000 times on YouTube in its first year online^[11] and was picked up as one of the theme tunes to the anti cuts movement and spawned several placards at the March for the Alternative in March 2011.^[11][12] The video, partly paid for by Unison^[13] features NxtGen rapping about Lansley's proposed GP commissioning policy, his relation to the expenses scandal and the controversial donation he received from private health company Care UK.^[11] Lansley has responded with the statement he was "impressed that he's managed to get lyrics about GP commissioning into a rap", but "We will never privatise the NHS".^[10]

Following the widespread criticism, on 4 April 2011, the Government announced a "pause" in the progress of the Health and Social Care Bill to allow the government to 'listen, reflect and improve' the proposals.^[14][15]

On 13 April 2011, 96% of 497 delegates at the Royal College of Nursing conference backed a motion of no confidence questioning Andrew Lansley's handling of NHS reforms in England.^[16] Later that day, Lansley met with 65 nurses at the same conference, and apologized by saying "I am sorry if what I'm setting out to do hasn't communicated itself."^[16]

Controversies[link]

Conflict of interest[link]

While in opposition as health spokesman, Andrew Lansley accepted a donation of £21,000 from John Nash, the chairman of private healthcare provider Care UK and founder of the private equity fund Sovereign Capital, which owns several other private healthcare companies, to help fund his private office, leading to allegations of a conflict of interest.^[17] Such companies stand to be the biggest beneficiaries of Conservative policies to increase the use of private health providers within the NHS.^[18]