David Mundell

David Gordon Mundell WS (born 27 May 1962) is a Scottish solicitor, Conservative politician and UK Government Minister, serving as Secretary of State for Scotland since 2015. Mundell is the first Conservative to hold the position since Michael Forsyth in 1997.

Mundell represents the Scottish constituency of Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale since 2005 and currently is the sole Scottish Conservative member of parliament in the House of Commons.

He was appointed Secretary of State for Scotland following the 2015 general election, having previously served as Under-Secretary of State for Scotland from 2010 to 2015.

Background

Born in Dumfries, Mundell grew up in Newton Wamphray and Lockerbie. He attended Lockerbie Academy before reading Law at the University of Edinburgh (MA), also gaining a Diploma in Legal Practice (Dip LP). After further studies, he graduated from Strathclyde Business School as MBA.

Having become a Young Conservative aged 14, he switched to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) while at university in 1981. In 2002, he stated: "the first Thatcher Government did get a bit bogged down and it wasn't really the radical government that subsequently emerged,... And the fact that you had a completely new opportunity to wipe the slate clean, with no baggage, was a very attractive thing".

David

David (/ˈdeɪvɪd/; Hebrew: דָּוִד, Modern David, Tiberian Dāwîḏ;ISO 259-3 Dawid; Arabic: داوُد‎ Dāwūd; Syriac: ܕܘܝܕ‎ Dawid; Ancient Greek: Δαυίδ; Latin: Davidus, David; Strong's: Daveed) was, according to the Books of Samuel, the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel, and according to the New Testament, an ancestor of Jesus. His life is conventionally dated to c. 1040 – 970 BCE, his reign over Judah c. 1010–970 BCE.

The Books of Samuel, 1 Kings, and 1 Chronicles are the only Old Testament sources of information on David, although the Tel Dan Stele (dated c. 850–835 BCE) contains the phrase בית דוד (bytdwd), read as "House of David", which many scholars confirm to be a likely plausible match to the existence in the mid-9th century BCE of a Judean royal dynasty called the House of David.

Depicted as a valorous warrior of great renown, and a poet and musician credited for composing much of the psalms contained in the Book of Psalms, King David is widely viewed as a righteous and effective king in battle and civil justice. He is described as a man after God's own heart in 1 Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22.

Conservative Party

Conservative Party may refer to:

Africa

Europe

Current

Historical

North America

Canada

Party conference

The terms party conference (UK English), political convention (US English), and party congress usually refer to a general meeting of a political party. The conference is attended by certain delegates who represent the party membership. In most political parties, the party conference is the highest decision-making body of the organization, tasked with electing or nominating the party's leaders or leadership bodies, deciding party policy, and setting the party's platform and agendas.

The term conference or caucus may also refer to the organization of all party members as a whole.

The definitions of all of these terms vary greatly, depending on the country and situation in which they are used.

Leadership roles

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-rightpolitical party in the United Kingdom. It is the majority party in the House of Commons, having won 330 of the 650 seats at the 2015 general election. Between 2010-15, it was the largest single party with 303 Members of Parliament and governed in coalition with the Liberal Democrats. It is the largest party in local government with 8,296 councillors.

The Conservative Party was founded in 1834 from the Tory Party—giving rise to the Conservatives' colloquial name of Tories—and was one of two dominant parties in the 19th century, along with the Liberal Party. In the 1920s, the Liberal vote greatly diminished and the Labour Party became the Conservatives' main rivals. Conservative Prime Ministers led governments for 57 years of the 20th century, including Winston Churchill (1940–45, 1951–55) and Margaret Thatcher (1979–90). Thatcher's tenure led to wide-ranging economic liberalisation and saw the Conservatives become the most eurosceptic of the three major parties.