Political Career
Kidney was Member of Parliament for Stafford from 1997, when he defeated Conservative candidate David Cameron, to 2010, when he lost to the Conservative candidate Jeremy Lefroy by 5,460 votes in a 7.4% swing.
He served on the Modernisation Committee from 2001–2005 and was a member of the Treasury Select Committee from 1997-2001. He was an unpaid Ministerial aide in the Environment team, but resigned in 2003 when he voted against the Iraq War. He became PPS to Elliot Morley Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in November 2005, and in 2006 he became the PPS to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, David Miliband. Following this, Kidney was PPS to Rosie Winterton, then Minister of State for Work and Pensions. He also served as Chair and an officer of several All-Party Groups, including Environment and Conservation & Wildlife. He recently agreed to chair a new All-Party Group formed to highlight the role of science and technology in British agriculture. Kidney also chaired the Associate Parliamentary Group for Looked after Children & Care Leavers and the "Fair Funding F40" group of the 40 lowest funded schools areas in England, campaigning for fairer funding for local schools. In the June 2009 reshuffle Kidney entered the Government as a minister for the first time, becoming Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Energy and Climate Change, replacing Joan Ruddock.
Read more about this topic: David Kidney
Famous quotes containing the words political and/or career:
“Common hypocrites pass themselves off as doves; political and literary hypocrites pose as eagles. But don’t be fooled by their eagle-like appearance. These are not eagles, but rats or dogs.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“What exacerbates the strain in the working class is the absence of money to pay for services they need, economic insecurity, poor daycare, and lack of dignity and boredom in each partner’s job. What exacerbates it in upper-middle class is the instability of paid help and the enormous demands of the career system in which both partners become willing believers. But the tug between traditional and egalitarian models of marriage runs from top to bottom of the class ladder.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)