David Laws
David Anthony Laws (born 30 November 1965) is the Minister of State for Schools and the Cabinet Office, where he has a cross-department role working on the Coalition Agreement and government policy. He is also Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Yeovil.
Laws was briefly a Cabinet Minister in 2010, as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. He held office for 17 days before resigning due to the disclosure of his Parliamentary expenses claims, described by the Parliamentary Standards and Privileges Committee as "a series of serious breaches of the rules, over a considerable period of time". In consequence of the breaches he was suspended from Parliament by vote of the House of Commons.
After a career in investment banking, Laws became an economic adviser and later Director of Policy and Research for the Liberal Democrats. In 2001, he was elected as the MP for Yeovil, the seat previously represented by former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown.
In 2004, he co-edited The Orange Book: Reclaiming Liberalism, followed by Britain After Blair in 2006. After the 2010 general election, Laws led negotiations for the Liberal Democrats which resulted in a coalition with the Conservative Party.
Read more about David Laws: Early Life and Education, Career, Parliamentary Career, Political Views
Famous quotes containing the words david and/or laws:
“Why should not our whole life and its scenery be actually thus fair and distinct? All our lives want a suitable background. They should at least, like the life of the anchorite, be as impressive to behold as objects in a desert, a broken shaft or crumbling mound against a limitless horizon.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The members of a body-politic call it “the state” when it is passive, “the sovereign” when it is active, and a “power” when they compare it with others of its kind. Collectively they use the title “people,” and they refer to one another individually as “citizens” when speaking of their participation in the authority of the sovereign, and as “subjects” when speaking of their subordination to the laws of the state.”
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778)