Parliamentary Career
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.
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.
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.
Read more about this topic: Norman Lamb
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“He was at a starting point which makes many a man’s career a fine subject for betting, if there were any gentlemen given to that amusement who could appreciate the complicated probabilities of an arduous purpose, with all the possible thwartings and furtherings of circumstance, all the niceties of inward balance, by which a man swings and makes his point or else is carried headlong.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)