David Howarth
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David Howarth MP
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Member of Parliament
for Cambridge |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 5 May 2005 |
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| Preceded by | Anne Campbell |
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| Majority | 4,339 (10.0%) |
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Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Justice.
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2009 |
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| Born | 10 November 1958 Wednesbury, West Midlands |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Liberal Democrat |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
| Signature |  |
| Website | David Howarth MP |
David Ross Howarth (born 10 November 1958) is a British Liberal Democrat politician and Member of Parliament (MP) for Cambridge since 2005.
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[edit] Education
David Howarth grew up on Mossley Estate, a council estate in Bloxwich in the West Midlands, going to Queen Mary's Grammar School, Walsall. Attending Clare College, Cambridge, he was President of Union of Clare Students. He gained a BA in Law in 1981. He then won a scholarship to Yale Law School, gaining an LLM in 1983. In 1985, he gained an MPhil from Yale University in Sociology.
[edit] Political career
Howarth was a member of Cambridge City Council from 1987 to 2004, becoming its leader when the Liberal Democrats took control in 2000. In the 2005 general election he was elected Member of Parliament for Cambridge, defeating Labour MP Anne Campbell with a majority of 4,339 votes (and winning 44% of the votes cast). He is the first Liberal or Liberal Democrat to win Cambridge since the 1906 general election.
Howarth served on the Liberal Democrats' Federal Executive and Federal Policy Committees during the 1990s. He was a leading opponent within the Lib Dems of closer links to the Labour Party after the 1997 General Election, bringing him into conflict with Paddy Ashdown.
In the Liberal Democrat leadership election following Charles Kennedy's resignation in early 2006, Howarth was active in supporting Chris Huhne's campaign.
His performances in Parliament were recognised in 2006 when he was shortlisted for the House Magazine's 'Backbencher of the Year award'. The citation read "Brought MPs’ attention to the ‘hidden’ effects of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill". This was after he highlighted the side-effects of the original bill, which as originally drafted, would "give ministers power to alter any law passed by Parliament". Since "the Bill, bizarrely, even applies to itself, so that ministers could propose orders to remove the limitations" that were in the original bill, it would have effectively given unlimited power to ministers, and made Parliament redundant. Howarth described the original bill as an "Abolition of Parliament Bill", and successfully lobbied for significant changes before it was passed into law. [1]
After his election, he became a Liberal Democrat spokesperson on local government and then energy, before specialising in shadowing the Ministry of Justice, as the Liberal Democrat Shadow Solicitor General between 2007 and 2009. Since January 2009, he has been the Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Justice.
He was a lecturer in Land Economy, Law and Economics at the University of Cambridge between 1988 and 2005, where he has been a Fellow of Clare College since 1985. He specialised in constitutional law and tort law. He stood for the Cambridgeshire seat of Peterborough in 1997, and had stood for the Cambridge seat in 1992 and 2001, before finally winning it in 2005.
[edit] Interests and membership
Howarth is a member of Friends of the Earth and Amnesty International. In 1995 he won the Butterworth's Prize for best new legal textbook.
[edit] Personal life
David Howarth has two children and is married to Edna Howarth. Edna Howarth is a magistrate in Cambridge Magistrates' Court who was notably involved in the sentencing of Stephen Fry for a speeding offence.[1][2]
[edit] Notes
- ^ House of Commons (2008). Hansard, May 6 2008, Column 586
- ^ BBC News (2002). "Comic Fry keeps licence", December 23 2002. Accessed May 7 2008.
[edit] External links
- David Howarth MP official site
- David Howarth MP profile at the site of the Liberal Democrats
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: David Howarth MP
- TheyWorkForYou.com - David Howarth MP
- The Public Whip - David Howarth MP voting record
- BBC Politics page
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by Anne Campbell |
Member of Parliament for Cambridge 2005 – present |
Incumbent |
