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Duncan Hames

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Duncan Hames
Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister
In office
5 September 2012 – 30 March 2015
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byJo Swinson
Succeeded byVacant
Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Energy Secretary
In office
16 August 2011 – 5 September 2012
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byJenny Willott
Succeeded bySteve Gilbert
Member of Parliament
for Chippenham
In office
6 May 2010 – 8 May 2015
Preceded byConstituency Created
Succeeded byMichelle Donelan
Majority2,470 (4.7%)
Personal details
Born (1977-06-16) 16 June 1977 (age 47)
Hertfordshire, England
Political partyLiberal Democrat
SpouseJo Swinson
ChildrenAndrew Lennox Marshall Hames
Residence(s)Holt, Wiltshire
Alma materNew College, Oxford
Websitewww.duncanhames.org.uk

Duncan John Hames[1] (born 16 June 1977) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Chippenham constituency in Wiltshire from the 2010 general election until 30 March 2015, when parliament was dissolved for the election of May 2015, at which he was defeated by the Conservative Party candidate Michelle Donelan. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Nick Clegg when he was Deputy Prime Minister, a post in which he succeeded his wife Jo Swinson.

Early life

Hames was born in Hertfordshire and attended Watford Grammar School for Boys. He studied PPE at New College, Oxford,[2] where he was an executive officer of the Oxford University Student Union and represented the Oxford Union in debating competitions.[3]

Career

After graduating from Oxford, Hames trained as an accountant with Deloitte. In June 2000, at the age of 23, he stood for the Liberal Democrats in the Tottenham by-election which was called after the death of Bernie Grant, coming second to Labour's David Lammy with 19 percent of the vote. He was then the Liberal Democrat candidate in his home constituency of Watford at the 2001 general election. He moved to Holt in Wiltshire, and from 2003 to 2007 served as a member of West Wiltshire District Council.

In 2003 Hames joined the board of the South West of England Regional Development Agency and was the Lib Dem candidate for the Westbury constituency at the 2005 general election.[4] He thus achieved the feat of having stood for election to Parliament on behalf of a major political party on three occasions before his 28th birthday, at a time when the minimum age for candidates was 21.

In July 2006, shortly after the creation of a new Chippenham county constituency, Hames was selected as his party's first candidate for it,[4] and his success at the 2010 general election gave Wiltshire its first Liberal member of parliament in 86 years.[5][6]

Following his defeat at the 2015 general election, Hames chose not to stand for re-selection as the Liberal Democrat candidate in the Chippenham constituency. His wife, fellow Liberal Democrat Jo Swinson, also lost her seat in East Dunbartonshire, but regained it in the 2017 snap election. He is now Head of Policy at the UK chapter of Transparency International.[7]

Personal life

On 13 May 2011 Hames married fellow Lib Dem MP Jo Swinson.[8] In June 2013 the couple announced that they were expecting their first child.[9] On 22 December 2013, their son was born.

References

  1. ^ "No. 59418". The London Gazette. 13 May 2010. p. 8746.
  2. ^ "Duncan Hames – Parliamentary candidates – BBC". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  3. ^ Duncan Hames at hustings.com
  4. ^ a b Lib Dems select Duncan Hames to stand for the new Chippenham constituency Archived 3 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine, dated 15 July 2006, at duncanhames.org.uk
  5. ^ "Duncan Hames Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones Chippenham, first Wiltshire MP". www.thisisbath.co.uk. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  6. ^ Election 2010: Chippenham, BBC News
  7. ^ "Meet the Team". Transparency International UK. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  8. ^ "MP Jo Swinson weds MP Duncan Hames". milngavieherald.co.uk.
  9. ^ Mason, Rowena (25 June 2013). "Coalition minister Jo Swinson expecting a baby". The Daily Telegraph. London.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency Member of Parliament for Chippenham
20102015
Succeeded by