Iain Duncan Smith

Iain Duncan Smith

Sir George Iain Duncan Smith (born April 9, 1954 in Edinburgh , Scotland ) is a British politician . He was chairman of the British Conservative Party from September 2001 to November 2003 . In the Cameron I cabinet he was Minister for Labor and Pensions since May 2010. On March 18, 2016, he announced his resignation.

Early career

Duncan Smith calls himself Iain Duncan Smith; it is also generally known by the acronym IDS. He is the son of Royal Air Force Captain WGG Duncan Smith and his wife Pamela, a ballet dancer. Duncan Smith converted to Catholicism as a teenager . He was trained on the Navy training ship HMS Conway off the Isle of Anglesey and attended the elite military academy at Sandhurst . In 1975 he became a member of the Scots Guards and served in Rhodesia and Northern Ireland . After six years of military service, he joined General Electric in 1981 and joined the Conservative Party. In 1982 he married Elizabeth Fremantle, a daughter of the 5th Baron Cottesloe, with whom he has 4 children. In 1987 he stood for the Conservatives as a candidate for the general election in the Bradford West constituency. In 1992 he won the seat for Chingford, where he succeeded Norman Tebbit , who went into political retirement. In 1997 his constituency was reorganized as Chingford and Woodford Green constituency .

Political rise

Duncan Smith, a staunch Eurosceptic , was a thorn in the side of the conservative but pro-European government of John Major (1992–1997). Until 1997, Duncan Smith remained a backbencher , but was after the change, which in May 1997 Tony Blair brought to power by William Hague in the shadow cabinet added. When the Labor Party again won the election in June 2001 , Hague resigned as head of the Conservatives; as his successor Duncan Smith was determined on September 12th, who was able to prevail against Kenneth Clarke . At first he was considered an outsider, but received the support of Margaret Thatcher , so that he was able to gain a certain power base within the conservatives. Because of the immediately preceding attacks in New York on September 11, 2001 , the proclamation of the change in power among the Conservatives was postponed to September 13.

The fact that Duncan Smith is an avowed Catholic has raised the prospect of increasing Catholicization in the political class for some in traditionally Anglican Protestant Great Britain, since Charles Kennedy († 2015), the former head of the Liberal Democrats, was a Catholic, and Tony Blair, himself originally a Protestant but married to a Catholic, who later converted to Catholicism. From a legal point of view, the Catholic Relief Act of 1829 forbids a Catholic in Great Britain from giving advice to the British monarch on questions of filling posts in the Anglican Church - a say in the question of the appointment of bishops would be one of the tasks of the British Prime Minister, but still applies the personal confession of a prime minister in today's largely secularized Great Britain is hardly problematic anymore.

Criticism and vote of no confidence

Despite Thatcher's support, Duncan Smith was unpopular within the Conservatives because his rhetoric was considered moderate. The satirical magazine Private Eye he was as Iain Duncan Cough ( the coughing Iain Duncan ); but his loyalty and honesty were beyond question. However, electoral successes for the Conservatives did not materialize. During the Conservative Party Conference in 2002, he said, speaking to himself, never to underestimate a quiet person, but expected a more aggressive opposition to the Blair government from a Conservative party leader. In November he appealed with the sentence unite or die - stick together or die to the unity of the party, in whose ranks the willingness to support him continued to erode. As early as February 2003, the Independent reported that several Tory MPs were considering a vote of no confidence in Duncan Smith. His popularity ratings fell among the public and he became a target of satirical programs. Finally, on October 29th, the Conservative MPs passed the expected vote of no confidence, with 90 votes against him and 75 for him. He then resigned as chairman. He was finally succeeded by Michael Howard (* 1941).

After 2003

After his resignation, he set up the Center for Social Justice , which mainly deals with problems relating to British inner cities. As a member of the House of Commons, he was re-elected in his constituency in 2005 with a clear majority. He also wrote a thriller novel, The Devil's Tune .

Activity as Minister for Labor and Pensions

In May 2010, Smith became Minister for Labor and Pensions in the Cameron I cabinet, and in this role advocated a reduction in the British welfare state. In April 2013, Smith received international attention when, in an interview on the BBC radio station, he defended the UK welfare cut on the grounds that he could live on a permanent basis on £ 53  a week, and an online petition was launched in the UK asking Smith to do so called for a year off on 97% of his civil servant's salary and living on £ 53 a week during that time  .

In the discussion about the future of the United Kingdom in the European Union, Smith was one of the minority of ministers in the Cameron II cabinet who wanted a “ Brexit ”, i.e. H. advocated leaving the EU. He accused the supporters of EU membership of wanting to artificially downplay the United Kingdom, and on February 28, 2016 named the prospect of leaving the EU " a stride into the light " in allusion to the Comment by the Prime Minister that this is a “ leap in the dark ”.

Resignation in March 2016 and beyond

On March 18, 2016, Smith announced his resignation from the ministerial office. He justified this with the upcoming cuts in social benefits for the disabled, which were decided by the cabinet, which affect around 600,000 people. He could not justify these reductions to the public in view of a budget that benefits the higher earning taxpayers ( “… benefits higher earning taxpayers” ). His successor as Minister of Labor was the previous Minister for Wales, Stephen Crabb .

During the debate about the future leader of the Conservatives and Prime Minister to succeed David Cameron , Smith spoke out for Andrea Leadsom and against Theresa May .

Footnotes

1. ↑ ^{a b} Duncan Smith quits over benefits plans. BBC News, March 18, 2016, accessed March 18, 2016 . 
2. ↑ Website of the Center for Social Justice ( Memento of the original from May 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ Welfare 'trapping' people in poverty says Duncan Smith. BBC News, May 27, 2010, accessed April 4, 2013 . 
4. ^ Iain Duncan Smith: Reforms 'make work pay'. BBC News, April 1, 2013, accessed April 4, 2013 . 
5. ↑ Karin Janker: Online petition wants to see British ministers at subsistence level. sueddeutsche.de, April 3, 2013, accessed April 4, 2013 . 
6. ↑ Leaving EU a stride into the light, says Duncan Smith. BBC News, February 28, 2016, accessed February 28, 2016 . 
7. ↑ Stephen Crabb replaces Iain Duncan Smith. BBC News, March 19, 2016, accessed March 19, 2016 . 
8. ^ Tory leadership: Iain Duncan Smith backs Andrea Leadsom. BBC News, July 2, 2016, accessed July 11, 2016 .