Editing David Willetts (section)

{{Short description|British politician}}
{{For|the West End actor|Dave Willetts}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name                = The Lord Willetts
| honorific-suffix    = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|PC|FRS|HonFRSC|HonFREng|FAcSS}}
| image               = Official portrait of Lord Willetts crop 2.jpg
| caption             = Official portrait, 2020
| office              = [[Minister of State for Universities and Science]]
| primeminister       = [[David Cameron]]
| term_start          = 11 May 2010
| term_end            = 14 July 2014
| predecessor         = [[David Lammy]]
| successor           = [[Greg Clark]]
| office1             = [[Paymaster General]]
| leader1             = [[John Major]]
| term_start1         = 20 July 1996
| term_end1           = 21 November 1996
| predecessor1        = [[David Heathcoat-Amory]]
| successor1          = [[Michael Bates, Baron Bates|Michael Bates]]
| office2             = [[Lord Commissioner of the Treasury]]
| primeminister2      = [[John Major]]
| term_start2         = 6 July 1995
| term_end2           = 28 November 1995
| predecessor2        = [[Andrew Mitchell]]
| successor2          = [[Liam Fox]]
{{Collapsed infobox section begin|[[Shadow Cabinet of David Cameron|Shadow Cabinet positions]]}}
| office3             = [[Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills|Shadow Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills]]
| leader3             = [[David Cameron]]
| term_start3         = 2 July 2007
| term_end3           = 19 January 2009
| predecessor3        = ''Position established''
| successor3          = [[Kenneth Clarke]] {{small|[[Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills|(Business, Innovation and Skills)]]}}
| office4             = [[Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Skills]]
| leader4             = [[David Cameron]]
| term_start4         = 8 December 2005
| term_end4           = 2 July 2007
| predecessor4        = [[David Cameron]]
| successor4          = [[Michael Gove]] {{small|(Children, Schools and Families)}}
| office5             = [[Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry]]
| leader5             = [[Michael Howard]]
| term_start5         = 6 May 2005
| term_end5           = 8 December 2005
| predecessor5        = {{plainlist|
*[[James Arbuthnot]] {{small|(Trade)}}
*[[Stephen O'Brien]] {{small|(Industry)}}}}
| successor5          = [[Alan Duncan]]
| office6             = [[Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions]]<br>{{small|Social Security (1999–2001)}}
| leader6             = {{plainlist|
*[[William Hague]]
*[[Iain Duncan Smith]]
*[[Michael Howard]]}}
| term_start6         = 15 June 1999
| term_end6           = 6 May 2005
| predecessor6        = [[Iain Duncan Smith]]
| successor6          = [[Malcolm Rifkind]]
| office7             = [[Shadow Secretary of State for Education|Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Employment]]
| leader7             = [[William Hague]]
| term_start7         = 1 June 1998
| term_end7           = 15 June 1999
| predecessor7        = [[Stephen Dorrell]]
| successor7          = [[Theresa May]]
{{Collapsed infobox section end}}
|office10         = [[Member of the House of Lords]]<br />[[Lord Temporal]]
|term_start10       = 16 October 2015<br />[[Life Peerage]]
|term_end10       = 
| office11            = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]<br>for [[Havant (UK Parliament constituency)|Havant]]
| term_start11        = 9 April 1992
| term_end11          = 30 March 2015
| predecessor11       = [[Ian Lloyd (politician)|Ian Lloyd]]
| successor11         = [[Alan Mak (politician)|Alan Mak]]
| birth_name          = David Linsay Willetts
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1956|3|9|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Birmingham]], [[England]], UK
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| party               = [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]
| spouse              = Sarah Butterfield
| education           = [[King Edward's School, Birmingham]]
| alma_mater          = [[University of Oxford]] (BA)<!--Christ Church does NOT award degrees-->
| website             = {{URL|https://www.davidwilletts.co.uk/}}
}}
'''David Linsay Willetts, Baron Willetts''', {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|PC|FRS|HonFRSC|HonFREng|FAcSS}} (born 9 March 1956) is a British politician and [[life peer]]. From 1992 to 2015, he was the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Member of Parliament]] representing the constituency of [[Havant (constituency)|Havant]] in [[Hampshire]]. He served as [[Department for Business, Innovation and Skills|Minister of State for Universities and Science]] from 2010 until July 2014 and became a member of the [[House of Lords]] in 2015. He was appointed chair of the UK Space Agency's board in April 2022.<ref name="GOV.UK 2022">{{cite web | title=Lord David Willetts appointed as Chair of UK Space Agency Board | website=GOV.UK | date=26 April 2022 | url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/lord-david-willetts-appointed-as-chair-of-uk-space-agency-board | access-date=10 July 2022}}</ref> He is president of the [[Resolution Foundation]].

Born in Birmingham, Willetts studied [[philosophy, politics and economics]] at [[Christ Church, Oxford]]. After working for [[Nigel Lawson]] as a private researcher, Willetts moved to Margaret Thatcher's Policy Unit. At age 31, Willetts became head of the [[Centre for Policy Studies]], before entering the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] for [[Havant (UK Parliament constituency)|Havant]] at the [[1992 United Kingdom general election|1992 general election]]. He was quickly appointed to a number of positions before being appointed [[Paymaster General]] in 1996. During this period, Willetts gained the nickname "Two Brains". However, he was later forced to resign later that year after it was found that he had "dissembled" in his evidence to the [[Standards and Privileges Committee]] over whether pressure was put onto an earlier investigation into Conservative MP [[Neil Hamilton (politician)|Neil Hamilton]].

Willetts returned to the Conservative frontbench after the party's defeat in the [[1997 United Kingdom general election|1997 general election]], serving as [[Shadow Secretary of State for Education|Shadow Education Secretary]] before becoming [[Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions|Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary]]. Following the [[2005 United Kingdom general election|2005 election]], he served as [[Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade|Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry]], and then backed [[David Davis (British politician)|David Davis]] in the [[2005 Conservative Party leadership election|2005 Conservative leadership election]]. Despite this, he was appointed [[Shadow Secretary of State for Education|Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Skills]] in [[Shadow Cabinet of David Cameron|David Cameron's shadow cabinet]], later becoming Shadow Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills. 

Following the [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010 general election]], Prime Minister [[David Cameron]] appointed Willetts as the [[Minister of State for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education|Minister of State for Universities and Science]], where he pushed forwards with the policy of increasing the cap on [[tuition fees]] in England and Wales and sold student loans to [[Erudio Student Loans]], removing £160m from the public debt. Willetts stepped down at the [[2015 United Kingdom general election|2015 general election]], and was made a life peer in the [[2015 Dissolution Honours]].

Willetts has pioneered the idea of "civic conservatism", the concept of focusing on the institutions between state and individuals as a policy concern rather than thinking only of individuals and the state. Civic conservativism's focus on a softer social agenda has led journalist [[Fraser Nelson]] to call Willetts " The real father of Cameronism"