David's Story
David was born into a left-wing household. His dad was an academic, his mum a campaigner and teacher. But his first love was not Marx and Engels, it was playing football – all his waking hours.
David grew up in the South and the North –attending comprehensives in both London and Leeds.
He studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. In 1988 he won a Kennedy Scholarship to study for a Masters' Degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States.
David's first job was in the voluntary sector, working for the National Council for Voluntary Organisations. He was then Research Fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research, and from 1992-94 Secretary of the Commission on Social Justice, set up by the then Leader of the Labour Party, John Smith, to work out new approaches to welfare policy.
From 1994 to 1997 David worked as Head of Policy for Tony Blair, working on the policies that would help Labour into government. He was then Head of the Prime Minister's Policy Unit in Downing Street during Labour's first term in office from 1997 to 2001. He helped found the Centre for European Reform, and edited two books, Reinventing the Left, and Paying for Inequality.
He was elected MP for South Shields in 2001.
David is married to Louise, a violinist, and they have two sons – Isaac and Jacob.
David in Parliament
David was elected to Parliament in 2001 as MP for South Shields.
He spent a year as a backbench MP and in June 2002 was appointed Schools Minister where he was behind ‘Building Schools for the Future’ - a programme to rebuild and refurbish every secondary school in the country, and he helped introduce thousands of new teaching assistants to the classroom
In December 2004 he was appointed Cabinet Office Minister.
In May 2005 David became Minister of State for Communities and Local Government where he created the idea of city regions.
In May 2006 David became Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs where he spearheaded the Climate Change Bill – setting the world’s first legally binding framework for cutting emissions
In June 2007 David became Foreign Secretary, the youngest for thirty years. David stood up for human rights in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Middle East and spoke out against the invasion of Lebanon by Israel.
After Labour lost the 2010 General Election and Gordon Brown resigned David stood as a candidate for the leadership of the Labour Party.
In October 2010 David stood down from front-line politics and pledged to continue to serve his constituents in South Shields as an MP.