David Michael Davis MP is a British Conservative Party politician who served as Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union from July 2016 to July 2018 and has served as Member of Parliament for Haltemprice and Howden since 1997. He was previously elected to the House of Commons for Boothferry in 1987, and reelected in 1992. Davis was sworn of the Privy Council in the 1997 New Year Honours, having previously been Minister of State for Europe from 1994 to 1997.
He was brought up on the Aboyne Estate, a council estate in Tooting, South West London. After attending Bec Grammar School in Tooting, he went on to gain a master's degree in business at the age of 25, and went into a career with Tate & Lyle. Having entered Parliament in 1987, at the age of 38, he was appointed Europe Minister by Prime Minister John Major in July 1994. He held that position until the 1997 general election. He subsequently was Conservative Party Chairman and Shadow Secretary of State for the Office of Deputy Prime Minister.
Between 2003 and 2008, he was the Shadow Home Secretary in the Shadow Cabinets of both Michael Howard and David Cameron. Davis had previously been a candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party in 2001 and 2005, coming fourth and second respectively. On 12 June 2008, Davis unexpectedly announced his intention to resign as an MP, and was immediately replaced as Shadow Home Secretary; this was in order to force a by-election in his seat for which he intended to seek re-election by mounting a specific campaign designed to provoke wider public debate about the erosion of civil liberties in the United Kingdom. Following his formal resignation as an MP he became the Conservative candidate in the resulting by-election, which he won a month later. In 2012, together with Liam Fox, he founded Conservative pressure group Conservative Voice to amplify the voice of grassroots members, which Davis thought was getting lost in the party.In July 2016, following a referendum in which a majority of those voting supported leaving the European Union, he was appointed by new Prime Minister Theresa May to the brand-new Department for Exiting the European Union as Secretary of State, with responsibility for negotiating the UK's prospective exit from the EU. He was sidelined mid-way through the talks, with the Prime Minister's Europe Adviser Olly Robbins taking charge of negotiations.Davis resigned from his government position on 8 July 2018, over May's Brexit strategy and the Chequers plan. Following the resignation, DExEU junior minister Steve Baker and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson also resigned.
Wikipedia
“There will be no downside to Brexit, only a considerable upside.”
David Davis brushes off Brexit retaliation fears https://www.ft.com/content/45137d44-8f0a-11e6-a72e-b428cb934b78 (10 October 2016)
On Brexit
House of Commons Debates (Hansard), 26 November 2002, column 201 https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2002-11-26.201.7
On democracy and referendums
“If a democracy cannot change its mind, it ceases to be a democracy.”
David Davis MP speech "Europe: It's Time To Decide" http://www.daviddavismp.com/david-davis-mp-delivers-speech-on-the-opportunities-for-a-referendum-on-europe/ ( 19 November 2012 https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2012/11/invitation-to-david-davis-lecture-on-europe.html)
On democracy and referendums
During his statement on the progress of EU exit negotiations made in the House of Commons http://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2017-09-05/debates/A33568F2-9C8A-448C-8042-B6F69D3227E3/EUExitNegotiations (5 September 2017). Previous contradictory statements on the ease of leaving the EU, by his colleagues in government and fellow leave campaigners, include:
The day after we vote to leave we hold all the cards and we can choose the path we want.
Michael Gove http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/michael-gove/michael-gove-vote-leave_b_9728548.html (9 April 2016)
There will continue to be free trade, and access to the single market.
Boris Johnson http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/26/i-cannot-stress-too-much-that-britain-is-part-of-europe--and-alw/ (26 June 2016)
Getting out of the EU can be quick and easy – the UK holds most of the cards in any negotiation.
John Redwood http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2016/07/17/getting-out-of-the-eu-can-be-quick-and-easy-the-uk-holds-most-of-the-cards-in-any-negotiation/ (17 July 2016)
To me, Brexit is easy.
Nigel Farage http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-37416831/nigel-farage-outlines-three-easy-outcomes-for-brexit (20 September 2016)
The free trade agreement that we will have to do with the European Union should be one of the easiest in human history.
Liam Fox https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jul/20/liam-fox-uk-eu-trade-deal-after-brexit-easiest-human-history (20 July 2017)
On Brexit
"New Projects: Beware of False Economies" https://hbr.org/1985/03/new-projects-beware-of-false-economies, published in Harvard Business Review (March 1985)
On management of big projects
