Everything about Alan Duncan totally explained
Alan James Carter Duncan (born
March 31,
1957) is a
British politician from the
Conservative Party. He has been
Member of Parliament for
Rutland and Melton since
1992, and is currently
Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
Duncan supported the successful leadership campaigns of
John Major in
1990 and
William Hague in
1997. He stood himself in the
2005 election, but withdrew early in the race due to lack of support, before urging the party to elect a moderniser. He is known as one of the most strident and ideological
libertarians within the leading ranks of the Conservative Party, and is a leading member of the
Thatcherite Conservative Way Forward grouping.
Duncan was the first openly gay Conservative Member of Parliament, having publicly
come out in
2002.
Early life
Education
Alan Duncan was born in
Rickmansworth,
Hertfordshire. He was educated at
Merchant Taylors' School, where he was Head Monitor (head boy), and
St John's College, Oxford, where he
coxed the college
first eight, was elected
President of the
Oxford Union in
1979, Whilst there, he formed a friendship with
Benazir Bhutto, and ran her successful campaign to become the first Asian President of the Oxford Union. He then went on to win a
Kennedy Scholarship to study at
Harvard.
Business career
He worked as a trader of oil and refined products, first with
Royal Dutch Shell and from 1982 to 1988 for
Marc Rich, working in
London and
Singapore. From 1988 to 1992 Duncan was self-employed acting as a consultant and adviser to foreign governments on oil supplies, shipping and refining.
(External Link
) (External Link) He remained involved in politics as an active member of
Battersea Conservative Association from
1979 until
1984,
Gyles Brandreth describes this event in his famous diary as '...little Alan Duncan has fallen on his sword. He did it swiftly and with good grace.'
After returning to the backbenches, he became Chairman of the Conservative Backbenches Constitutional Affairs Committee.
Duncan was a key player in the
1997 leadership contest, being the right-hand man of
William Hague, the eventual winner. In this capacity, he was called 'the closest thing [theConservatives] have to
Peter Mandelson'. On
10 June 2005, Duncan publicly declared his intention of standing in the
2005 leadership election. However, on
18 July 2005, he withdrew from the race, admitting in
The Guardian that his withdrawal was due to a lack of 'active lieutenants', and urged the party to abandon those that he dubbed the 'Tory
Taliban':
Political views
Duncan is a
libertarian.
The Guardian has variously described him as 'economically libertarian' and 'socially libertarian'.
One of the chapters in his book
Saturn's Children is devoted to an explanation of his support for the legalisation of all drugs. However this chapter was removed when the paperback edition was published to prevent embarrassment to the Party leadership. The omitted chapter is available on Duncan's personal website. He believes in minimising the size of government, and in
Saturn’s Children advocated limiting government responsibility to essential services such as defence, policing and health.
He is on the council of the
Conservative Way Forward (CWF) group. He is one of the leading British members of
Le Cercle, a secretive
foreign policy discussion forum. In contrast with most members of both CWF and Le Cercle, who hold pro-
Republican Atlanticist views, he actively supported
John Kerry in the
United States'
2004 presidential election. Duncan is friends with Kerry, having met him whilst at Harvard. he did this in an interview with
The Times on
29 July 2002, although he's said that this came as no surprise to friends. Indeed, in an editorial published on the news of Duncan's coming out,
The Daily Telegraph reported, "The news that Alan Duncan is gay will come as a surprise only to those who have never met him. The bantam Tory frontbencher can hardly be accused of having hidden his homosexuality."
On 3 March 2008 it was announced in the Court & Social page of
The Daily Telegraph that Duncan would be entering into a
civil partnership with his partner James Dunseath, which would make him the first member of either the Cabinet or the Shadow Cabinet to enter into a civil partnership.
Duncan has a committed following in the gay community and is active in speaking up for
gay rights. Duncan was voted third most eligible bachelor and best looking male politician by the gay news website
Pink News in a 2005 poll of their readers. In
2007, the same publication named him the 15th-most powerful LGBT person in the UK., then
October 20 2006, and again on
2 May 2008.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Alan Duncan'.
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