Iain Duncan Smith
Iain Duncan Smith
George Iain Duncan Smith, often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British Conservative Party politician. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2010 to 2016, he was previously the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003. He was first elected to Parliament at the 1992 general election as the MP for Chingford– which he represented until the constituency's abolition in 1997–and he has represented its successor constituency of Chingford...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth9 April 1954
giving benefits world
I am an optimist about the UK. We have been involved in trade with our European partners, which we will always be doing whatever this relationship is. We are a member of the EU. That gives us benefits. But we have to figure out where that is going. In the world, we are a global trader already.
birthday opportunity giving
Work is transformative. It gives you a greater chance of a greater income. You can affect your life while you're of working age, so you have scope and opportunity. Pensioners do not.
views giving favour
My personal view is always I'm in favour of anything that gives parliament a greater say. That's after all what we were elected for.
educational giving income
For families across the UK who are income-poor, but more than that, whose lives are blighted by worklessness, educational failure, family breakdown, problem debt and poor health, as well as other problems, giving them an extra pound - say through increased benefits - will not address the reason they find themselves in difficulty in the first place.
britain gangs rooted
The fact is that in too many communities in cities in Britain gangs now have become completely rooted into these communities and they destroy them around them.
afford children cloth cut earn fairness morning pay taking taxes work
It's fairness to say those who work hard, get up in the morning, cut their cloth - in other words 'we can only afford to have one or two children because we don't earn enough'. They pay their taxes and they want to know that the same kind of decision-making is taking place for those on benefits.
area caught gang innocent result violence
You know in my own area of Waltham Forest, we've had many murders as a result of the gang violence and often innocent bystanders get caught up in it.
amount debt family money parents strong supporting work
Getting a family into work, supporting strong relationships, getting parents off drugs and out of debt - all this can do more for a child's well-being than any amount of money in out-of-work benefits.
allow bbc dump good government picture view
When the news is good, the BBC view is: 'Get the government out of the picture quickly, don't allow them to say anything about it.' When the news is bad: 'Let's all dump on the government.'
due head heavy industries money parts population reliance spend welfare
Due to the reliance on the old heavy industries in many parts of the country, it makes perfect sense that we need to spend more money per head of population on welfare support in Scotland.
bbc borrow create economy locked money run spend
The BBC is locked to the reading of the economy that is run out of Ed Miliband and Ed Balls' office. They think if only you spend and borrow more money you can create growth everywhere.
politics
No one out there is interested in who did what to whom in Westminster politics.
children outcomes evidence
We do a disservice to society if we ignore the evidence which shows that stable families tend to be associated with better outcomes for children.
thinking years culture
Look, I've always said from the word go many years ago that I felt the whole bonus culture, they need to think very carefully about being detached from the rest of the British public.