Iain Duncan Smith
| Iain Duncan Smith | |
|---|---|
|
| |
| Name | George Iain Duncan Smith (born 9 April 1954) |
| Nicknames | IDS (politics nerds, fandom), Satan (anyone with a heart) |
| Politics | |
| Party | Conservative |
| Constituency | Chingford and Woodford Green (1992 - present) |
| Positions | • Secretary of State for Work and Pensions • Leader of the Opposition • Shadow Secretary of State for Defence • Shadow Secretary of State for Social Security |
| Likes | Rugby |
| Dislikes | Poor people |
| Friends | David Cameron |
| Enemies | Poor people |
| Relationships | |
| Partners | Betsy Fremantle |
| Children | 4 |
| Personal Attributes | |
| Nationality | British |
| Religion | Catholic |
| Sexuality | Straight |
| Height | In feet and inches |
| Eye Colour | ? |
| Handedness | ? |
| Accent | ? |
| Languages | You can delete this line if they only know English |
Do not underestimate the determination of a quiet man ~ IDS
Best known for thinking poor people have too much money, failing at being leader of the Conservative Party and generally a horrible person.
Life and Career[edit | edit source]
Early Life[edit | edit source]
IDS was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1954. He is the son of W. G. G. Duncan Smith, a decorated Royal Air Force flying ace of World War II, and Pamela Summers, a ballerina. They were married in 1946. He is a descendant of Adam Duncan, the admiral who defeated the Dutch Navy at the Battle of Camperdown in 1797.
IDS was educated at what is now St. Peter's RC Secondary School, Solihull, until the age of 14, then at HMS Conway, a Merchant Navy training school on the Isle of Anglesey where he played rugby.
IDS has a habit of trying to fudge his educational history. His statement that he studied at the University of Perugia was admitted to be untrue after an investigation by the BBC. His office stated that he attended the Italian Università per Stranieri (founded 1921) in Perugia for a year. He did not complete the course or sit exams. His official biography on the Conservative Party website for a long time said that he was "educated at Dunchurch College of Management" but his office confirmed that he did not get any qualifications there either, that he completed six separate courses lasting a few days each, adding up to about a month in total.
Pre-political Career[edit | edit source]
He was commissioned into the Scots Guards as a second lieutenant on 28 June 1975, with the service number 500263. He was promoted to lieutenant on 28 June 1977, and retired from the military on 2 April 1981, moving to the Regular Army Reserve of Officers.
During his service he served in Northern Ireland and the region known as Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), where he was aide-de-camp (a bag-carrier) to Major-General Sir John Acland, commander of the Commonwealth Monitoring Force monitoring the ceasefire during elections.
Early Political Career[edit | edit source]
IDS stood for the seat of Bradford West in the 1987 election and lost.
Parliamentary Career[edit | edit source]
IDS was chosen for the safe Tory seat of Chingford in 1992, the seat having been help previously by Norman Tebbit.
He spent most of his first parliament pissing off John Major, predominately on European matters but also on anything that came to mind at the time. Not surprisingly he remained on the backbenches for the whole of his first parliament.
In the 1997 his majority fell from 14,938 to 5,714 because of boundary changes and New Labour. IDS didn't mind though, because under the new leader, William Hague, IDS was promoted to Shadow Social Security Secretary and brought inside the Shadow Cabinet. In 1999, IDS was moved to replace John Maples as Shadow Defence Secretary.
Leader of the Opposition[edit | edit source]
IDS put his name forward for the leadership of the Conservative Party following Hague's resignation after the 2001 general election. Initially he was seen as an outsider, but then Margaret Thatcher intervened and said IDS would be the best leader and all that changed[1]. In the end, the final vote was between IDS and Ken Clarke - a pro-European Tory - and IDS won easily. As a mark of respect for the events of September 11th the announcement of the results of the leadership ballot were delayed for two days. Because of those events (but probably not because of the delay in announcing his victory) IDS was one of the first people to call for British forces to invade Iraq.
No one really liked him - inside or outside the party. The lies on his CV caused him a great amount of reputational damage and his attempts at being "hard" and "charismatic" just made people laugh. Labour MPs would "shush" him and put their fingers to their lips whenever he spoke at PMQs. It was then discovered that he had made some dubious expenses claims, including employing his wife and overenthusiastic housing claims. This was known as Betsygate and caused people to think even less of IDS than they had done before[2].
In an effort to save his leadership, IDS called out the members of his party by daring them - if they had enough support - to trigger a vote of no confidence in him. The party did and he lost - 90 votes to 75. He stood down 8 days later.
Back on the Backbenches[edit | edit source]
IDS then went to the backbenches where he focus on trying to not be ridiculed every 5 minutes. He kept calling for more forces to be put into Iraq and worked on a few reports. One of these was focused on the decline of Britain in broad terms and a second, followup report looked at ways amend these issues.
Secretary of State of Work and Pensions[edit | edit source]
When David Cameron formed the coalition government following the 2010 general election, he knew that he needed to keep the right of the Tory Party on-side. He brought in IDS to preside of cuts to the welfare state to the delight of the rabid right wing and the horror of literally everyone else. He saw through the "Workfare" program, cuts to benefits, an increase in the pension age, and massive changes to disability benefits. All of this stuff is very much unfunny so if you are interested in what IDS is doing/has done as Secretary of State of Work and Pension, his actual Wikipedia page might be of more use.
Resignation[edit | edit source]
IDS resigned on 19 March 2016 from his DWP brief. Many people were very happy and there were parties in the street celebrating. 19 March was thereafter declared a bank holiday.
In his resignation letter, IDS stated:
"As you know, the advancement of social justice was my driving reason for becoming part of your ministerial team... You are aware that I believe the cuts would have been even fairer to younger families and people of working age if we had been willing to reduce some of the benefits given to better-off pensioners but I have attempted to work within the constraints that you and the Chancellor set... I am unable to watch passively whilst certain policies are enacted in order to meet the fiscal self imposed restraints that I believe are more and more perceived as distinctly political rather than in the national economic interest..."
Cameron replied in equally bitchy tones:
"..We all agreed that the increased resources being spent on disabled people should be properly managed and focused on those who need it most. That is why we collectively agreed - you, No 10 and the Treasury - proposals which you and your Department then announced a week ago... In the light of this, I am puzzled and disappointed that you have chosen to resign."
| Full List of Appointments |
|---|
| • Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (12 May 2010 - 19 March 2016) |
| • Leader of the Opposition (13 September 2001 – 6 November 2003) |
| • Shadow Secretary of State for Defence (15 June 1999 – 13 September 2001) |
| • Shadow Secretary of State for Social Security (2 June 1997 – 15 June 1999) |
Personal Life[edit | edit source]
IDS is married with 4 children. Unfortunately he is a Spurs fan.
Ideology[edit | edit source]
IDS is very right wing. He takes great interest in family and societal breakdown.
Portrayal[edit | edit source]
In the Media[edit | edit source]
The right-wing media now think he's the best thing since sliced bread but during his leadership they thought he was pretty ineffectual and embarrassing. The left-wing media have never been able to stand him.
In Fanon[edit | edit source]
No one in fandom actually likes him. Most laugh at him to try and deal with the srs!politics stuff that he's doing but not everyone does.
