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UK Leaders

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Browse selected biographies:

Rt Hon Douglas Alexander MP

Secretary of State for International Development

Born in Glasgow in 1967, Douglas Alexander grew up in Bishopton. He attended Bishopton Primary and Park Mains High in Erskine, and at the age of fourteen he joined the…Read more

Rt Hon Michael Ancram QC MP

Conservative MP

Michael Ancram was born in 1945 in London and educated at Ampleforth College, Christ Church Oxford (MA) and Edinburgh University (LLB), he was called to the Scottish Bar in 1970.…Read more

Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP

Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

Margaret Beckett was born in Ashton-under-Lyne in 1943. She received her education at Manchester College of Science and Technology and John Dalton Polytechnic. Before entering Parliament she worked as a…Read more

Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Hilary Benn MP was born in 1953 and is the son of the former Labour MP, Tony Benn. He attended Holland Park Comprehensive School and received a degree in Russian…Read more

Rt Hon Tony Blair

Ex-Prime Minister, 'Quartet' Middle-East Envoy

Tony Charles Lynton Blair was born in Scotland in May 1953. He read Law at St. John's College, Oxford, and qualified as a barrister in London in 1976. He specialised…Read more

Rt Hon Hazel Blears MP

Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government

Hazel Blears was born in Salford in 1956 and educated at Trent Polytechnic and Chester College of Law. Before entering Parliament she was a solicitor in a private practice and…Read more

Rt Hon Baroness Amos of Brondesbury

Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council

Baroness Amos was born in Guyana, and educated at  the Universities of Warwick, Birmingham and East Anglia, She was awarded an Honorary Professorship at Thames Valley University in 1995 in…Read more

Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP

Prime Minister

Gordon Brown MP was born in Glasgow in 1951 and was educated at the University of Edinburgh, where he gained a First Class Honours degree and a Doctorate. Before…Read more

Rt Hon Des Browne MP

Secretary of State for Defence

Des Browne was born in March 1955 and educated at Glasgow University. Before entering Parliament he was a lawyer and was called to the Scottish Bar in 1993. …Read more

Vincent Cable

Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats

Vincent Cable was born in York on 9 May 1943. He was educated at Nunthorpe Grammar School, and later at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University (Natural Science and Economics) where he…Read more

Rt Hon David Cameron MP

Leader of the Conservative Party; Leader of the Opposition

David Cameron was born on 9 October 1966 and was educated at Eton and Brasenose College, Oxford. He worked for the Conservative Party in their research department from 1988…Read more

Sir Menzies Campbell CBE QC MP

Leader of the Liberal Democrats

Sir Menzies Campbell CBE QC MP was born in May 1941 and educated at Hillhead High School and Glasgow University. He was President of his Student Union in Glasgow and…Read more

Kenneth Clarke QC MP

Conservative MP

Kenneth Clarke was born on 2 July 1940 in Nottingham. He was educated at Nottingham High School and went on to study law at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He…Read more

Charles Clarke

British Home Secretary

Charles Clarke was born in 1950 and was educated at Highgate School, London and Kings College, Cambridge. He is married with two sons. From 1975 to 1977 Clarke was…Read more

Nick Clegg

Shadow Secretary of State for the Home Department

Nick Clegg was born in Westminster on 7 January 1967, and was educated at Westminster School and Cambridge University, with postgraduate research degrees from the University of Minnesota in the…Read more

Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP

Chancellor of the Exchequer

Alistair Darling was born in London in 1953 and educated at the University of Aberdeen. Before entering Parliament he was a Solicitor and an advocate at the Scottish Bar. …Read more

Rt Hon David Davis MP

Shadow Home Secretary

David Davis was born in 1948. He was educated at Warwick University (BSc Joint Hons Molecular Science/Computer Science 1968-1971), London Business School (Master's Degree in Business 1971-1973) and Harvard…Read more

Liam Fox

Shadow Defence Secretary

Liam Fox was born in 1961. He was educated at St Bride's High School, East Kilbride and at the University of Glasgow, where he studied medicine. Fox is…Read more

Rt Hon Lord Goldsmith QC

President of the Bar Pro Bono Unit

Peter Goldsmith was born in Liverpool and educated at Gonville and Caius College and University College London. He was called to the Bar in 1972 and appointed to the Queens…Read more

Michael Gove

Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families

Michael Gove was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1967, and was educated at Robert Gordon's College, and later studied at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University where he was elected as…Read more

Rt Hon Lord Grocott

Lord Chief Whip and Captain of the Gentlemen at Arms

Bruce Grocott was born in 1940 and educated at Hemel Hempstead Grammar School, Leicester University and Manchester University. Before entering Parliament he was a lecturer and then a principal lecturer…Read more

Rt Hon William Hague MP

Shadow Foreign Secretary

William Hague was born in Rotherham on 26 March 1961. He was educated at Wath-on-Dearne Comprehensive School in Rotherham, Magdalen College, Oxford and INSEAD Business School, France. Whilst at Oxford,…Read more

Nick Harvey

Shadow Secretary of State for Defence

Nick Harvey was born on 3 August 1961 at Chandlers Ford, Hampshire. He was educated at Sherborne House School, Queen's College, and later at Middlesex University where he was President-elect…Read more

David Heath

Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Lord Chancellor

David Heath was born in Westbury-sub-Mendip, Somerset. He attended Millfield School, and later studied at St John's College, Oxford (MA Physiological Sciences) and the City University, London. After going…Read more

The Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP

Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury and Chief Whip

Geoff Hoon was born in 1953 in Derby and educated at The University of Cambridge. Before entering Parliament he was an MEP, Barrister and University lecturer. He was…Read more

Rt Hon Michael Howard QC MP

Former leader of the Conservative Party

Michael Howard was born in 1941 and was educated at Llanelli Grammar School and Peterhouse, Cambridge. In 1962 he was elected President of the Cambridge Union. He was called to…Read more

Dr Kim Howells

Minister for the Middle East

Dr Kim Howells MP was born in Merthyr Tydfil in 1948 and was educated at Hornsey College of Art and Cambridge University. He received a doctorate from Warwick University.…Read more

Simon Hughes

Shadow Leader of the House of Commons and Party President of the Liberal Democrats

Simon Hughes was born in Cheshire on 17 May 1951, and was educated at Christ College, Brecon, and later read law at Selwyn College, Cambridge and College of Europe, Bruges.…Read more

Rt Hon John Hutton MP

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

John Hutton was born in 1955 and educated at Westcliff High School in Southend and Magdalen College Oxford. Before entering Parliament he was a legal assistant at the CBI…Read more

Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP

Secretary of State for Health

Alan Johnson was born in 1950 and educated at Sloane Grammar School in Chelsea. Before entering Parliament he worked as a postman and held various positions within the Union of…Read more

Tessa Jowell MP

Secretary of State for the Olympics and London

Tessa Jowell MP was born in London and was educated at St Margaret's School in Aberdeen and the universities of Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Goldsmith's, London. She is a visiting fellow…Read more

Rt Hon Ruth Kelly MP

Secretary of State for Transport

Ruth Kelly was born in 1968 and educated at Queens College, Oxford and the London School of Economics. Before entering Parliament she was the Economics Writer for The Guardian from…Read more

Charles Kennedy

Former leader of the Liberal Democrats

Charles Kennedy MP is the Leader of the Liberal Democrats. Kennedy was born in Inverness in 1959, he was brought up and educated in Fort William, and attended Glasgow University.…Read more

Rt Hon Oliver Letwin MP

Tory Policy Director

Oliver Letwin was born in 1956. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and at London Business School. He was a member of the Prime Minister's Policy Unit…Read more

Rt Hon Theresa May MP

Shadow Commons Leader

Theresa was born in 1956 and educated at St Hugh's College, Oxford University, from 1974-77, gaining an MA in Geography. Having worked in the banking industry, Theresa has held posts…Read more

Rt Hon Ian McCartney MP

MP

Ian McCartney was born in 1951 and educated at state schools. Before entering Parliament he was Secretary to Roger Stott MP and was a Wigan Borough Councillor from 1982-1987. …Read more

Simon McDonald

Chief Foreign Policy Adviser; Former Ambassador to the State of Israel

Simon McDonald was born in March 1961. He entered the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in 1982, serving as the Benelux Desk Officer at the Western European Department from…Read more

Rt Hon Lord McNally

Liberal Democrats Leader in the House of Lords

Tom McNally was born on 20 February 1943, and was educated at St Joseph's College, Blackpool before going to University College to study economics and social history where he…Read more

Rt Hon David Miliband MP

Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth

David Miliband was born in 1965 in London and educated at Oxford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before entering Parliament he was a Parliamentary Officer of the NCVO from…Read more

Andrew Mitchell

Shadow Secretary of State for International Development

Andrew Mitchell was born in 1959 and educated at Rugby and Cambridge where he studied history. He was the President of the Cambridge Union in 1978. Before University, he served…Read more

Dame Pauline Neville-Jones DCMG

Shadow Security Minister and National Security Adviser to the Leader of the Opposition

Dame Pauline Neville-Jones was born on 2 November 1939, and was educated at Leeds Girl's High School and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University (Modern History). She was…Read more

George Osborne

Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer; General Election Campaign Coordinator

George Osborne was born in London in May 1971. He was educated at St Paul's School, London, and at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he read modern history. After…Read more

Tom Phillips CMG

HM Ambassador to the State of Israel

Tom Phillips was born in 1950. Ambassador Phillips joined the Department of Health and Social Security in 1977 and in 1983, he was appointed to the Energy, Science…Read more

Rt Hon John Prescott MP

MP

John Prescott was born in Prestatyn, Wales in 1938. He was educated at Ellesmere Port Secondary Modern School and began work as a trainee chef at the age of…Read more

Rt Hon Dr John Reid MP

MP

Born in Scotland in May 1947, John Reid went to school at Coatbridge. He read History at Stirling University, staying to take a Doctorate in Economic History. He worked as…Read more

Rt Hon Jacqui Smith MP

Secretary of State for the Home Department

Jacqui Smith was born in 1962 and educated at Oxford University. Before entering Parliament she was a teacher of economics and business studies, rising to become Head of Economics. …Read more

Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP

Former leader of the Conservative Party

Iain Duncan Smith was born in Edinburgh in April 1954. His father was a Second World War fighter pilot and his mother was a ballet dancer. He was educated at…Read more

Caroline Spelman

Chairman of the Conservative Party

Caroline Spelman was born in Bishop's Stortford, East Anglia on 4 May 1958, and was educated in Herts and Essex Grammar School for Girls, and then at Queen Mary College,…Read more

Rt Hon The Lord Strathclyde

Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords

Thomas Strathclyde was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 22 February 1960, and educated at Wellington College, University of East Anglia and University of Aix-en-Provence. Before entering the…Read more

Rt Hon Jack Straw MP

Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor

Jack John Whitaker Straw MP was born in Essex in August 1946. He read law at Leeds University and was President of Leeds University Students' Union from 1967-1968 and of…Read more

Rt Hon Lord Falconer of Thoroton QC

Lord Chancellor

Lord Falconer was born in 1951 and educated at Trinity College, Glenalmond, and Queens' College, Cambridge. He was called to the Bar (Inner Temple) in 1974 and was appointed…Read more

Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP

MP

Stephen Timms was born in 1955 in Oldham, Lancashire and was educated at Farnborough Grammar School in Hampshire and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Before entering Parliament he worked as a telecommunications…Read more

Lord David Triesman

Parliamentary Secretary, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

David Maxim Triesman was born in October 1943 and is a Labour member of the House of Lords. Triesman was educated at the Stationers' Company School, Essex University…Read more

Theresa Villiers

Shadow Secretary of State for Transport

Theresa Villiers was born in 1968 and grew up in North London. She has a first class law degree from the University of Bristol and a BCL from Jesus College,…Read more

Sayeeda Warsi

Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion

Sayeeda Warsi was born in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, in 1971, and was educated in Birkdale High School, Dewsbury College, and then the University of Leeds where she read Law…Read more

David Willetts

Shadow Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills

David Willetts was born on 9 March 1956 and educated at Christ Church, Oxford. He has been the Conservative Member of Parliament for Havant since 1992. He is chairman…Read more

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Iran

An in-depth look at Iran…Read more