David was born into a left-wing household. His dad was an academic, his mum a campaigner and teacher.
But his first love was not Marx and Engels, it was playing football – all his waking hours.
David grew up in the South and the North –attending comprehensives in both London and Leeds. He then went to Oxford where he earned a first class degree.
He was given the task of writing the report for John Smith’s Social Justice Commission.
He wrote Labour’s election winning 1997 manifesto and as head of the Downing Street policy unit devised Labour’s historic pledge to end child poverty in a generation.
He was elected MP for South Shields in 2001.
Government Roles:
Schools Minister ( June 2002)
Cabinet Office Minister ( December 2004)
Minister of State for Communities and Local Government (May 2005)
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (May 2006)
Foreign Secretary (June 2007)
He married Louise, a violinist, in 1998 and they have two sons – Isaac and Jacob.
S.M. degree in Political Science at MIT, where he was a Kennedy Scholar
First class honours degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Corpus Christi College Oxford which he attended with the assistance of an Inner London Education Authority scheme intended to enable comprehensive school pupils to attend the university
Four A-levels, three Bs and a D
Haverstock Comprehensive School in North London
Benton Park School in the village of Rawdon near Leeds
Haverstock School, Camden in London
Interests
Supports Arsenal, president of South Shields FC; first minister to write blog
