Davis, David Michael (1948- )

British Conservative politician, shadow home secretary from 2003. He became MP for Haltemprice and Howden, near Hull, in 1997, and was MP for Boothferry 1987-97. Between 1997 and 2001, as a proactive chair of the influential Commons Public Account Committee, Davis held the Labour government to account. He was party chair 2001-02, shadow deputy prime minister 2002-03, and a Foreign Office minister 1994-97. He contested, unsuccessfully, for the party leadership in 2001, but decided to stand aside in 2003. He has strong right-wing views on crime, including advocating the death penalty in certain cases, and is a Eurosceptic.

Davis was educated at Bec grammar school and studied computing science at Warwick University and business studies at London Business School, and later Harvard Business School. Before becoming an MP, he worked for the multinational Tate & Lyle, becoming its strategic planning director in 1984.