David was elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for the Witney constituency in West Oxfordshire in June 2001.
After the General Election in 2005 David was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Skills. He has previously held the positions of Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons (2003), Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party (2003), front bench spokesman on Local Government Finance (2004) and Head of Policy Co-ordination in the run-up to the General Election in May 2005.
He was a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee between 2001 and 2003.
He was elected Leader of the Conservative Party in December 2005.
Born in October 1966, David has worked at a high level in both business and Government. He spent almost seven years at Carlton Communications plc, one of the UK's leading media companies, where he was Director of Corporate Affairs and served on the Executive Board.
Before joining Carlton, he worked as a Special Adviser, first to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and then to the Home Secretary, working closely with Ministers on major legislation, budgets and spending rounds.
David is married to Samantha, who is the Creative Director of Smythsons of Bond Street. They have homes in West Oxfordshire and London and have three children.
