Theresa Villiers

The Right Honourable Theresa Villiers MP
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office 4 September 2012 – 14 July 2016
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Owen Paterson
Succeeded by	James Brokenshire
Minister of State for Transport
In office 13 May 2010 – 4 September 2012
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Sadiq Khan
Succeeded by	Simon Burns
Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
In office 2 July 2007 – 11 May 2010
Leader	David Cameron
Preceded by	Chris Grayling
Succeeded by	Sadiq Khan
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In office 6 December 2005 – 2 July 2007
Leader	David Cameron
Preceded by	Philip Hammond
Succeeded by	Philip Hammond
Member of Parliament for Chipping Barnet
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 May 2005
Preceded by	Sydney Chapman
Majority	7,656 (14.4%)
Member of the European Parliament for London
In office 15 July 1999 – 5 May 2005
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Syed Kamall
Personal details
Born	Theresa Anne Villiers (1968-03-05) 5 March 1968 London, England, UK
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Sean Wilken (Divorced)
Alma mater	University of Bristol Jesus College, Oxford City Law School
Website	Official website

Theresa Anne Villiers (pronounced Villers; born 5 March 1968 in London) is a British Conservative Party politician and a member of the aristocratic Villiers family.

She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chipping Barnet since 2005. She was the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2012 to 2016.^[1][2][3]

Early life

Villiers was born in Chiswick in 1968, the third child of Major George Edward Villiers by his marriage to Anne Virginia Threlfall; she has two elder brothers, Edward and Henry.^[4] On her father's side she is a descendant of Edward Ernest Villiers (1806–1843), brother of George Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon, Thomas Hyde Villiers, Charles Pelham Villiers, and Henry Villiers.^[5] She is also a distant relative of the actor James Villiers, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Thomas Villiers, 1st Earl of Clarendon. She is also a maternal great-granddaughter of the eminent chemist Sir Richard Threlfall.

Growing up in North London, she was educated at the independent Francis Holland School. Villiers gained a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree with first-class honours in 1990 from the University of Bristol, and a year later the postgraduate degree of Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) from Jesus College, Oxford.

After university she qualified for the bar at the Inner Temple, and worked as a lecturer at King's College London from 1994 until 1999.

Member of the European Parliament

Villiers was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the London constituency in 1999, and was re-elected in 2004. She stood down after the 2005 general election when she was elected as the Member of Parliament (UK) (MP) for Chipping Barnet.^[6]

As an MEP, her main interests were finance and financial services, the preservation of London's green belt, Cyprus, animal welfare and campaigning against the euro and the European Constitution. She served as Deputy Leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament between 2001 and 2002. She also served as a member of the governing board of the Conservative Party during this period.

Member of Parliament

In 2003, following Sir Sydney Chapman's announcement that he would retire at the following election, Villiers was selected as the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Chipping Barnet. Although Chapman's majority at the 2001 general election had been only 2,701, the party viewed Chipping Barnet to be quite a "safe" Conservative seat, and Villiers held it at the 2005 general election with an increased majority of 5,960, which increased again to 11,927 in 2010. On election to Westminster she resigned her seat in the European Parliament; it went to Syed Kamall, the next candidate on the Conservatives' regional list for London. She now lives at Arkley in her constituency and used to live at Hillsborough Castle.

Villiers was sworn of the Privy Council on 9 June 2010.^[7]

Shadow Cabinet

In December 2005, following the election of David Cameron as Conservative leader, Villiers was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet after just seven months in parliament, as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. In July 2007 Cameron promoted her to Shadow Secretary of State for Transport.

Government

Following the 2010 general election, the Conservatives, short of an overall majority, formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats. This required positions in Cabinet to be awarded to LibDem MPs, so Villiers did not become Secretary of State for Transport as might have been expected in the event of a majority Conservative government taking office. That role went instead to Philip Hammond, who had shadowed the post of Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Villiers instead became a Minister of State at the Department for Transport.^[8]

At the NI Investment Conference 2013 in Belfast, with Martin McGuinness, David Cameron and Peter Robinson

Villiers was appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in September 2012 but continued to spend three days a week in her North London constituency of Chipping Barnet.^[9] Her time in N.Ireland was perceived negatively ^[10]

She made a speech in February 2016 defending the Northern Irish police and the British Army, which had been accused of colluding with loyalist murders who killed civilians in Loughinisland, Northern Ireland. The Police Ombudsman who investigated the murders, Dr Michael Maguire, later stated with regard to law enforcement authorities colluding with the murderers: "I have no hesitation in unambiguously determining that collusion is a significant feature of the Loughinisland murders."^[11]

Villiers had said that "a pernicious counter-narrative" of the Troubles was emerging whereby responsibility for acts of terrorism was being shifted onto the security forces "through allegations of collusion, misuse of agents and informers or other forms of unlawful activity".

Villiers is one of the six Cabinet ministers who came out in support of Brexit during the EU referendum. Despite the national vote to leave the EU, both her constituency, Chipping Barnet, and area of cabinet responsibility, Northern Ireland, had majorities voting to remain. Following the referendum, on 14 July 2016 she resigned from her position as Northern Ireland Secretary^[3] after explaining that new PM Theresa May had offered her a post outside the cabinet which was "not one which I felt I could take on".^[12]

Parliamentary expenses and second home

The Daily Telegraph reported on 11 May 2009 that Theresa Villiers had bought a property in Kennington, London, for £345,000. In 2007–08 she claimed a total of £18,181 in parliamentary allowances for a second home.

She also has a house in Arkley in her north London constituency of Chipping Barnet. The house, a semi-detached property that she bought for £296,500 in May 2004, is an eight-minute drive away from High Barnet tube station, from which commuters can reach Westminster in about 45 minutes.^[13]

Political opinions

Villiers supported the temporary suspension of Ken Livingstone, then Mayor of London, by the Adjudication Panel for England, which examined the case after a complaint from the Board of Deputies of British Jews to the Standards Board for England. Villiers is a member of Conservative Friends of Israel.^[14]

Since late September 2008, Villiers has dedicated a considerable proportion of her public announcements to aviation policy, specifically the expansion of airports in the South East of England. Villiers underlined that despite differences of opinion, the Coalition government's policy was opposed to a third runway.^[15]

She has also spoken out against Boris Johnson's favoured proposal for a new London airport to be built in the Thames Estuary, and alternative expansions at Gatwick and Stansted airports, arguing that airlines should make greater use of the UK's regional airports, though some regional airports themselves have expressed concern about being adversely affected by capacity shortages in the south-east.^[16] Villiers favours a high-speed rail link from London to Birmingham and Manchester, arguing that flyers could use capacity at airports such as Birmingham International and Manchester International Airport.

Personal life

Villiers married fellow barrister Sean Wilken in 1997,^[5] and the following year they co-wrote a book on matters of contract and quasi-contract law, which was published by a major publishing house.^[17] They are now divorced.^[18]

Publications

• Theresa Villiers & Sean Wilken (29 April 1998). Law of Estoppel, Variation and Waiver. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-96921-4. 

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Theresa Villiers.

• Official website
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Articles authored at Journalisted
• Theresa Villiers at the Internet Movie Database
• Question Time February 2006 BBC (RealPlayer)

Secretaries of State for Transport
Norman Fowler David Howell Tom King Nicholas Ridley John Moore Paul Channon Cecil Parkinson Malcolm Rifkind John MacGregor Brian Mawhinney George Young John Prescott Stephen Byers Alistair Darling Douglas Alexander Ruth Kelly Geoff Hoon Lord Adonis Philip Hammond Justine Greening Patrick McLoughlin

Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland Office
Whitelaw Pym Rees Mason Atkins Prior Hurd King Brooke Mayhew Mowlam Mandelson Reid Murphy Hain* Woodward Paterson Villiers Brokenshire
*Also Secretary of State for Wales; Secretary of State for Wales and Northern Ireland Opposition Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

First Cameron Cabinet
Cabinet members	Danny Alexander Vince Cable David Cameron Alistair Carmichael Kenneth Clarke Nick Clegg Stephen Crabb Edward Davey Iain Duncan Smith Michael Fallon Liam Fox Cheryl Gillan Michael Gove Chris Grayling Justine Greening William Hague Philip Hammond Lord Hill of Oareford Chris Huhne Jeremy Hunt David Jones Andrew Lansley David Laws Sajid Javid Patrick McLoughlin Theresa May Maria Miller Andrew Mitchell Michael Moore Nicky Morgan George Osborne Owen Paterson Eric Pickles Grant Shapps Caroline Spelman Baroness Stowell Lord Strathclyde Elizabeth Truss Theresa Villiers Baroness Warsi George Young
Also attended meetings	Greg Clark Dominic Grieve Matthew Hancock Oliver Letwin Esther McVey Francis Maude David Willetts Jeremy Wright

Second Cameron Cabinet
Cabinet members	Alun Cairns David Cameron Greg Clark Stephen Crabb Iain Duncan Smith Michael Fallon Michael Gove Chris Grayling Justine Greening Philip Hammond Jeremy Hunt Sajid Javid Oliver Letwin Patrick McLoughlin Theresa May Nicky Morgan David Mundell George Osborne Amber Rudd The Baroness Stowell of Beeston Elizabeth Truss Theresa Villiers John Whittingdale
Also attended meetings	The Baroness Anelay of St. John's Robert Halfon Matthew Hancock Greg Hands Mark Harper Priti Patel Anna Soubry Jeremy Wright