Iain Duncan Smith


Political Biography


IDS is married to the daughter of a baron and lives in a country mansion inherited and owned by his father-in-law in Buckinghamshire.


IDS founded the centre-right thinktank Centre for Social Justice, which works with small charities with the aim of finding innovative policies for tackling poverty. This institution played an important role in designing Universal Credit and called on the government to increase the state pension age to 75.


IDS was one of the first politicians to call for an invasion of Iraq, in November 2001.


In September 2013, the IDS-led DWP was subject to an "excoriating" National Audit Office report. The department he runs was accused of having "weak management, ineffective control and poor governance; a fortress mentality, a "good news" reporting culture, a lack of transparency, inadequate financial control, and ineffective oversight" as well as wasting 34 million pounds on inadequate computer systems.


In 2014, it was reported that his department was employing debt collectors to retrieve overpaid benefits, the overpayment purely down to calculation mistakes by HMRC.


In July 2013, IDS was found by Andrew Dilnot, then Head of the UK Statistics Authority, to have broken their Code of Practice for Official Statistics for his and the DWP's use of figures in support of government policies. Dilnot also stated that, following an earlier complaint about the handling of statistics by Duncan Smith's department, he had previously been told, "that senior DWP officials had reiterated to their staff the seriousness of their obligations under the Code of Practice and that departmental procedures would be reviewed".


IDS was the campaign chairman for Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign.


IDS has a somewhat contradictory position when it comes to disability benefits:


In September 2013, leaked documents showed that IDS was looking at "how to make it harder for sick and disabled people to claim benefits". The powers being discussed also included "forcing sick and disabled people to take up offers of work."


In August 2015, he was criticised after the DWP admitted publishing fake testimonies of claimants enjoying their benefits cuts. Later the same month, publication of statistics showed 2,380 people died in a 3-year period shortly after a work capability assessment declared them fit for work.


On 18 March 2016, Duncan Smith unexpectedly resigned from Cameron's cabinet. He stated that he was unable to accept the government's planned cuts to disability benefits, launching an attack on the "government’s austerity programme for balancing the books on the backs of the poor and vulnerable", describing this as divisive and "deeply unfair", and adding: "It is in danger of drifting in a direction that divides society rather than unites it."


At the same time as attacking disabled people on welfare and resigning over planned disability welfare cuts, IDS is also a trustee of a charity whose objective is supporting the education of children with disabilities.


Companies and Charities


IDS is a director and trustee of Whitefield Development Trust, a charity supporting the development of Whitefields schools which provide special education for children with complex needs, autism, learning difficulties, and disabilities.


IDS is a director of The Centre for Social Justice, a right-wing Conservative thinktank.


IDS is a former director of The European Foundation, a Eurosceptic Conservative thinktank. He was a director for one year (1993-4) before resigning.


Declared Interests


IDS regularly received payment for speaking engagements at events held by a variety of institutions, including:


Merryl Lynch International
Last Word UK (a financial investment media group)
PineBridge Investments Europe Ltd (a high-conviction investment manager)
State Street Corporation (a controversial US investment bank, “too big to fail”, fraudulent)
UBS Hedge Funds Conference
Open Door Media Investment European Summit
The Landlord Investment Show
Association of Investment Management Sales Executives
Standard Advisory London for a speaking engagement at the Africa Investors' Conference

IDS holds shares in the following companies:


nlyte Software Ltd, a data centre management platform (no dividend received), where he was a former director
Byotrol plc, a hygiene technology company (no dividend received) where he is or was a non-executive director with 65,000 shares

Neither of these directorships is listed on his declaration of interests.





Assets


IDS’s wife, Elizabeth Wynne Duncan Smith (nee Fremantle), is a director of Swanbourne Property Ltd. The only director with significant control is Edward St Alban Duncan Smith (born in 1987, so presumably their son). The company's business is domestic building construction. The company was incorporated in 2017 with £900, and now owns fixed assets worth £566,000 plus £766,000 in stocks. That’s a very large growth rate.


The family mansion, inherited by his father-in-law who is a baron. His wife, Elizabeth “Betsy” Wynne Duncan Smith, is a trustee and director of a couple of charities and a few companies. Two companies, Swanbourne Company No 1 and No 2, are dormant companies that don’t seem to have ever traded or owned much of anything.


Other notable directors in the Swanbourne companies are Thomas Finchett (who is the manager of the Swanbourne estate, where their mansion is) and Richard Allan Halford Brooks (a relative of the Fremantles).


None of these companies or assets is directly tied to IDS, any connections are through his wife or son.


Voting History

(REORDER THE SECTIONS MOST RELEVANT TO FAIZA’S PLATFORM)

Gay rights
Summary: IDS has voted in a contradictory way on gay rights. Either he has undergone a change of heart between 2003-13 or, more likely, was voting with the whip in either/both cases.


05/02/13 - IDS voted in favour of allowing same sex couples to marry.
10/03/03 - IDS voted to maintain a ban on the promotion of homosexuality in schools.
22/06/98 - IDS voted against reducing the age of consent for homosexual acts from eighteen to sixteen.

Human rights
Summary: IDS does not think much of human rights legislation. Strangely, he also voted to allow caste-based discrimination.


13/06/18 - IDS voted against largely retaining the EU "Charter of Fundamental Rights" as part of UK law following the UK's withdrawal from the European Union.
26/05/16 - IDS voted in favour of repealing the Human Rights Act 1998.
16/04/16 - IDS voted against making it illegal to discriminate on the basis of caste
11/09/15 - IDS voted against allowing a terminally ill person to be lawfully given assistance to end their life with the consent of the High Court.

Defence
Summary: IDS takes a hawkish stance and is against government investment in veteran welfare.


2002-03 - IDS consistently voted for the Iraq War
2007-16 - IDS consistently voted for replacing Trident with new nuclear weapons
2010-12 - IDS consistently voted against strengthening the military covenant
2014-15 - IDS consistently voted for military action against ISIL (Daesh)

EU
Summary: IDS is anti-EU and against giving settled status for EU nationals already here. IDS has always been a Eurosceptic.


2008-19 - IDS generally voted against more EU integration (94 times voted against, 30 times for)
2016-19 - IDS generally voted against a right to remain for EU nationals already living in the UK (1 for, 15 against)
2016-19 - IDS consistently voted against UK membership of the EU
2008-16 - IDS generally voted for a referendum on the UK's membership of the EU (3 against, 8 for)


Welfare and Benefits
Summary: Unsurprisingly, IDS consistently voted against welfare provision and state support for the unemployed. However, he also quit the Cabinet in 2016 in opposition to George Osborne’s proposed disability benefits cuts.


2012-18 - IDS consistently voted for the “Bedroom Tax”

2013 - IDS consistently voted against raising welfare benefits at least in line with prices

2011-16 - IDS consistently voted against paying higher benefits over longer periods for those unable to work due to illness or disability
2012-16 - IDS consistently voted for a reduction in spending on welfare benefits (47 votes for!)
2012 - IDS consistently voted for making local councils responsible for helping those in financial need afford their council tax, and reducing the amount spent on such support

14/06/15 - IDS voted in favour of the Summer 2015 budget which cut tax credits.
2011-14 - IDS consistently voted against spending public money to create guaranteed jobs for young people who have spent a long time unemployed

2011-14 - IDS almost always voted for restricting the scope of legal aid


Taxation and Employment
Summary: IDS voted several times in favour of approving more government debt (underlined), which goes against the purported idea that austerity means reducing government spending to reduce deficit. He also consistently voted to reduce corporation tax and raise the threshold at which higher tax rates are charged. On the other hand, he voted to raise the minimum wage and increase income tax personal allowance. The pertinent question is whether the amount of money saved in income tax by the lowest earners is greater than the amount they lose in benefits cut.


2011-18 - IDS consistently voted for raising both the threshold at which people start to pay income tax and for being charged income tax at the higher rate

2010-16 - IDS almost always voted for reducing the rate of corporation tax (1 against, 22 for)

22/03/16 - IDS voted to approve the March 2016 budget which contained plans to spend £56bn more than was expected to be taken in.

14/06/15 - IDS voted in favour of the Summer 2015 budget which increased the minimum wage and cut tax credits.

25/03/15 - IDS voted for a series of taxation related measures including increasing the personal income tax free allowance and increasing the threshold at which higher rate tax is charged.

23/03/15 - IDS voted to approve the March 2015 budget which contained plans to spend £76bn more than was expected to be taken in and reduced corporation tax

25/03/14 - IDS voted to approve the March 2014 budget, increasing the personal income tax allowance, reducing corporation tax, capping welfare spending, reducing alcohol duties and more.

25/03/13 - IDS voted to set a budget for 2013-14 involving raising £612bn and spending £720bn and continuing to reduce corporation tax
26/03/12 - IDS voted in favour of the March 2012 budget which planned spending of £683bn against expected revenue of £592bn, increased the income tax personal tax free allowance, and reduced corporation tax

05/07/11 - IDS voted in favour of the 2011 Budget, reducing the threshold for paying higher rate income tax, increasing the income tax free personal allowance, reducing corporation tax and reducing the main rate of corporation tax from 27 to 26%.


Business and the Economy

Summary: Generally pro-corporate interests, pro-tax avoidance.


2010-16 - IDS almost always voted for reducing the rate of corporation tax (1 against, 22 for)

28/06/16 - IDS voted against requiring multinational enterprises to publish a country by country tax strategy including information on their attitude to tax planning.

19/04/16 - IDS voted against giving the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority duties to combat abusive tax avoidance arrangements.

13/04/16 - IDS voted against implementing a series of proposals intended to reduce tax avoidance and evasion.


Health
Summary: IDS supports measures that promote privatisation (e.g. GP commissioning groups) in the NHS.


2011-12 - IDS consistently voted against restricting the provision of services to private patients

2011-12 - IDS consistently voted for GPs commissioning services on behalf of their patients

2003 - IDS consistently voted against introducing foundation hospitals


Education

Summary: IDS has generally supported school privatisation in the form academies. Note the change of position from voting against raising the tuition fee cap in 2004 (under a Labour government) to voting for raising it to £9000 in 2010 (under a Tory government).


2010-16 - IDS consistently voted for academy schools

22/03/16 - IDS voted to approve a policy of requiring all schools to become academies

14/06/15 - IDS voted in favour of the Summer 2015 budget which replaced student maintenance grants with loans

08/02/11 - IDS voted to allow the establishment of free schools, to abolish a range of teaching related bodies, to allow student loan interest to be charged at market rates, and to allow teachers to search pupils.

26/07/10 - IDS voted to enable more schools in England to gain "Academy Status" and the consequent financial independence and removal from local authority control.

2010 - IDS voted for raising England’s undergraduate tuition fee cap to £9,000 per year

2004 - IDS voted against allowing university tuition fees to increase from £1125 per year to up to £3000 per year


Constitutional Issues

Summary: IDS voted to reduce funding by the central government of the local government, but against local government having more powers. This seems like a contradiction: if he wants centralised control he should back it up with centralised funding. If he wants local control, he should allow local councils more freedom to do what they please with the funds they raise themselves.


2010-16 - IDS consistently voted for reducing central government funding of local government.

2010-16 - IDS consistently voted against a more proportional system for electing MPs.

2010-18 - IDS generally voted against more powers for local councils

2011-18 - IDS consistently voted against devolving more powers to Welsh/Scottish parliaments.


Home Affairs

Summary: IDS is anti-immigration and pro-surveillance.


2003-16 - IDS consistently voted for a stricter asylum system.

2009-16 - IDS generally voted for mass surveillance and for requiring the mass retention of information about communications

2015-16 - IDS consistently voted for stronger enforcement of immigration rules

25/04/16 - IDS voted against banning the immigration detention of those who are pregnant and against guidance to be taken into account on the immigration detention of vulnerable people.


Environment

Summary: IDS seems to vote against climate change mitigation policies where they might impact business and industry but not where they impact consumers (e.g. plane tickets tax), and against state incentives for renewables. IDS also appears to have a considered approach to fracking, insofar as he votes to protect certain natural areas from its effects while not preventing it entirely. IDS voted for a Green Investment Bank (now a private institution, the Green Investment Group).


2004-19 IDS generally voted against measures to prevent climate change (7 for, 15 against)

2011-18 - IDS generally voted against financial incentives for low-carbon energy producers

2013-17 - IDS consistently voted for higher taxes on plane tickets

03/05/16 - IDS voted not to reduce the permitted carbon dioxide emission rate of new homes.

14/03/16 - IDS voted against requiring a strategy for carbon capture and storage for the energy industry, and against setting a decarbonisation target for the UK and reviewing it annually.

2015 - IDS voted to require a more extensive set of conditions be met prior to consent for fracking, for greater restrictions on fracking in national parks etc, but voted against requiring an environmental permit for fracking activities, and against requiring a review of fracking impacts on the environment, the economy, climate change, and health and safety.

08/09/15 - IDS voted to apply the Climate Change Levy tax to electricity generated from renewable sources.

05/11/14 - IDS voted against local government having powers to develop more integrated, frequent, cheaper and greener bus services with integrated Oyster card-style ticketing.

04/06/13 - IDS voted against requiring the setting of a target range for the amount of carbon dioxide (or other greenhouse gases) produced per unit of electricity generated, and voted to reform the energy market with regard to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, securing supply, affordability for consumers and increasing generation from renewable sources.

17/10/12 - IDS voted in favour of establishing a Green Investment Bank.

2011 - IDS consistently voted for selling England’s state owned forests


Transport

Summary: IDS holds a laissez-faire position on transport, consistently voting against fare reductions and public ownership of transport. He voted against petrol taxes in 2011 but then voted to increase them in 2012.


2013-19 - IDS consistently voted for new high speed rail infrastructure, but against proposals to allow HS2 passenger services to be run by public sector operations.

2016 - IDS consistently voted against greater public control of bus services and against public ownership of railways

2013 - IDS consistently voted against slowing the rise in rail fares

12/11/12 - IDS voted in favour of increasing taxes on fuel by 3% as of January 2013.

16/03/11 - IDS voted against taxes on fuel for motor vehicles.

07/02/11 - IDS voted against introducing a lower rate tax on fuel in the most remote areas.


Housing

Summary: IDS holds a laissez-faire position on housing and has generally voted against greater rights and assurances for tenants.


2013-18 - IDS almost always voted against restrictions on fees charged to tenants by letting agents

2015-16 - IDS consistently voted for phasing out secure tenancies for life

2015-16 - IDS consistently voted for charging a market rent to high earners renting a council home

08/01/14 - IDS voted against boosting housing supply by reforming the development industry; against measures to tackle landbanking; against a new generation of New Towns and Garden Cities and against giving local authorities a new right to grow to deliver the homes their communities need

23/01/13 - IDS voted against more regulation of the private rental sector, against a national register of landlords, against clearer information on charges, and against the promotion of longer tenancies when tenants want them.