Theresa Villiers
Theresa Anne Villiers (born 5 March 1968) is a British Conservative Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chipping Barnet since 2005 and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland since 2012.
Political Career
Theresa Villiers started out her Political Career as an MEP, throughout her time in the European Parliament Villiers was a determined opponent of Britain’s entry into the Euro and other attempts to expand the powers of the EU. Representing the capital for six years as a Eurosceptic MEP, EU.
In 2005, Theresa was elected to the House of Commons as MP for Chipping Barnet. She lives in Arkley in her constituency and works hard on local campaigns such as protecting the green belt.
In December 2005, after just seven months in parliament, David Cameron appointed Theresa to his Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. As well as working with George Osborne on Conservative economic policy, Theresa led the Opposition scrutiny of the Finance Bills in 2006 and 2007 – this process is a notoriously complex and difficult task but Theresa gained vital concessions from Gordon Brown who was then the Chancellor. At David Cameron’s first reshuffle in July 2007, she gained further promotion and was given her own portfolio – transport.
When the Coalition took office on May 2010, Theresa became Minister of State for Transport and her role included overseeing the transport needed to support the hugely successful London 2012 Olympics. Theresa is now Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and was responsible for delivering the successful G8 summit which took place in County Fermanagh in June 2013. As well as being the most peaceful G8 summit ever, the meeting resulted in an international agreement on ensuring that big multinational businesses pay their fair share of tax.
Education
Theresa grew up in St John’s Wood before going on to university in Bristol, where she achieved a first in law, and then Oxford, where she attained a BCL. A former barrister, she was a lecturer at King’s College London when the London Conservatives chose her to top the list of their candidates for the European Election in 1999.
