David Davis (British politician)

The Right Honourable Sir David Davis KCB MP
Official portrait, 2020
Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union
In office 13 July 2016 – 8 July 2018
Prime Minister	Theresa May
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Dominic Raab
Chief Negotiator for Exiting the European Union
In office 13 July 2016 – 18 September 2017
Prime Minister	Theresa May
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Olly Robbins
Chairman of the Conservative Party
In office 18 September 2001 – 23 July 2002
Leader	Iain Duncan Smith
Preceded by	Michael Ancram
Succeeded by	Theresa May
Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee
In office 18 June 1997 – 7 June 2001
Preceded by	Robert Sheldon
Succeeded by	Edward Leigh
Minister of State for Europe
In office 20 July 1994 – 2 May 1997
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	David Heathcoat-Amory
Succeeded by	Doug Henderson
Member of Parliament for Goole and Pocklington Haltemprice and Howden (1997–2024) Boothferry (1987–1997)
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 June 1987
Preceded by	Paul Bryan
Majority	3,572 (7.0%)
Shadow Cabinet portfolios
2002–2003	Shadow Secretary of State for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
2003–2008	Shadow Home Secretary
Personal details
Born	David Michael Brown (1948-12-23) 23 December 1948 (age 75) York, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Doreen Cook ​ (m. 1973)​
Children	3
Alma mater	University of Warwick (BSc) London Business School (MBA)

Sir David Michael Davis KCB MP (born 23 December 1948) is a British Conservative Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Goole and Pocklington. He was previously the MP for Haltemprice and Howden and, before that, for Boothferry, where he was first elected in 1987. He served as Shadow Home Secretary from 2003 to 2008 and Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union from 2016 to 2018. Davis was sworn of the Privy Council in the 1997 New Year Honours, having previously been Minister of State for Europe from 1994 to 1997.

Brought up on the Aboyne Estate, a council estate in Tooting, south-west London, he attended Bec Grammar School and earned an MBA, before joining Tate & Lyle. Having entered Parliament in 1987, he was appointed Europe Minister by Prime Minister John Major in July 1994. He held that position until the 1997 general election. He was subsequently Chairman of the Conservative Party and Shadow Secretary of State for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister under Iain Duncan Smith.

Between 2003 and 2008 he was the Shadow Home Secretary in the Shadow Cabinets of both Michael Howard and David Cameron. Davis had previously been a candidate in the 2001 and 2005 Conservative Party leadership elections, coming fourth and second respectively. On 12 June 2008 Davis unexpectedly announced his intention to resign as an MP and was immediately replaced as Shadow Home Secretary; this was in order to force a by-election in his seat, for which he intended to seek reelection by mounting a specific campaign designed to provoke wider public debate about the erosion of civil liberties in the United Kingdom. Following his formal resignation as an MP he became the Conservative candidate in the resulting by-election, which he won a month later.

In July 2016, following the Brexit referendum, Davis was appointed by the new prime minister, Theresa May, to the new Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) as Secretary of State, with responsibility for negotiating the UK's prospective exit from the EU. He was sidelined mid-way through the talks, with the Prime Minister's Europe Adviser Olly Robbins taking charge of negotiations. Davis resigned from his government position on 8 July 2018 over May's Brexit strategy and the Chequers plan. Following his resignation, the DExEU junior minister Steve Baker and the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson also resigned.