Oliver Letwin

The Right Honourable Sir Oliver Letwin FRSA
Official portrait, 2015
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
In office 15 July 2014 – 14 July 2016
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	The Lord Hill of Oareford
Succeeded by	Patrick McLoughlin
Minister of State for Government Policy
In office 12 May 2010 – 14 July 2016
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Shadow Secretary of State 2000–2001 Chief Secretary to the Treasury 2001–2003 Home Department 2003–2005 Chancellor of the Exchequer 2005 Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Member of Parliament for West Dorset
In office 1 May 1997 – 6 November 2019
Preceded by	James Spicer
Succeeded by	Chris Loder
Personal details
Born	(1956-05-19) 19 May 1956 (age 68) London, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Isabel Davidson ​ (m. 1984)​
Children	2
Education	Eton College
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge London Business School
Academic background
Thesis	Emotion and emotions (1982)

Sir Oliver Letwin FRSA (born 19 May 1956)^[1] is a British politician, Member of Parliament (MP) for West Dorset from 1997 to 2019. Letwin was elected as a member of the Conservative Party, but sat as an independent after having the whip removed in September 2019. He was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer under Michael Howard and Shadow Home Secretary under Iain Duncan Smith. He was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from 2014 to 2016.

Following the 2015 general election Letwin was given overall responsibility for the Cabinet Office and became a full member of the Cabinet in the Conservative government. Previously he had been the Minister of State for Government Policy from 2010.^[2]

During the Second May ministry in 2019, Letwin rebelled against leading Eurosceptics within the Conservative Party by tabling a cross-party motion to hold "indicative votes", allowing MPs to vote on several Brexit options in order to establish whether any could command a majority in the House of Commons; it transpired that none of them could.^[3] Letwin sought to extend Article 50 through passing the Cooper–Letwin Act. In August 2019 he announced that he would stand down at the next election.^[4] On 3 September 2019, he lost the Conservative party whip and sat as an independent MP after that.