Alan Duncan

"Duncan, whose height (he claims 5ft 6in, but he is exaggerating) and style have prompted sobriquets like 'the Bonsai Heseltine'"
Paul Routledge, Independent

"People sometimes say that the all-knowing Almighty, seeing how small some of His creatures are to be, has made them boisterous to compensate. But I think that seeing how boisterous Mr Duncan was going to be, the Almighty made him small, to limit the damage."
Matthew Parris, The Times.

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He was born in 1957, and was educated at Beechwood Park School, Herts, Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood, St John's College, Oxford and as a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University, USA. He was President of the Oxford Union in 1979 and, from 1979-84, was active in the Battersea Conservative Association.

He worked for Shell International Petroleum, and subsequently for an independent commodity company as a trader of crude oil and refined products. He lived in Singapore from 1984-86 and has travelled extensively, especially in the Middle East and South-East Asia.

Alan contested Barnsley West and Penistone in the 1987 General Election and was elected for Rutland and Melton in 1992 and re-elected in 1997, 2001 and 2005.

He served on the Social Security Select Committee 1993-95 and was Charmain of the Conservative Backbench Constitutional Affairs Committee 1994-95.

In July 1995, he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Rt Hon Dr Brian Mawhinney MP, Charmain of the Conservative Party.

In June 1997 he was appointed Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party, and Parliamentary Political Secretary to the Leader of the Party, the Rt Hon William Hague MP.

In June 1998, Mr. Duncan was appointed Shadow Health Minister. And in June 1999, he was appointed Shadow Trade and Industry Spokesman.

In 2001 Iain Duncan Smith appointed Alan as Shadow Foreign Minister with special responsibility for the Middle East. In 2003 he was promoted to Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and in 2004 he was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for International Development. After the 2005 General Electionm Mr Duncan was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Transport. In December 2005, David Cameron appointed Alan as Shadow Secretary of State for Trade, Industry & Energy.