About Peter Lilley

Biography: Peter Lilley was born in Hayes, Kent and educated at Hayes County Primary School, Dulwich College and Clare College Cambridge where he graduated in Natural Sciences then Economics. He is married to Gail, a successful artist.

Business Career: His first career was as a Development Economist on Aid and Development programmes in Africa and Asia. He then became a financial analyst specialising in Energy investment at W. Greenwell where he became a Partner and subsequently Director of Greenwell Montagu. He has served as a Non-Executive Director of JP Morgan Fleming Claverhouse IT plc, Melchior Japan IT plc, IDOX plc, Tethys Petroleum Ltd. He served on the Advisory Board of the School of Management at Southampton University and currently serves on the Advisory Board of YiMei Capital Shanghai.

Political Career: Prior to entering Parliament he was Chairman of the Bow Group and Consultant Director of Conservative Research Department and stood as Parliamentary Candidate for Tottenham in October 1974. He was first elected MP for St Albans in 1983 and following boundary changes in 1997 became MP for Hitchin & Harpenden (which includes two thirds of his previous constituency). Soon after his election Peter Lilley became Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Ministers for Local Government and then for Nigel Lawson, Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1984. His first ministerial appointment was as Economic Secretary to the Treasury (June 1987) then Financial Secretary to the Treasury (July 1989). He joined Mrs Thatcher’s Cabinet as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1990-1992) and was appointed by John Major as Secretary of State for Social Security (1992-1997). He ran for the Leadership of the Conservative Party in June 1997 subsequently becoming Shadow Chancellor and Deputy Leader responsible for policy renewal until 1999. In 2006 David Cameron asked him to Chair the Globalisation and Global Poverty Policy Commission (supported by Sir Bob Geldof). He has served on the Select Committee for Energy and Climate Change, the Environmental Audit Committee, and the Select Committee on Exiting the EU. He was the UK Co-Chair of the Uzbek British Trade and Industry Council and is currently President of the Conservative Friends of EuroAsia.

He stood down as an MP at the 2017 election and was made a Lord Lilley of Offa in 2018.

In the Lords he has served on the Select Committee for the EU Internal Market and, from 2021, the Environmental and Climate Change Committee.