Member of Parliament
Having been selected and elected for St. Albans, a safe Conservative seat, he served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Nigel Lawson, then as Economic Secretary to the Treasury and Financial Secretary to the Treasury before joining the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to replace Nicholas Ridley in mid-1990 after the latter was forced to resign over an anti-German remark. After the 1992 General Election he became Secretary of State for Social Security.
He contested the 1997 Conservative Party leadership election, placing fourth in a field of five. In opposition, he held the post of Shadow Chancellor from 1997 to 1998 and was Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party from 1998 to 1999.
Lilley is known for being an advocate of marijuana legalization. In 2001, Lilley provoked some controversy in his party and Britain more widely by calling for cannabis to be legalised in a Social Market Foundation pamphlet.
Lilley produced a report for the Bow Group in 2005 that was highly critical of Government plans to introduce national identity cards.
When David Cameron was elected leader of the Conservatives in December 2005, Lilley was appointed Chairman of the Globalisation and Global Poverty policy group, part of Cameron's extensive 18-month policy review.
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