Ed Vaizey

Early life

Vaizey is the son of the late Lord Vaizey, a Labour life peer, and the art historian Marina Vaizey (The Lady Vaizey CBE). His family hails from Essex. He is of Polish Jewish descent. As the son of a peer from 1976, he could be styled "The Honourable Edward Vaizey". Since joining the Privy Council in 2016, he can be styled "The Right Honourable Edward Vaizey".

Vaizey spent part of his childhood growing up in Berkshire. He was educated at St Paul's School, London, before reading History at Merton College, Oxford. Elected Librarian (Vice-President) of the Oxford Union, he graduated with an upper second class degree. After leaving Oxford, he worked for the Conservative parliamentarians Kenneth Clarke and Michael Howard as an adviser on employment and education issues.

Vaizey practised as a barrister for several years, specialising in family law and child care.

Politics

Vaizey first stood for Parliament at the 1997 general election, when he was the candidate for Bristol East. In the 2001 UK general election, he acted as an election aide to Iain Duncan Smith. He stood at the 2002 local elections for the safe Labour ward of Harrow Road in the City of Westminster.

He is regarded as a moderniser within the Conservative Party, contributing in both policy and image terms. He was a speechwriter for Michael Howard, Leader of the Conservative Party until December 2005, and editor of the Blue Books series which looked into new approaches to Conservative policy in areas such as health and transport.

Vaizey was one of Michael Howard's inner circle of advisers and a member of a group of Young Conservatives somewhat disparagingly referred to as the "Notting Hill Set" along with David Cameron—elected party leader in December 2005—George Osborne, Michael Gove, Nicholas Boles and Rachel Whetstone. Like Gove and Boles, he is a fellow of the Henry Jackson Society, and is also a vice-chairman of Conservative Friends of Poland. Conservative commentator Peter Oborne described him as Cameron's "unofficial ambassador to the Murdoch press".

Member of Parliament

In 2002, Vaizey was selected by Wantage Conservative Association to be its candidate for the 2005 general election to succeed the sitting MP, Robert Jackson, who subsequently crossed the floor to Labour. Vaizey won a two-thirds majority in the final ballot of members and was elected as Member of Parliament in that election, receiving 22,394 votes. His majority was 8,017 over the Liberal Democrats, this represented 43% of the voters and a 1.9% swing from the Liberal Democrats to the Conservatives.

When first elected to the House of Commons, Vaizey became a member of the Standing Committee on the Consumer Credit Bill. Before being appointed to the Opposition frontbench he was a member of the Modernisation and Environmental Audit Select Committees and was Deputy Chairman of the Conservative's Globalisation and Global Poverty Policy Group.

In November 2006, Vaizey was appointed to the Conservative frontbench as a Shadow Minister for Culture, overseeing Arts and Broadcasting policy.

In the 2010 general election he received a vote of 29,284, which was 52% of the votes cast, winning an increased majority. While the Conservative Party was in negotiations with the Lib Dems in the days after 6 May 2010, Vaizey was appearing regularly on television putting forward the Conservative viewpoint.

Expense claims

On 18 May 2009 The Daily Telegraph reported that receipts submitted by Vaizey show that he ordered a £467 sofa, a £544 chair, a £280.50 low table and a £671 table in February 2007 from Oka, a furniture shop run by Annabel Astor. The Commons Fees Office initially rejected the claim as the receipt said that the furniture was due to be delivered to Vaizey's home address in West London, but was later paid when Vaizey advised the Fees Office that the furniture was intended for his second home at his Wantage constituency. Vaizey told The Daily Telegraph that he and his wife "had it delivered to London because we would be in to collect it and we were driving down with it".

When these claims became public, Vaizey said that he had repaid the cost of the Oka furniture and the antique chair which he had bought with taxpayers' money: "I accept that the £300 armchair was an antique item and therefore that claim should not have been made. I also accept that the Oka items could be deemed as being of higher quality than necessary. I have paid back both these claims. I have not claimed for any other furniture bought for my constituency home at any time before or since." Vaizey has described himself as "relatively affluent".

In November 2011, it was further reported that Vaizey had submitted expenses claims of 8p for a 350-yard car journey and 16p for a 700-yard journey.

Media career

Vaizey has been a regular commentator for the Conservative Party in the broadcast and news media. He has written regular comment pieces for The Guardian since 1998 and contributes articles to The Sunday Times. He has also written for The Times and The Daily Telegraph as well as editorials for the London Evening Standard. Vaizey is also a regular broadcaster, appearing on Fi Glover's and Edwina Currie's shows on BBC Radio 5 Live, as a regular panellist on Channel 5's The Wright Stuff, BBC Radio 4's Despatch Box and Westminster Hour, and occasionally presents People and Politics on the BBC World Service.

On 24 September 2010, Vaizey was named tenth in the 2010 Guardian Film Power 100 list. He played a cameo role as an Oxfordshire MP in the 2012 film Tortoise in Love.

Other work

Subsequent to leaving office as Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, Vaizey took a role with LionTree Advisors paying a salary of £50,000 for one day's work per week. The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments approved his application to work for the investment bank, which specialises in media and technology mergers and acquisitions, despite Vaizey's having met the firm on "official business" three times in his final months as minister.