The Honourable Edward Henry Butler Vaizey (born June 5, 1968) is a British Conservative commentator, politician and columnist. He was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for the constituency of Wantage on May 2005, with 22,394 votes. His majority was 8,017 over the Liberal Democrat candidate, Andrew Crawford. This represented 43% of the voters and a 1.9% swing from the Lib Dems to the Tories. June 5 is the 156th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (157th in leap years), with 209 days remaining. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... The Conservative Party is the largest political party on the right-of-centre in the United Kingdom. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to a parliament; in the Westminster system, specifically to the lower house. ... Wantage is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...

Vaizey is the son of the late Lord Vaizey of Greenwich, a life peer, and his wife Marina Vaizey, a well-known art historian. Vaizey spent part of his childhood growing up in Berkshire. He was educated at St Paul's School and Merton College, Oxford, where he rose to the rank of Librarian (Vice President) of the Oxford Union and took a 2.1 in History. After leaving Oxford, Vaizey worked for the Conservative politicians Kenneth Clarke and Michael Howard as an adviser on employment and education issues. He trained and practised as a barrister for several years, specialising in family law and child care cases. He was a partner at Consolidated Communications, a Public Relations agency. In the United Kingdom, Life Peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles may not be inherited (those whose titles are inheritable are known as hereditary peers). ... Lady Marina Vaizey is an art critic and author based in the United Kingdom. ... Berkshire (IPA: or  ; sometimes abbreviated to Berks) is a county in England and forms part of the South East England region. ... St Pauls School is one of Britains oldest and most pre-eminent public schools, known for its academic tradition and alumni, and located in Barnes, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. ... College name The House of Scholars of Merton Named after Walter de Merton Established 1264 Sister College Cock Warden Prof Dame Jessica Rawson and Tom de Furlong esq. ... Image:Ous-chamber. ... The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme used to distinguish between the achievements of undergraduate degree holders (such as those gaining bachelors degrees or undergraduate masters degrees) in the United Kingdom. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford in England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... Kenneth Clarke The Right Honourable Kenneth Harry Clarke, QC, MP, (born 2 July 1940) is a leading Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. ... Michael Howard The Right Honourable Michael Howard, QC, MP (born July 7, 1941) is a British politician and caretaker Leader of the Opposition and the Conservative Party, having formally resigned the post on 7 October 2005. ... Public relations is, simply-stated, the art and science of building relationships between an organization and its key audiences. ...

He has been a regular commentator on the Conservative Party in the press. He has written regular comment pieces for The Guardian since 1998, and contributes articles to the Sunday Times news review. He has also written for The Times and the Daily Telegraph and written editorials for the Evening Standard. Vaizey is also a regular broadcaster, appearing on Fi Glover's and Edwina Currie's shows on BBC Radio Five Live, as a regular panellist on five’s The Wright Stuff and BBC Radio 4's Despatch Box, and occasionally as a presenter of People and Politics on the BBC World Service. The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the fatboys. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... The Sunday Times is the name of several Sunday newspapers. ... The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom. ... This article deals with The Daily Telegraph in Britain, see The Daily Telegraph (Australia) for the Australian publication The Daily Telegraph is a British broadsheet newspaper founded in 1855. ... Headlines of the Evening Standard on the day of London bombing on July 7, 2005, in Waterloo station The Evening Standard is a newspaper published in London. ... Fi Glover, (born February 27th) is a BBC journalist and presenter. ... Edwina Currie Edwina Currie (born 13 October 1946 in Liverpool) is a former British Member of Parliament. ... BBC Radio Five Live is the BBCs radio service providing live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries. ... Five, formerly known as Channel 5, is the United Kingdoms fifth terrestrial TV Channel. ... The Wright Stuff is a British television chat show hosted by Matthew Wright. ... BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station which broadcasts a wide variety of chiefly spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. ... Logo of the BBC World Service The BBC World Service is one of the most widely recognised international broadcasters of radio programming, transmitting in 43 languages to around 150 million people throughout the world. ...

Vaizey first stood for Parliament at the 1997 UK 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 in the 2002 local elections in the safe Labour ward of Harrow Road in the City of Westminster. The UK general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997. ... Bristol East is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... The UK general election, 2001 was held on 7 June 2001 and was dubbed the quiet landslide by the media. ... Iain Duncan Smith The Right Honourable George Iain Duncan Smith (born April 9, 1954) is a British politician. ... 2002 (MMII) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Labour Party is the principal centre-left political party in the United Kingdom (see British politics). ... The City of Westminster is a London borough and a city in its own right, situated to the west of the City of London and north of the River Thames. ...

In 2002 he was selected by Wantage Conservative Association as its candidate for the 2005 election, to succeed the sitting MP, Robert Jackson, who subsequently defected to Labour. Vaizey won a two-thirds majority on the final ballot of members. He is seen as a moderniser in 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 the editor of the Blue Books series, which looked at new approaches to Conservative policy in areas such as health and transport. He was one of Michael Howard's inner circle of advisers and a member of a group of young Tories sometimes disparagingly referred to as the 'Notting Hill set', along with David Cameron - elected leader of the party in December 2005 - George Osborne, Michael Gove, Nicholas Boles and Rachel Whetstone. Map sources for Wantage at grid reference SU4087 Wantage is a small town in Oxfordshire, England. ... Robert Victor Jackson (born September 24, 1946, Rhodesia) is a politician in the United Kingdom. ... Notting Hill is a district of London located to the west of the centre and close to the north-western corner of Hyde Park. ... David Cameron MP David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician, Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of Her Majestys Loyal Opposition in the House of Commons. ... George Gideon Oliver Osborne (born 23 May 1971 in London) is a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom, and has been Member of Parliament for Tatton since 2001. ... Michael Andrew Gove (born August 26, 1967, Edinburgh) is a British politician, journalist and author. ... Nicholas Boles (b. ...

Bibliography

• A Blue Tomorrow - New Visions for Modern Conservatives (2001) (ed. with Michael Gove and Nicholas Boles). ISBN 1842750275
• Blue Book on Health: Conservative Visions for Health Policy (2002) ISBN 1842750437
• Blue Book on Transport: Conservative Visions for Transport Policy (ed with Michael McManus) (2002) ISBN 1842750445
• Blue Book on Education (ed with Michael McManus) (2003)

External links

• Edward Vaizey MP official site
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Ed Vaizey MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Edward Vaizey MP
• The Public Whip - Edward Vaizey MP voting record