Duncan Smith uses the name Iain Duncan Smith and is commonly referred to as IDS. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, the son of the World War II RAF ace Group Captain W. G. G. Duncan Smith by his wife Pamela, a ballerina, whom he married in 1946. Pamela's maternal grandmother was Ellen Oshey, a Japanese woman. Iain Duncan Smith is therefore one-eighth Japanese. He is also a distant relative of George Bernard Shaw, the playwright and pioneer socialist.
Duncan Smith was educated at HMS Conway in Anglesey and at Sandhurst military college. He then joined the Scots Guards in 1975, serving for six years including a spell in (then) Rhodesia and in Northern Ireland. On leaving the Guards he joined the Conservative party and also began to work for GEC in 1981. He married Elizabeth "Betsy" Fremantle, daughter of the 5th Baron Cottesloe, in 1982. He fought his first electoral contest in 1987 and in 1992 he stood for his current seat (Chingford and Woodford Green), succeeding the retiring Norman Tebbit.
A fervent Eurosceptic, Duncan Smith remained on the backbenches until 1997 when as a supporter of William Hague he was promoted to the shadow cabinet. Following the election defeat of 2001 Hague resigned and Duncan Smith was elected leader of the Conservatives over Kenneth Clarke on September 12, 2001.
Because Duncan Smith is a Catholic, his election led to criticism by some anti-Catholic groups of the supposed Catholicisation of British Politics. This, in addition to Charles Kennedy of the Liberal Democrats being a Catholic and Prime Minister Tony Blair's marriage to a Catholic and regular attendance at Mass in Westminster Cathedral has increased the anti-Catholic ideas of some. Ironically, one of the responsibilities of being Prime Minister, a post sought by all three for reasons unconnected with this role, is the selection of Church of England bishops for appointment by the Queen. There has never been a Catholic Prime Minister, and the Catholic Relief Act of 1839 makes it illegal for a Roman Catholic to directly or indirectly advise the Sovereign on appointments in the Church of England.
In 2002, the TV programme Newsnight published allegations that Duncan Smith's curriculum vitae claimed that he had attended the University of Perugia when he had in fact only attended a series of short courses at a language college in the same city.
According to the faxyourmp.com website, which monitors MPs' replies to faxes and emails from their constituents, Duncan Smith rates last on their list, with no replies to a total of 17 messages sent.
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Duncan Smith's election as party leader was overshadowed by the events of September 11 which was a halting start to his leadership. Duncan Smith was not a gifted public speaker, seeming to be troubled by a frog in his throat throughout most of his two years as leader, and his personality struggling to make an impact in the rowdy atmosphere of Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons. Few doubted Duncan Smith's decency and honesty but these seemed insufficient virtues for the electorate and polls stubbornly refused to move in a Conservative direction. There were continued rumours of discontent among his backbenchers, not dampened by his warning to his party in November 2002: 'My message is simple and stark, unite or die'.
The 2002 Conservative Party conference saw an attempt to turn Duncan Smith's lack of rabble-rousing ability with his much-quoted line, 'never underestimate the determination of a quiet man'. Unfortunately the line was as derided as it was admired and the following year, his conference speech appeared to have abandoned this technique in favour of an aggressive hard-man act that few found convincing (even if the loyal party members in the hall punctuated the speech with something like seventeen standing ovations).
Duncan Smith said in December 2002 that he intended to be party leader for a "very long time to come." This did little to quell the speculation in Westminster regarding his continued presence as party leader. On 21 February 2003, the Independent newspaper published a story saying that a number of MPs were attempting to start the process of declaring a vote of confidence in Mr Duncan Smith. Apparently many Tory MPs considered IDS to be "unelectable" among ordinary voters.
These worries came to a head in October 2003. For a vote to occur, 25 Tory MPs (15 percent of their MPs) had to write to the chairman of the 1922 Committee demanding the vote. On 26 October, amid mounting claims that that the threshold of 25 was about to be reached, Duncan Smith made an appearance on television daring his opponents to show their hand by the evening of October 29, or to withdraw their challenge. He also stated that he would not step down if a vote was called.
By 28 October, 25 Tory MPs had indeed demanded the vote. After this was announced, Duncan Smith made an appearance in front of Tory Party headquarters in Smith Square, where he stated that he was going to "absolutely" contest the vote. The vote of confidence was held on 29 October. Duncan Smith lost, 90-75.
The downfall of Duncan Smith
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