Liam Fox

Liam Fox (born September 22 1961) is a British Conservative politician, currently Shadow Defence Secretary and Member of Parliament for Woodspring.

Early life and career
Fox was born and raised in East Kilbride, Scotland and brought up in a council house that his parents later bought. He attended St. Bride's High School. He studied medicine at the University of Glasgow Medical School, graduating with MB ChB in 1983.

Raised as a Roman Catholic, he lapsed whilst a student, but considers himself a Christian and holds political positions (e.g. on abortion) that are consonant with conservative morality. Fox is a general practitioner, a former Civilian Army Medical Officer and Divisional Surgeon with St John Ambulance. He is a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners.

Whilst studying at the University of Glasgow, he became president of the University Club. From there he advanced through the Conservative ranks. Fox contested the Hairmyres Ward of East Kilbride District Council in May 1984, coming second – 210 votes – to the incumbent Labour Councillor, Ed McKenna.

He contested Roxburgh and Berwickshire in the 1987 General Election, and was elected MP for Woodspring in April 1992.

On June 10, 2005, he announced his engagement to long-term girlfriend Jesme Baird, 37, a fellow doctor who works at the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation and is also an alumna of the University of Glasgow. They married at St Margaret's Church opposite Parliament on 17 December 2005. This ended some of the media speculation surrounding his private life.

Parliamentary career
He was elected as Member of Parliament for Woodspring in 1992. In June 1993, Fox was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Rt. Hon. Michael Howard, the then Home Secretary. In July 1994, he was appointed an Assistant Government Whip. Following a limited government reshuffle in November 1995, he was appointed a Lord Commissioner of Her Majesty's Treasury – a Senior Government Whip. He was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1996 to 1997.

In June 1997, Fox was appointed Opposition Front Bench Spokesman on Constitutional Affairs. Between 1999 and 2003 he was the Shadow Secretary of State for Health.

In December 2000, he issued a qualified apology for making a joke about the Spice Girls. The joke, which was addressed to fellow Conservative MPs at a Christmas party, was: "What do you call three dogs and a blackbird? The Spice Girls.".

In November 2003, Fox was appointed campaign manager for Michael Howard following the no-confidence vote against the Conservative leader, Iain Duncan Smith. Fox was made co-chairman of the party by Michael Howard when he became party leader in November 2003. After the 2005 general election he was promoted within the Shadow Cabinet to become Shadow Foreign Secretary. On December 7 2005 he was moved to Defence by new Leader of the Opposition David Cameron MP.

He voted for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

He is a strong supporter of Israel and is a member of Conservative Friends of Israel.

Failed leadership bid
In September 2005, Fox announced he would join the contest to be the next leader of the Conservative party.

He is considered to be on the right of the party, with staunchly Eurosceptic and Atlanticist views. Although no longer religious, he is critical of abortion and supports the traditional family – for sociological, not moral, reasons. His campaign theme for the 2005 leadership race was based on the "broken society" theme, which he says Conservatives can address by returning emphasis to marriage and reforming welfare.

In the initial ballot of Conservative MPs, on 18 October, he gained enough support (42 votes) to avoid coming last, and put himself through to the second ballot to be held two days later.

He was eliminated with 51 votes in third place behind David Cameron (90 votes) and David Davis (57 votes).

Allegations of bisexuality
Unsubstantiated rumours about Liam Fox's bisexuality emerged in print only hours before the ballot of MPs on 20 October.

In an Evening Standard interview he suggested that his impending marriage to Jesme Baird should end any gossip about his private life. However, he refused to deny that he might have had a gay relationship and said "If someone accused me of doing something against the law I might feel bound to answer it. Otherwise I would have no comment to make".

Dr Fox voted against proposals to allow gay couples to adopt children and against the equalling of the age of consent. He did not vote on the Civil Partnerships Bill.