Iain Duncan Smith is a British politician and the Leader of the United Kingdom's Conservative Party. He has been a Member of Parliament since 2001 and a member of the Cabinet since 2010. He was first elected for Chingford and then for Chingford and Wood Green from 1987 to 1992, then for Chingford from 1992 to 1997, and finally for Chingford and Wanstead from 1997 to 2001. In October 2000 he was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Social Security, where he served until January 2001
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He became the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in May 2003 in a cabinet reshuffle. In his role as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, he created the Child Poverty Action Group in 2003. In December 2003 he appointed a Commission on Widening Access, chaired by Professor Sir Richard Titmuss, to review social exclusion in England.
In January 2005 he introduced an Employment Bill that would have reduced working age benefits by 5% each year until 2012. This measure was dropped in July 2005 after widespread opposition from Parliament. In December 2007 he became Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.
In June 2009, following Nick Clegg's resignation after the European elections, Smith succeeded him as Deputy Prime Minister under David Cameron with responsibility for the Department for Communities and Local Government. On 19 June 2012 Smith resigned from his post as leader of the Conservative Party, due to the party's failure to win an overall majority in that year's general election.