Ben Lutefield

The Right Honourable Benjamin Dieter Lutefield (known as Ben Lutefield) was born on 11th December 1951, the son of a German Jewish immigrant Psychiatrist and a jazz singer.

Personal life
Lutefield was home-educated as the family moved around a great deal, including a stint in Germany. At the age of 12, he finished up in Cornwall, and while he no longer lives there full time, he spends as much time as possible in his Cornish manor house.

He is a lapsed Jew by religion, and has two children from his first two marriages; in 1994 he married for the third time, to a lawyer, who is some twenty years his junior.

In his spare time Ben Lutefield enjoys cooking, entertaining friends (one of his parties is mentioned in "The Friday Society" by B. Von Saxe-Coburg Saalfeld), driving his Ferrari, playing music, and holidaying in Italy. He is a keen motor racing and football fan, and a season ticket holder at Liverpool F.C.

Early political career
Lutefield did not go into further education, but instead launched himself into the classical music industry at age seventeen. Within five years, though, his views on UK politics were being regularly published in local newspapers, and he landed a job as a part-time columnist with the Daily Telegraph.

A keen follower of Margaret Thatcher's - whom he admired for "sorting out the mess Labour made us live in during the 70s", he was also a disciple of the American writer Hunter S Thompson, whose brand of Libertarianism, though extreme, he lived by for several years.

Before joining the Conservative Party, Lutefield worked for various anti-EU organisations as well as running a magazine, "The Rant", which espoused his brand of free-thinking and brought under-performing local politicians to account. He joined the Conservative Party in 1977 and eventually was persuaded to stand for the local District Council, where he won a seat, overturning a huge Liberal majority in a campaign that raised eyebrows at Central Office for it's open, straight-to-the-point, no nonsense approach. In 1984, he attended his first Conservative Party Conference, at Brighton's Grand Hotel, where he narrowly escaped uninjured when it was bombed by the IRA. This experience drove him to become a professional politician, "to right wrongs by negotiation where possible and by force where not". Rapidly known as a "man of the people" in his local area of Cornwall, he stood for the seat of St Ives in 1992 and held it for the Conservatives albeit with a reduced majority.

Into the Cabinet
Lutefield had been a backbencher for two years when Prime Minister Halifax offered him the post of Secretary of State for Transport. Within weeks, a reshuffle saw him offered the position of Chancellor - which he declined - and he became Chief Secretary to the Treasury - a technical promotion but one that took him away from the responsibility of a portfolio, to his regret.

When the Prime Minister's illness left him in a weakened position, it was Lutefield who decided, in consultation with two other Cabinet members, to suggest that Halifax should resign. His chosen candidate for leader was William Bennington, and Lutefield worked to ensure that Bennington would become the next PM.

Bennington won the Leadership of the CP with ease after a successful PR campaign by Lutefield, but when the new PM lied to his Cabinet and the electorate over how he had decided who should serve where in his Cabinet, he stepped down within days amid the furious row that followed the public humiliation by, and resignations of, Cilla Clarke and Charles Ryder, and both Leadership and General Elections were called.

Ben Lutefield led the Party and the country as deputy PM during the Leadership Election, and, sick of the whole situation, decided to retire to the back benches as soon as the crisis was over. Cilla Clarke easily won the leadership, to Lutefield's horror and many people's shock, and he refused any offers to serve under "that woman". The General Election saw the Conservatives massacred, and Lutefield lost his beloved seat of St Ives.

In just two and a half years, Ben Lutefield had gone from a humble candidate to leading the country... and all of a sudden his political career seemed over. He retired to his manor house on the Cornish coast, from where he ran a concert agency and a PR company, and returned to a career in music.

Return to politics
In 1997, Lutefield moved to South West London and joined the local Conservative Association. With the departure of Norman Lamont, the politically rejuvenated Lutefield was selected as the candidate for Kingston-upon-Thames for the 1998 General Election, a seat which he won with a majority of 2815.

Opposition front bench
Within days of his re-election to Parliament, Ben Lutefield declared himself "shocked and honoured" to be selected by Conservative leader Chesney Lewis to serve in the first Shadow Cabinet of the 1998 Parliament as Shadow Home Secretary.

Electoral results
St Ives 1992 - General Election
 * Benjamin Lutefield (Con) - 24528 (42.9%)
 * Andrew George (LD) - 22883 (40.1%)
 * Stephen Warren (Lab) - 9144 (16.0%)
 * Dr Graham Stephens (Liberal) - 577 (1.0%)
 * Maj 1645

St Ives 1995 - General Election
 * Jessica Matthews (LD) - 22213 (39.36%)
 * Benjamin Lutefield (Con) - 18347 (32.51%)
 * Christopher Fagan (Lab) - 15873 (28.12%)
 * Maj 3866

Kingston-upon-Thames 1998 - General Election
 * Benjamin Lutefield (Con) - 13519 (43.29%)
 * Tudur Adams (LD) - 10704 (34.28%)
 * Sheldon Appleby (Lab) - 6999 (22.41%)
 * Maj 2815

Positions held

 * Councillor, Penwith District Council (1989-1992)
 * MP for St Ives (1992-1995)
 * Secretary of State for Transport (1994)
 * Chief Secretary to the Treasury (1994)
 * Deputy Prime Minister (1994-1995)
 * Interim Leader of the Conservative Party (1995)
 * Acting Prime Minister (1995)
 * MP for Kingston-upon-Thames (1998-)
 * Shadow Home Secretary (1998-)