Iain Duncan Smith
British politician
Sir George Iain Duncan Smith (born 9 April 1954), often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British politician who was Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003. He was Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2010 to 2016. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Chingford and Woodford Green, formerly Chingford, since 1992.
The son of W. G. G. Duncan Smith, a Royal Air Force flying-ace, Duncan Smith was born in Glasgow and raised in Solihull. After education at the HMS Conway training school and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he served in the Scots Guards from 1975 to 1981, seeing tours in Northern Ireland and in Rhodesia. He joined the Conservative Party in 1981. After unsuccessfully contesting Bradford West in 1987, he was elected to Parliament at the 1992 general election. He was a backbencher during the premiership of John Major (in office from 1990 to 1997). In the shadow cabinet of William Hague, Duncan Smith served as Shadow Secretary of State for Social Security between 1997 and 1998, and as Shadow Secretary of State for Defence from 1998 to 2001.
Following the resignation of William Hague, Duncan Smith won election as Conservative Party leader in 2001, partly owing to the support of Margaret Thatcher for his Eurosceptic beliefs.
The public source identifies “Iain Duncan Smith” as british politician. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Iain, Duncan and Smith.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q302486. VIAF identifies the subject as 24547379. The Library of Congress control number is n2004003773. 4 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1954, 2001, 2003 and 2010.
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This entry incorporates text from “Iain Duncan Smith” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.