William was born in Rotherham in 1961, and attended Wath-on-Dearne Comprehensive School. At Magdalen College, Oxford, he became heavily immersed in student politics, and was elected President of both the Oxford Union and the University Conservative Association. He continued his studies at INSEAD Business School in France, and worked for Shell UK and then for the management consultants, McKinsey and Co.

Writing is one of William’s great passions and, to date, he has written two books. His first book, a biography of William Pitt the Younger, was published in September 2004 and won “History Book of the Year” at the National Book Awards. His following book, a biography of William Wilberforce, was published in June 2007.

Positions held

- MP for Richmond, Yorkshire, 1989 – 2015
- Parliamentary Private Secretary to Norman Lamont, Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1990-93
- Joint Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the DSS, 1993-94
- Minister of State for Social Security and Disabled People, 1994-95
- Secretary of State for Wales, July 1995 – May 1997
- Leader of the Conservative Party, June 1997 – Sept 2001
- Shadow Foreign Secretary, Dec 2005 - May 2010
- First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs, May 2010 - July 2014

- Leader of the House of Commons, July 2014 – May 2015

- Member of the House of the Lords

Proudest political achievement

Designing and passing the Disability Discrimination Act in 1995

Interests outside politics

- Reading
- Walking in the Yorkshire Dales
- Cross-country skiing
- Judo
- Learning to play the piano