Peter Lilley

Peter Bruce Lilley, Baron Lilley, PC (born 23 August 1943) is a British politician and life peer who served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) Hitchin and Harpenden from 1997 to 2017 and, prior to boundary changes, St Albans from 1983. Born in Kent, Lilley studied economics at Clare College, Cambridge. He served as Trade and Industry Secretary from July 1990 to April 1992. As Social Security Secretary from April 1992 to May 1997, he introduced Incapacity Benefit. On 26 April 2017, he announced his retirement as an MP. He has been a long-term critic of the European Union and backed Brexit in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. He was supportive of the Eurosceptic pressure group Leave Means Leave. In May 2018, he was nominated for a peerage in the House of Lords.