Location: The Heritage Foundation's Lehrman Auditorium
With opinion polls pointing to the election of a Conservative
Government in the United Kingdom for the first time since 1997,
former leader of the Conservative Party, Iain Duncan Smith, will
talk about the importance of the social justice agenda to the
renewal of Britain's Tories. Drawing upon the work of his own
independent think tank, the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), he
will examine whether there are key lessons to be learned for
American conservatives from the conservative renaissance across the
Atlantic.
The Centre for Social Justice works with a network of effective
poverty-fighting organizations in the UK, bringing their know-how
and experience to the formulation of public policy. The CSJ aims to
rebuild the traditional family, reduce welfare dependency, increase
social well-being and reduce the size of the state.
Iain Duncan Smith is a graduate of the Royal Military Academy
Sandhurst and saw active service in Northern Ireland and Rhodesia
(now Zimbabwe) as well as serving in Canada and Germany. He was
elected to the House of Commons in 1992, and after serving as
Shadow Secretary of State for Social Security (1997-1999) and
Shadow Secretary of State for Defense (1999-2001), went on to lead
the Conservative Party from 2001-2003. He established the Centre
for Social Justice in London in 2004, and was appointed Chairman of
the Conservative Party's Social Justice Policy Group in 2005.
More About the Speakers
The Rt. Hon. Iain Duncan Smith MP
Former Leader of the British Conservative Party