David TC Davies

David Thomas Charles Davies (born 27 July 1970) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Wales since 2022 and Member of Parliament (MP) for Monmouth since 2005.

Davies was born on 27 July 1970 in Newham, London, to Peter and Kathleen Davies (Elton).

A great-grandfather was German and Jewish.

He was educated at Clytha School and Bassaleg School in Newport, Wales.

After leaving school in 1988 he worked for the British Steel Corporation and served with the Territorial Army.

He worked for his family in their shipping company, Burrow Heath Ltd, before entering politics.

He unsuccessfully contested the seat of Bridgend at the 1997 general election, finishing in second place 15,248 votes behind Win Griffiths.

As an opponent of the concept of a new Welsh assembly, Davies helped to set up the 'No' campaign in the devolution referendum, Davies gained a higher profile and decided to run as the Conservative candidate for Monmouth.

At the inaugural 1999 Welsh Assembly Election he was elected to the National Assembly for Wales.

He became the deputy leader of the Welsh Conservatives under Rod Richards.

As such, he became the acting leader of the party after Richards' resignation until Nick Bourne became leader in August 1999.

He married Aliz Harnisföger, who is Hungarian, in October 2003 in Monmouth, and they have three children.

A keen sportsman, Davies has fought in several charity boxing matches as "The Tory Tornado" and is a former president of the Welsh Amateur Boxing Association.

Davies speaks fluent Welsh after learning the language as a beginner when he was elected to the National Assembly for Wales.

He was awarded the accolade of Welsh Speaker of the Year and was the first AM to address the Welsh Language Society, Cymdeithas Yr Iaith Gymraeg, in Welsh.

Evans was Davies' best man at his 2003 wedding.

He was elected at the 2005 general election as member of the House of Commons for Monmouth, the seat he held in the Welsh Assembly.

He defeated the sitting Labour MP Huw Edwards by 4,527 votes, and remains the MP for the constituency.

On 18 May 2005 he made his maiden speech giving a history of his constituency from Geoffrey of Monmouth onwards.

In Parliament he joined the Welsh Affairs Select Committee on his election.

Davies was sworn in as a Special Constable with the British Transport Police in March 2007.

On his third patrol he searched a man 'acting suspiciously' and found a handgun.

In 2008, Davies criticised the National Black Police Association's race-based membership policy for not allowing white people interested in fighting racism to become full members and suggesting that they themselves could be guilty of racism.

In 2009 The Daily Telegraph reported that Davies had claimed £2,000 of taxpayers' money and paid it to his family's haulage firm.

Davies defended his actions in an interview, denying any wrongdoing and explaining to BBC Wales that his family's firm had been paid to provide postage and produce publicity material at short notice for the annual Monmouth show, that they had not profited, and that he had subsequently used a specialist company in London for the production of such material where the costs were significantly higher.

In May of the same year, Davies became the first member of the Commons to voluntarily make his expense claims public.

A member of the Conservative Party, he chaired the Welsh Affairs Select Committee from 2010 to 2019.

In August 2011, Davies wrote about his experiences on riot duty and lamented that police were ordered not to go out alone in uniform for safety reasons.

Davies had to return from a short holiday for the recall of Parliament to discuss the riots across England and also served on patrols in London that week in his role as a special constable.

He called for the police to be encouraged to take tougher action during the riots.

In 2013 Davies voted against the Cameron–Clegg coalition government on the issue of British military intervention in the Syrian civil war.

During the trial of fellow Welsh MP Nigel Evans, Davies gave evidence of his character, stating that Evans liked a drink and became jovial when intoxicated, unlike some people who have a dark side.

In May 2013, Davies said of Evans: "He's been a good friend of mine for a lot of years. I am stunned by these allegations and find them impossible to believe."

Evans was acquitted of sexual assaults in April 2014.

He resigned in 2015, after serving nine years as a special constable, because of rules about police officers taking part in politics.

After the 2015 general election, he was returned unopposed the chairmanship of the committee.

In June 2015, Davies strongly criticised the planning and organisation of the first Velothon Wales event to be run in Wales which passed through his Monmouth constituency, arguing that business losses should be compensated for.

A vocal critic of the European Union, he supported Brexit in the 2016 membership referendum, and led the leave campaign in Wales.

Davies also served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales from 2019 to 2022.

Having previously questioned the scientific evidence for the role of human factors in global warming, Davies said in 2019 that he supported the UK government's intention to become carbon neutral by 2050 and that he fully accepted the link between carbon dioxide and climate change.