Career ladder of political service

THE HOWARTH DEFECTION

Born: 11 June 1944.

Father's occupation: Schoolmaster and former liaison officer at Field Marshal Montgomery's HQ.

Education: Rugby School and King's College, Cambridge. Graduated in 1965 in history.

Family: In 1967, married Gillian Chance with whom he had two sons and two daughters. They separated last year.

Employment: 1965-67: Served as senior research assistant to Montgomery. He was ghost-writer for Montgomery's book History of Warfare. In 1966 voted to put Harold Wilson's Labour government into power.

1968-74: Assistant master at Westminster School. Voted Conservative for the first time in 1974.

1975-79: Head of the chairman's office at Conservative Central Office. Served as private secretary to William Whitelaw and then Lord Thorneycroft.

1979-81: Director at Conservative research department and vice-chairman of party organisation.

1983: Elected Conservative MP for Stratford-upon-Avon.

1984-85: Secretary of Conservative arts and heritage committee.

1985-87: Private Parliamentary Secretary to Sir Rhodes Boyson.

1988-89: Government whip in 1988, where he was a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury.

1989-92: Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Education and Science.

1992-95: All-party Arts and Heritage Group secretary.

Interests: A governor of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Ran the London marathon for charities for the disabled and is a member of the British Dyslexia Association. His interests are reading, education, the arts and charities and these are reflected in the several books he has written, which include Changing Charity and Save Our Schools and Arts: The Way Ahead.