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George Young
George Young was born in 1941 and educated at Eton and Oxford University where he studied PPE. He worked as an advisor to the Post Office before being elected To Lambeth Borough Council in 1968, where John Major also sat. He entered Parliament for the constituency of Acton in February 1974, which became known as Ealing Acton after boundary changes in 1983. He held this seat until further boundary changes meant the seat disappeared in 1997, where Sir George Young represented the constituency of North West Hampshire, which he still represents.
In 1976 Margaret Thatcher appointed him as an Opposition whip, which he held until the 1979 Conservative General Election victory, when he became a Junior Minister at the Department of Health. In 1981 he became Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of the Environment until his removal from Ministerial office in 1986. Whilst on the back-benches, Sir George fought a battle against the community charge (poll tax), although shortly before her eventual leadership election loss, Thatcher appointed him as a Government whip.
After John Major's leadership election victory in 1990, Young became Minister for Housing and Planning, a position he held until 1994. In 1994 Sir George Young became the Financial Secretary to the Treasury and he was then made Secretary of State for Transport from 1995 to 1997 after John Major's 1995 leadership victory, and he was the Cabinet Minister responsible for the privatisation of British Rail.
After the 1997 General Election, William Hague made Young the Shadow Defence Secretary until 1998, when he became the Shadow Leader of the House of Commons. He resigned from the Shadow Cabinet in 2000 to stand for the Speakership of the House of Commons, which was won by Michael Martin. He has since become the Chairman of the Standards and Privileges Committee.