Norman Lamb

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Norman Peter Lamb (born 16 September 1957) is a politician in the United Kingdom. He is Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for North Norfolk and the Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Health.

1 Employment Lawyer
2 Political History
3 Parliamentary History
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Employment Lawyer

After graduating from Leicester University, Norman returned to Norfolk and started work as a solicitor. He began to specialise in Employment Law and quickly gained a reputation as one of the country's leading employment lawyers whilst working for Steele and Co Solcitors (now called simply Steeles). In 1998 his book Remedies in the Employment Tribunal: Damages for Discrimination and Unfair Dismissal was published to some acclaim within the legal community. Any chances of a follow up or update to this book were put aside when Norman was elected to Parliament in June 2001.

[edit] Political History

Norman worked for a year for Labour MP Greville Janner in the early 1980's, working as a researcher, and it was at this time that he developed an interest in becoming politically active himself. His politics were always in the centre ground, but a meeting with Shirley Williams in Parliament at this time, shortly after the formation of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and their Alliance with the Liberal Party spurred Norman in to front line active politics and after his return to Norwich when he had finished his studies he was elected to Norwich City Council where he led the Lib Dem group until he stood down in 1991 in order to pursue his Westminster ambitions. Having first stood for election in North Norfolk in 1992, when he dented the Conservative majority, he came close to a major shock in the 1997 General Election when he reduced a Conservative majority of more than 10,000 to only 1293 votes. He was finally elected in 2001, at the third attempt, narrowly defeating the incumbent Conservative MP David Prior by 483 votes. He was re-elected in 2005 with a massively increased majority of 10,606, despite an enormous effort by the Conservatives and their candidate Iain Dale to unseat him in what had been one of their top targets seats.

[edit] Parliamentary History

Norman Lamb's first appointment after being elected was as a Lib Dem spokesman on International Development. Soon after this, he was picked out by then Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy to act as his Parliamentary Private Secretary. During his first term in Parliament he built a strong reputation for fighting hard for causes in his constituency, successfully calling adjournment debates on issues relating to health provision in Norfolk and coastal erosion. After the 2005 General Election, he was promoted and appointed Liberal Democrat Shadow Trade Secretary (2005-2006), securing the endorsement of the Liberal Democrat Spring 2006 Conference for a policy to part-privatise the Royal Mail, and to use the proceeds to invest in a publicly owned Post Office network. In March 2006, he moved to the post of Chief of Staff to the newly elected leader, Sir Menzies Campbell. In December 2006, he became the party's Shadow Health Secretary and was succeeded by Ed Davey as Campbell's Chief of Staff.