After gaining several minor positions in the government of John Major, he played a key role in William Hague's successful bid for the Conservative leadership in 1997.

Duncan received several promotions to the Conservative front bench, and eventually joined the Shadow Cabinet after the 2005 general election.

[7] Duncan resigned as Minister of State on 22 July 2019 citing Johnson's election to the Tory leadership and, hence, the UK's premiership.

[14] Whilst there, he formed a friendship with Benazir Bhutto, and ran her successful campaign to become the President of the Oxford Union.

[19] Duncan used the connections he had built up to be self-employed from 1988 to 1992, acting as a consultant and adviser to foreign governments on oil supplies, shipping and refining.

After Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher resigned in November 1990, he offered his home in Westminster as the headquarters of John Major's leadership campaign.

[13] Duncan first stood for Parliament as a Conservative candidate in the 1987 general election, unsuccessfully contesting the safe Labour seat of Barnsley West and Penistone.

[14] He returned to government in July 1995, when he was again appointed a Parliamentary Private Secretary, this time to the Chairman of the Conservative Party, Brian Mawhinney.

[14] In November 1995, Duncan performed a citizen's arrest on an Asylum Bill protester who threw paint and flour at Mawhinney on College Green.

[25] He held this position for just seven months, becoming Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on 7 December 2005, after David Cameron's election to the party leadership the previous day.

[28] However, on 18 July 2005, he withdrew from the race, admitting in The Guardian that his withdrawal was due to a lack of 'active lieutenants', and urged the party to abandon those that he dubbed the 'Tory Taliban': Our Achilles heel, though, has been our social attitude.

[30] On 14 August, Duncan said (whilst being filmed without his knowledge by Don't Panic), that MPs, who were at the time paid around £64,000 a year, were having "to live on rations and are treated like shit.

As shadow business secretary in 2008, Duncan stated, referring to the Hinkley Point C project, that "on no account should there be any kind of subsidy for nuclear power.

"[37] In August 2011, Duncan found himself under pressure to remove a video of himself accusing Israel of a "land grab" in the occupied territories.

No settlement endorsers should be regarded as fit to stand for public office, remain a member of a mainstream political party or sit in a parliament.

"[41] In a BBC Radio interview linked to that speech and another given during a House of Commons debate on Palestinian statehood he said: "All know that the United States is in hock to a very powerful financial lobby which dominates its politics."

[42] In August 2011, it was reported that Duncan had played an instrumental role in blocking fuel supplies to Tripoli, Libya, during the Libyan conflict.

[49] The last episode showed Shai Masot, the political officer at the Israeli embassy in London, proposing an attempt to "take down" British "pro-Palestinian" politicians, including Duncan.

[50] The leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn wrote an open letter to Theresa May objecting to what he called an "improper interference in this country's democratic process" and urging the prime minister to launch an inquiry on the basis that "[t]his is clearly a national security issue".

[65] The manner in which the campaign was fought stirred up a lot of sentiment amongst people that are not habitual voters, particularly on the issue of immigration.

[66] In contrast to most members of both CWF and Le Cercle, who hold pro-Republican Atlanticist views, he actively supported John Kerry in the US 2004 presidential election.

[67] Following the release of the Panama Papers, which contained revelations about David Cameron's income from overseas funds set up by his father, Duncan defended the Prime Minister.

He urged Cameron's critics, especially MPs, to "admit that their real point is that they hate anyone who has got a hint of wealth in them" from whose viewpoint it followed that "we risk seeing a House of Commons which is stuffed full of low-achievers".

The Jewish Leadership Council accused Duncan of sharing "antisemitic tropes", and the Board of Deputies of British Jews labelled his comments "disgraceful".

The Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) investigation, which Duncan termed a "McCarthyite witch-hunt", found his comments were within political debate and not anti-semitic.

[71] Duncan was the first sitting Conservative MP voluntarily to acknowledge that he is gay;[10] he did this in an interview with The Times on 29 July 2002, although he has said that this came as no surprise to friends.

[78] Duncan is the author of three published nonfiction books: His pamphlet An End to Illusions proposed an independent Bank of England, the break-up of clearing banks, reduction of implicit tax subsidies given to owner-occupiers, curtailment of pension fund tax privileges, and new forms of corporate ownership.

[citation needed] Saturn's Children presents a detailed case regarding the history and consequences of government control over institutions and activities which were historically private, to the extent that many citizens assume that privately or communally developed municipal facilities and universities are creations of the state, and that prohibitions on drug use, sex, and personal defence have always existed.

[citation needed] In the Thick of It is Duncan's diary from the eve of the Brexit referendum in 2016 to the UK's eventual exit from the EU.

[83] His 2009 appearance featured a badly received ironic joke about murdering the latest Miss California, who stated that she opposed same-sex marriages.