David Anthony Laws (born 30 November 1965) is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Yeovil from 2001 to 2015.

Regarded as a skilled speaker in intellectual argument, he won the national Observer Schools Mace Debating Championship in 1984.

[3] Laws went into investment banking, becoming a Vice President at JP Morgan from 1987 to 1992 and then a Managing Director, being the Head of US Dollar and Sterling Treasuries at Barclays de Zoete Wedd.

[5] Laws had joined the Liberal Democrats back office at the same time as Nick Clegg while the party was led by Paddy Ashdown.

Both would walk the constituency in what former Royal Marine Ashdown described as mufti attire; but on election day, Laws wore tailored suits.

[6] After his election to parliament, Laws became a member of the Treasury Committee, and he was appointed the party's deputy Defence spokesman in November 2001.

In 2005, he was appointed the Liberal Democrats' Work and Pensions spokesman, a position in which he was critical of the government's handling of the Child Support Agency and flaws in the tax credits system.

Byrne said the letter was meant as a private joke but Laws published it, slightly misquoting it (from memory) at a press briefing as "I'm afraid to tell you there's no money left".

Mr Laws said: "The years of public sector plenty are over, but the more decisively we act the quicker and stronger we can come through these tough times."

[15] Iain Martin of The Wall Street Journal published an article on Laws's early performance and described him as a "potential future prime minister"[16] On 28 May 2010, The Daily Telegraph disclosed that Laws had claimed more than £40,000 on his expenses in the form of second home costs, from 2004 to late 2009,[17] during which time he had been renting rooms at properties owned by what the newspaper claimed to be his "secret lover" and "long-term partner", James Lundie.

[18] Lundie is a former Liberal Democrat Press officer and now works for the Political Affairs team of public relations and lobbying firm, Edelman.

[2] Laws resigned as Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 29 May 2010,[20] stating that he could not carry on working on the Comprehensive Spending Review while dealing with the private and public implications of the revelations.

In addition to finding against Laws with regard to the payment of rent to his friend, the investigation also found irregularities in phone bill and building work expenses.

[22] The Committee concluded that "... the rental agreements submitted [by Laws] between 2003 and 2008 were misleading and designed to conceal the nature of the relationship.

[1] The commissioner stated "I have no evidence that Mr Laws made his claims with the intention of benefiting himself or his partner in conscious breach of the rules.

[25] Laws gave costed estimates to the investigation showing his expenses could have been almost £30,000 higher over 2004–2010 if renting or claiming mortgage payments on his Somerset home which he owned outright.

[30][31] In initial debates on the spending cuts, Conservative MP for Gainsborough, Edward Leigh described Laws as heeding to "stern, unbending Gladstonian Liberalism".