[2] He then studied philosophy, politics and economics[3] at Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated with a first-class degree.

During this period Willetts gained "Two Brains" as a nickname, a monicker reportedly coined by The Guardian's former political editor Michael White.

[12] The speech was made more controversial when David Cameron weighed into the argument, backing Willetts' speech and describing his critics as "delusional", accusing them of "splashing around in the shallow end of the educational debate" and of "clinging on to outdated mantras that bear no relation to the reality of life".

"Feminism trumped egalitarianism", he said, adding that women who would otherwise have been housewives had taken university places and well-paid jobs that could have gone to ambitious working-class men.

[14]As the minister responsible for universities, Willetts was an advocate and spokesperson for the coalition government's policy of increasing the cap on tuition fees in England and Wales from £3,225 to £9,000 per year.

[17] In July 2014, Willetts announced that he would not contest the next general election, saying that "after more than 20 years the time has come to move onto fresh challenges.

[19] It was announced that he was to be a life peer in the 2015 Dissolution Honours and was created Baron Willetts, of Havant in the County of Hampshire, on 16 October 2015.

This stated, "If we are to remain a party of government, it is absolutely critical that we increase our support among younger generations.

On 9 February 2018, the University of Leicester announced they had elected David Willetts as successor to Bruce Grocott to become their new chancellor.

He was a founding signatory in 2005 of the Henry Jackson Society principles, advocating a proactive approach to the spread of liberal democracy across the world, including when necessary by military intervention.

[34] Fourteen years after the publication of "Civic Conservatism" Willetts gave the inaugural Oakeshott Memorial Lecture to the London School of Economics in which he made an attempt to explain how game theory can be used to help think about how to improve social capital.

[35] The lecture was described by the Times as "an audacious attempt by the Conservative Party's leading intellectual to relate a new Tory narrative".

[36] Civic conservatism, like free market economics, proceeds from deep-seated individual self-interest towards a stable cooperation.

It sets the Tories the task not of changing humanity but of designing institutions and arrangements that encourage our natural reciprocal altruism.

[39] Willetts was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 2010, giving him the honorific title "The Right Honourable" and after ennoblement the post nominal letters "PC" for life.