[3] Maude was one of the first "men in grey suits" to hold discussions with Margaret Thatcher in November 1990 after she failed to win the first round of a leadership election.

However, in the 1992 general election he lost his seat to the Labour Party candidate, Mike O'Brien, and was thus forced to vacate his ministerial roles.

This was preparation as Cabinet Office Minister from 2010, when he was required to highlight areas of expenditure where savings could be made from streamlining the delivery and implementation of policy goals.

Maude managed Michael Portillo's unsuccessful bid for the Conservative leadership in 2001, after which he declined a front bench role under the new Party Leader Iain Duncan Smith.

Norman Tebbit's secretary, Beryl Goldsmith, criticised Maude after this, asking:How many male, white, straight Conservative MPs currently passionately campaigning for the selection of more women, and more men and women from ethnic minorities, would voluntarily relinquish their own seats in order to encourage local associations to follow the policy line they preach from their own smug, safe base?

During his tenure, alongside newly elected Leader David Cameron, the Conservatives adopted the A-List of parliamentary candidates, with priority being given to women and people from ethnic minorities.

At the Conservative Party Conference in October 2007 he said: "David (Cameron) has asked me to lead an implementation team that will ensure that we are as well-prepared as any incoming government has ever been.

Ahead of the 2010 general election, Maude led attempts by the then-Conservative Opposition to work with the UK Civil Service to prepare for government.

This work includes stopping wasteful spending; improving the way government buys goods and services; reducing losses from fraud, error and debt; raising money by selling empty buildings and underused properties; and reviewing and reshaping large scale projects.

The document laid out a series of practical actions including steps to improve the skills, abilities and performance of civil servants; introduce a sharper performance management system; create a modern employment offer for staff; improve IT and flexible working across departments; and tighten the delivery of major projects.

This document included various further steps: establishing the principle of Extended Ministerial Offices, and introducing Functional Leadership across Whitehall.

However, in November 2013, former Cabinet secretary Lord Butler of Brockwell told the BBC that "Mr Maude and some of his colleagues don't understand leadership.

"[12] Butler said the relationship between ministers and the Civil Service worked best when there was loyalty on both side and public criticism showed something was wrong.

This work helped make the British government the most open in the world at the time, and led directly to the creation of services such as the Citymapper app and challenger banks like Monzo.

[15] Its revolutionary single source model inspired government websites around the world, including in the United States, New Zealand and Australia.

[17][13] In June 2014 Maude warned that elderly people would have to apply for key benefits including Carer's Allowance online.

[19] This allowed him to be appointed as Minister of State for Trade and Investment jointly at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, replacing Lord Livingston of Parkhead.

He has been an advisory board member at Anvest Partners,[24] a real estate investment company since May 2016, and a Senior Adviser with Covington & Burling LLP,[25][26][27] a business and corporate law firm since November 2016.

It is a consulting firm specialising in government efficiency and reform around the world, with its work based on Maude's experience as Minister for the Cabinet Office.

[2] Following the resignation of Dominic Raab, Lord Maude suggested the UK Civil Service should alter its rules on impartiality and continuity under different governments.

[32] While in the Shadow Cabinet, Maude was accused of hypocrisy by Oliver Marre in the Guardian for promoting a "family-friendly" image while being the non-executive chairman of Jubilee Investment Trust plc, which held 21% of American pornographic actress Jill Kelly's adult DVD business,[citation needed] and chairman of the Mission Marketing Group, which has advertised for WKD drinks and Playboy.

[41] Brian Madderson, the petrol chairman of the Retail Motor Industry Federation said that the Government appeared to be "intent on creating a crisis out of a serious concern and that drivers should ignore "dangerous advice".

[42] On 30 March 2012, the Labour Peer Lord Harris called for Maude's resignation, after a woman suffered severe burns during an attempt to decant petrol next to a lit gas cooker.