Members of the National Church Governance Programme Board
David served as Member of Parliament for Aylesbury from 1992 to December 2019. He was Minister for Europe throughout the Coalition and Cameron majority governments.
Under Theresa May he served as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council, Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor, and Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. In that last role, David was responsible for chairing most Cabinet Committees and many COBR meetings.
He was responsible for constitutional affairs and worked closely, and across party lines, with political leaders in Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland. David was a member of the National Security Council and acted as deputy to Prime Minister Theresa May, including on several occasions at Prime Minister’s Question Time.
He has represented the United Kingdom at the European Union, NATO, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the United Nations Security Council. Since stepping down from the House of Commons, David has taken on a number of think tank and charity appointments, including chairing the Royal United Services Institution (RUSI) and the Buckinghamshire Historic Churches Trust. He is a member of the Advisory Panel to the Lord Chief Justice.
David is married to Helen, and they have four grown-up sons. He lives in Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, and attends St Mary’s Parish Church. In his spare hours he enjoys history, mountain walking and choral singing.
Andrew Watson has been Bishop of Guildford since 2014, having previously ministered in Redditch, Notting Hill, Twickenham and Birmingham (where he was Bishop of Aston from 2008-14).
He holds degrees in Law and Theology from Cambridge University, where he was also a music exhibitioner; and has chaired various national committees, including the Panel for World Mission and the Anglican Communion and the Ordained Vocations Working Group (charged with the daunting task of increasing the diversity of our ordinand cohort and increasing its number by 50% - a target that was very nearly reached).
Andrew was an elected member of the House of Clergy from 2000-2008 and has resumed his involvement at General Synod since becoming a diocesan bishop.
He is charged with seeing the Governance Review through the Synodical process.