An excellent debater and after dinner speaker, David Mellor has proved that there is indeed life after politics. He pursues a multi-faceted career, having been a successful lawyer and politician, and now runs his own international business consultancy alongside his busy life in broadcasting and journalism and his role as Chairman of the Government's Football Taskforce.

Educated at Swanage Grammar School and Christ's College, Cambridge, David Mellor was called to the Bar in 1972. He was a practising barrister for several years, and became a QC in 1987. In 1979 he successfully fought the seat at Putney and was elected to Parliament at the age of thirty. He remained MP for Putney until the 1997 General Election.

In 1981 he joined the Government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Energy, and was the youngest member of Mrs Thatcher's administration for four years. In 1983 he moved to the Home Office, first as Parliamentary Under-Secretary and then as Minister of State. Whilst there he spearheaded the Government's fight against dangerous drugs, and chaired the Council of Europe Committee on Drugs Misuse (the Pompidou Group). He was also responsible for criminal justice policy and broadcasting. In 1987 he moved to the Foreign Office as Minister of State responsible for East-West relations and the Middle East. In 1988 he became Minister of Health, returning to the Home Office in 1989 to pilot the Broadcasting Act (1990) through Parliament. In June 1990 he became Arts Minister and joined the Cabinet in November 1990 when John Major became Prime Minister as Chief Secretary to the Treasury responsible for public expenditure. After the General Election of 1992 he founded the Department for National Heritage and became the first Secretary of State - forging close links with most of the country's leading arts and sporting bodies.

Since leaving politics, David Mellor has built up his own international business consultancy and numbers several large international companies amongst his clients including British Aerospace, GKN and Ernst & Young. He is particularly active in promoting British exports to the Gulf.

As a broadcaster he has in the last five years presented more than three hundred programmes for BBC National Radio on four of their five networks. For Radio 5 Live his 6.06 phone-in on Saturday evenings has become required listening for football fans. The programme has some one million listeners, and on occasions more than 50,000 people ring the number to try to get on the air - the record so far - 57,000 calls after England's world cup game against Colombia. For his work on 6.06 David Mellor was voted BBC Radio Personality of the Year 1995 by the Variety Club.

For Radio 2 he has presented programmes of light classical music, and for Radio 3 he has presented six series of Vintage Years, an exploration of great musicians of the past; twelve further programmes were broadcast in the summer of '98 and '99. He has also hosted three series of the chat show Soapbox for Radio 4.

David Mellor's latest broadcasting success is Across the Threshold for Classic FM broadcast every Sunday from 12 noon - 2pm. Each week David invites a leading personality to his study overlooking the Thames to sample the delights of his CD collection. Amongst the victims so far - Joanna Lumley, lesley Ash, Kate Adie, Vinnie Jones, David Frost, Michael Palin and Michael Portillo.

On television David Mellor occasionally presents BBC2's The Midnight Hour and also presents editions of Target for Sky Television. For 5 years David was a regular on LWT's Crosstalk.

As a journalist David Mellor is equally prolific. He writes a weekly column on football for the Evening Standard and the 'Man of the People' column for the People newspaper every Sunday. For nearly three years he was an arts columnist for The Guardian. He also contributes articles and book reviews to other leading national newspapers and magazines.

David Mellor has held several high-profiled public appointments. From 1993 to 1997 he was the Chairman of the Sports Aid Foundation, a charity responsible for raising and distributing more than £2 million per annum to support the training costs of British athletes. He is a former member of the Board of English National Opera and a former Trustee of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He is a long-standing council member of the National Youth Orchestra. He is also an Honorary Associate of the British Veterinary Association for services to animal welfare, and a fellow of the Zoological Society.

In August 1997 David Mellor was appointed Chairman of the Government's Task Force on Football with a remit to enquire into and report upon a range of issues of concern to football supporters.

David Mellor's broadcasting career and devotion to football blend with his parliamentary career to create highly entertaining, incisive and original after dinner speeches. As a former chief secretary to the Treasury and former Secretary of State for National Heritage, David Mellor is equally at home in formal environments and as a colourful and incisive chairperson or conference speaker.