David Willetts

David Benjamin Willetts, Baron Willetts of Havant, is a British Conservative life peer and former minister who has served as an independent non-executive director of Entain plc since 2019. Born in 1956, Willetts was educated at King Edward’s School, Birmingham, and Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied philosophy, politics and economics. He began his career in HM Treasury as a civil servant and later served as director of the Centre for Policy Studies, a centre-right think tank, from 1987 to 1992.

Willetts entered Parliament as MP for Havant in 1992 and held a series of Conservative frontbench roles in opposition, including shadow secretary of state for trade and industry, work and pensions, and innovation, universities and skills. In the coalition government he was Minister of State for Universities and Science at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills from 2010 to 2014, playing a leading role in higher education and science policy. He stood down from the Commons in 2015 and was created a life peer as Baron Willetts of Havant.

His gambling-industry relevance began in 2019 when he joined the board of GVC Holdings, the company that rebranded as Entain in 2020. As an independent non-executive director he has been part of the board-level oversight of the group’s responsible gambling, regulatory and governance agenda during a period of significant change in UK gambling policy. He remains primarily identified with public policy, politics and higher education rather than as a career gambling executive.