Born in Liverpool, he graduated in philosophy from Durham University before entering the teaching profession - where he taught in the state and independent sectors and was head of philosophy and religious studies
at Merchant Taylors» School, Crosby, prior to his election.
Born in Lambeth, [3] Lidington was educated
at Merchant Taylors» Prep (formerly Northwood Prep School) then Haberdashers» Aske's Boys» School, Elstree, Hertfordshire, followed by Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, [4] where he took a degree in history and a PhD in 1988 entitled «The enforcement of the penal statutes at the court of the Exchequer c.1558 - c. 1576» [5] on Elizabethan history.