The Honourable Edward Henry Butler Vaizey (born June 5, 1968) is a conservative commentator and columnist and has been selected as a Conservative candidate at the May 2005 UK general election.

Vaizey is the son of Lord Vaizey of Greenwich , a life peer, and his wife Marina Vaizey, a well-known art critic. Vaizey spent part of his childhood growing up in Berkshire. He was educated at St Paul's School and Merton College, Oxford. After leaving Oxford, Vaizey worked for Kenneth Clarke and Michael Howard as an adviser on employment and education issues. He trained and practised as a barrister for several years, specialising in family law and child care cases. He is now a partner at Consolidated Communications, a Public Relations agency.

He is a regular commentator on the Conservative Party in the press. He has written regular comment pieces for the Guardian since 1998, and contributes articles to the Sunday Times news review. He has also written for the Times and Daily Telegraph and written editorials for the Evening Standard. Vaizey is also a regular broadcaster, appearing on the Fi Glover and Edwina Currie shows on BBC Radio Five Live, as a regular panellist on Channel 5’s the Wright Stuff and BBC Radio 4's Despatch Box and occasionally presenting People and Politics on the World Service.

Vaizey first stood for Parliament at the 1997 UK general election, when he was the candidate for Bristol East. In the 2001 UK general election, he acted as an election aide to Iain Duncan Smith. He stood in the 2002 local elections in the safe Labour ward of Harrow Road in the City of Westminster.

In 2002 he was selected by Wantage Conservative Association as its candidate for the 2005 election, to succeed sitting MP Robert Jackson who subsequently defected to Labour. Vaizey won a two-thirds majority on the final ballot of members. He is seen as a moderniser in the Conservative Party, contributing in both policy and image terms. He remains Michael Howard's scriptwriter and the editor of the Blue Books series, which look at new approaches to Conservative policy in areas such as health and transport. He is one of Michael Howard's inner circle of advisers and part of a group of young Tories sometimes disparagingly referred to as the 'Notting Hill set', along with David Cameron, George Osborne, Michael Gove, Nicholas Boles and Rachel Whetstone .

Vaizey's girlfriend Esther McVey is also a TV broadcaster and Conservative candidate for Wirral West.

Bibliography

• A Blue Tomorrow - New Visions for Modern Conservatives (2001) (ed. with Michael Gove and Nicholas Boles). ISBN 1842750275
• Blue Book on Health: Conservative Visions for Health Policy (2002) ISBN 1842750437
• Blue Book on Transport: Conservative Visions for Transport Policy (ed with Michael McManus) (2002) ISBN 1842750445
• Blue Book on Education (ed with Michael McManus) (2003)