About John
Nine state/grammar schools by the age of 16 would worry some prospective employers, but John finished his sixth form studies at Queen’s College, Taunton. During his Gap Year he travelled extensively, which included driving new cars from Frankfurt and London to their owners in Iran.
Having studied Law, History and Politics at Cambridge, John joined the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers in 1984. After Sandhurst, he served in Berlin and Northern Ireland as a platoon commander, and then as a Captain with the United Nations in Cyprus, before finishing in Germany as the Battalion Operations Officer.
On leaving the Army in 1988, he became a Fund Manager, specialising in charities and private clients, and was a Director of Hendersons and then Rothschild Asset Management. He remains a member of the Securities Institute and, since leaving the City, has assisted charities and individuals monitor their fund managers.
Into politics
John first became involved in local politics in Chelmsford, Essex in 1990. He was the Conservative Parliamentary candidate in Basildon in 1997, but was beaten by the small margin of 13,000!
John was elected as the Conservative MP for Billericay and District in 2001 with a majority of 5,000. He served on Parliament’s Education Select Committee and then became a Shadow Health Minister in 2002. However, he resigned from this post in 2003 in order to vote against the war in Iraq.
He was subsequently re-appointed as a Shadow Health Minister and responsibilities included cancer services (he is Chair of the All-Party Group on Cancer) and long-term conditions. In the General Election of 2005 John was re-elected with a majority of 11,000. In summer 2007, John moved from Health to join the Opposition Whips Office.
Among his other Parliamentary interests, John has campaigned about the need to protect our civil liberties, the need for a more constructive engagement with Iran, and for greater Government recognition of our Nuclear Test Veterans. He has also campaigned for the lifting of the ban on NHS top-up payments (for which he was nominated a ‘Charity Champion’ in 2008) and for the adoption of a twin-track approach in our dealings with illegal traveller sites, as well as raising questions about our involvement in Afghanistan and the support given to our troops both in theatre and at home.
