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I was born in 1958 in Bolton, Lancashire. My father was a colliery electrician and my mother an office worker. They and their families had always been Labour supporters!
I went to an ordinary primary school, where my closest friend was Jim Cartwright, who became a successful playwright, having plays performed in the West End. After that, having unsuccessfully negotiated the 11-plus (my sister later passed!), I went to a Church of England secondary modern school, which I loved. It was there where I started to study political history, which eventually ended up shaping my life.
This was in the 1970s, which was a very turbulent time politically. In the early 70s, there were the miners’ strikes, the three-day week and electricity cuts. The early 70s also saw the worst days that Northern Ireland would experience in all of the Troubles. And there were two General Elections in 1974, then the Lib-Lab pact from 1976, and, eventually, the Winter of Discontent in the winter of 1978-9, when the snow lay on the ground, the rubbish piled up and the dead were left un-burried.
At the age of 16 I went on to sixth form at the local grammar school, which had been attended by the World Cup winning footballer Alan Ball some years before, where I furthered my studies in political history. In my 20s, I passed a three year (day release) management course and then studied Law at night school and through a correspondence course. The true value of education hit me slightly late but at least I got there!
Partly because of everything I saw in the 1970s, though in spite of my family background and the fact that I lived in a strong Labour area, back to back with a coal depot, and most of my school friends came from Labour families, I became a Conservative. It seemed to me that the Conservative Party offered people like me the prospect of making progress; the Party seemed to believe in rewarding hard work and enterprise; in upholding the values of freedom; in helping others; and seemed to be supportive of Britain’s great institutions. This really is a summary of my basic, fundamental values.
I started work at 18 at a transport company, where my duties included loading wagons, driving a fork-lift truck, running the warehouse and a number of organisational tasks. I didn’t stay long there before moving into the textiles industry, eventually on the production management side. I worked in weaving, spinning and the manufacture of clothing and furnishings.
Although I became a political anorak at the age of 15, the real love of my life at that time was sport. I was a football fanatic, following Bolton Wanderers (if the words football and Bolton Wanderers do not amount to a conflict of language) home and away, and watching their reserves and youth team. Being a Bolton fan meant enduring a mixture of pleasure and pain, with the latter in the predominance. To balance it, I also watched Manchester United a bit, and especially admired them during the Best-Law-Charlton years.
I also fished for a couple of years, played tennis and, more importantly, started to play golf, which is a sport I enjoy to this day, currently having a handicap of 15. My interest in horse racing came after the emotional Grand National of 1981, when Bob Champion, who had recovered from cancer, steered Aldaniti, who had recovered from serious injury, to victory at Aintree. Racing, particularly National Hunt, remains a passionate interest.
However, following Margaret Thatcher’s victory in 1979, the political world was gripping me and beaconing. The country was really up against it because of years of mismanagement at the political and industrial levels and I wanted to support Margaret and what she was doing, so I joined the Conservative Party in 1981.
Later that year, I refused to join the trade union at a company I was working at and the whole place of 600 people almost came out on strike against me. Management were terrified of managing, terrified of the union and particularly terrified of my stance. During my struggle, the management and the union did everything they could do to break me. Others, from the shop floor and the offices, privately told me how much they admired my stance. But they were frightened too. But I won. The union backed down and I carried on working there. I left of my own choosing a year or so later and became self-employed as a contractor/consultant, mainly in the textiles industry.
I fought two council elections, which I lost, then contested Makerfield at the 1987 General Election then Ashfield at the 1992 Election. I didn’t have a chance of winning any of those elections, and with my election score standing at 0-4, I was selected out of a total of 181 applicants to fight the newly-formed Tewkesbury seat.
That was in 1995 and I was living in Derbyshire and London at that time, having moved into charity fundraising work. My principal project was with Church Army as the co-ordinator of a £2.2 million fundraising appeal to finance the creation of a hostel and day centre for homeless women in London. I met many wonderful people during this time, including Archbishops, Lords, Ladies, MPs, famous authoresses and actresses as well as the great staff at Church Army and the people whom we were trying to help.
I moved to live in the constituency in late 1995 and was elected to Parliament at the General Election of 1997, which was when the Conservative Party suffered its worst defeat since 1906, losing half its MPs. But for me, being elected was a dream come true. Not only was I an MP, but my constituency contained the historic Tewkesbury Abbey and the racecourse at Prestbury Park. I could not have designed it better myself.
Time has passed very quickly since 1997. I have served as an Opposition Whip, Shadow DT Minister and Shadow Northern Ireland Minister, which I still serve as. But most importantly, it is an honour and a privilege to represent a wonderful constituency and such great people.
