John Redwood

John Redwood is the Conservative MP for Wokingham and was born in 1951.

Political Career

He first became an MP in 1987. He promptly joined the front bench in 1989 as Parliamentary Under-Secretary in the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for Corporate Affairs. Promoted to Minister of State in 1990, he supervised the liberalisation of the telecoms industry. He became Minister for Local Government and Inner Cities after the 1992 election where he successfully saw through the introduction of the council tax. In 1993 he was made a Privy Counsellor and Secretary of State for Wales in the Cabinet. He resigned in 1995 in order to set out the case against the Euro and for lower taxes. In 1997 he joined the Shadow Cabinet handling the DTI brief. In 1999 he became Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment. In 2000 he was appointed Head of the Parliamentary Campaigns Unit. In September 2004 he became Shadow Secretary of State for Deregulation. From December 2005 until 2010 he was the Chairman of the Party's Economic Competitiveness Policy Group. Since 2010 he has been the Chairman of the Conservative Parliamentary Economic Affairs Committee. John Redwood has written several books and many articles. His most recent publications include Singing the Blues, Third Way - Which Way? How should we pay for public services?, Just Say No! (100 arguments against the Euro), Stars and Strife (on US-EU relations), Get a Move on (Selsden 2002 on transport policy), Healthy Choices (NTB 2002 with co-authors on the NHS), and After the Credit Crunch. He is currently speaking and writing about the deficit and debt crisis affecting the UK. His blog was voted the 20th best political blog of 2011 by the readers of Total Politics.

Education

He won a free place at Kent College, Canterbury,and graduated from Magdalen College Oxford. He is a Distinguished fellow of All Souls, Oxford.

External Links

Conservatives Website

John Redwood Official Website