I was elected as a Councillor in a by-election in 2012 and have been re-elected twice. As an opposition Councillor I understand the role of holding an administration to account through scrutiny. We don’t run the council, but we can still get stuff done for our residents and local businesses and that is how to maintain their support. 

I have sat on Planning Committees, helped our community prepare a Neighbourhood Plan and led on responding to the consultations on our own new Local Plan.

When I was a student, I helped “knock up” voters in Surbiton in the 1987 General Election, but only got seriously involved in the Conservative Party in the late 1990s.

I have been actively involved in every election since the 1999 European Parliament Elections and have been Chairman, or Acting Chairman, of four London Conservative Associations, most recently spending seven years as Deputy Chairman Political, then Chairman of Sir Iain Duncan Smith’s constituency, Chingford & Woodford Green.

I was an Area Officer for the old London north East Area and then Deputy Chairman and Chairman of the London Lea Valley Area.