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| Affiliation | Conservative |
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| Name | John Penrose |
| Address |
, , United Kingdom |
| Email | john.penrose@weston-conservatives.co.uk |
| Website | [Link] |
| Born |
June 22, 1964
(59 years)
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| Contributor | User 215 |
| Last Modifed | Ralphie
May 21, 2008 01:23pm |
| Tags |
English -
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| Info | John is a publisher. He is Chairman of Logotron Ltd, a small independent company creating educational software for schools, and used to be Managing Director of Longman, publishing school textbooks for the UK and parts of Africa. Earlier in his career, John worked in publishing for Thomson, in management consulting for McKinsey, and in banking for JPMorgan.
John lives in his constituency, in the village of Winscombe. His father was brought up in nearby Timsbury, and his grandfather taught at Midsomer Norton school. His parents were both teachers, but John's father died in 1992. His mother has since remarried and now lives in Scotland. John married Dido Harding in 1995. Her family have been Somerset farmers for many generations. Dido's horse, Cool Dawn, won the 1998 Cheltenham Gold Cup, and John has been kicking himself ever since because he didn't bet on the race.
John's hobbies are fishing, beekeeping, rowing, worrying while Dido rides in steeplechases, and celebrating when she wins.
John's Experience
Weston-super-Mare
John was selected as candidate for Weston-super-Mare in November 2000 and campaigned strongly for solutions to Weston's drug and crime problems, saving the constituency's greenfields, improving roads and rail links to Bristol, better pensions for Weston's elderly, and a fairer funding deal for Weston's local hospital and schools. Local people supported these initiatives in the General Election 18 months later, cutting the majority of Weston's sitting Lib-Dem MP to just 338 votes.
After the election many people assumed that John would move on to a safer Conservative constituency, but he preferred to show his commitment to the people in the area, and to his family home, by staying. In 2002 he agreed to fight the seat for a second time, and his position was unanimously confirmed in July 2003.
John is involved in several local community initiatives. He has been Chairman of one of Weston's "Blue Skies" action groups, a project to revive Weston's tourism industry which enjoys widespread community support. He's also President of the Weston YMCA, which acts as an umbrella organisation for a range of local organisations such as the local Credit Union; the Teenage Pregnancy Advisory unit; Junction 21 (Weston's Crime Concern Trust); Connexions (youth advice and mentoring); the local Deposit Guarantee Board (housing for the homeless); and VIA (drug and alcohol rehabilitation assessment).
The Bow Group
John was in charge of research for the Bow Group, a long-established and highly-respected Conservative think-tank, in 1998. He commissioned and published papers on Reforming the House of Lords, Human Rights, Reforming Europe and recruiting more Conservative women MPs.
Ealing Southall
John was Parliamentary Candidate in 1997 for Ealing Southall, a safe Labour seat with a strong ethnic mix. He was also a governor of Beaconsfield Primary School in Southall from 1996 until 2000.
Conservatives - Working for Weston Super Mare
Local Conservatives are campaigning on several issues which are important for the future of Weston and the villages around it.
Health. Weston hospital is too small for the town and needs to grow to keep pace, so we’ve launched the “Fair Deal for Weston Hospital” campaign to win £5 million for a new paediatric unit; a new maternity unit; a new 28-bed ward and a new teaching academy. The campaign is supported by many local GPs, and by the Friends of Weston Hospital. The hospital may be small, but it gets top marks for efficiency and the standard of medical care is good, while other hospitals get much more money but overspend every year.
Drugs & Crime. Weston has a serious drugs problem, and the police say it’s linked to 93% of local crime. Weston needs a clean image to attract visitors, families and jobs, but drugs and crime put it at risk. Our plans would add a third more policemen for Weston and the villages, and we’re campaigning for stronger regulation of rehabilitation centres in Weston too. Equally importantly, the country needs more rehabs elsewhere, in cities like Bristol or Birmingham, so that addicts have a better chance of being cured with support from their families and friends, rather than simply being dumped on their own in Weston because there’s no way of treating them at home.
Urban Sprawl. Labour’s plans to build all over the South West are a recipe for losing green fields and creating traffic gridlock. We need solutions for Banwell and Sandford’s traffic without creating new jams in neighbouring villages or building extra houses, so we’re supporting bans on long-distance freight traffic through the villages as an important first step. And we need more jobs in Weston to reduce commuting to Bristol, with better rail links as an alternative to the M5.
Pensions. The state pension has become a means-tested benefit for the poor rather than an entitlement which people have earned through their contributions during their working life. We’ve been campaigning for better pensions by restoring the earnings related link, which has now become official Party Policy and would mean an extra £350 a year for single pensioners and £550 for couples. And now we are campaigning for lower council taxes through a fairer grant from central Government, so that pensioners can afford to stay in the houses they bought while they were working.
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