Speakers

Oliver Letwin MP
Conservative MP for West Dorset and Chairman of the Policy Review
http://www.oliverletwinmp.com/wordpress/

Oliver has been involved in policy formation and policy thinking for the last 25 years, since he worked for Mrs Thatcher in Downing Street in the 1980s.

In a varied career, he has been a philosophy don at Cambridge, a civil servant and a bank director. He has written many books, pamphlets and articles, including Ethics, Emotion and the Unity of the Self, Privatising the World and The Purpose of Politics.

Oliver is a passionate champion of progressive social reform, a cause which he advocated strongly as Shadow Home Secretary in his speeches on the ‘neighbourly society’; and he has been involved with Iain Duncan Smith’s Centre for Social Justice since it was first founded.

Oliver is involved with numerous charities, including the Weldmar Hospice in Dorchester (of which he is a patron) and the Social Mobility Foundation (of which he is a trustee and former chairman).

Peter Tatchell
www.petertatchell.net
Follow on twitter: PeterTatchell
Peter Tatchell has been campaigning for human rights, democracy and global justice since 1967.  He is a member of the queer human rights group OutRage!, and the left-wing of the Green Party. Peter is also the Green Party’s spokesperson on human rights.  Peter’s key political inspirations are Mahatma Gandhi, Sylvia Pankurst, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.

Born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1952, he began campaigning for human rights in 1967, aged 15. His first campaign was against the death penalty, followed by campaigns in support of Aboriginal rights and in opposition to conscription and the Australian and US war against the people of Vietnam.

Forty years after first beginning his human rights campaigns, Peter Tatchell continues to campaign for the independence of the Western Sahara, Palestine and West Papua. He supports the struggles for democracy and human rights in Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Burma, Columbia, Somaliland, Baluchistan, Zimbabwe and elsewhere.

A high-profile campaigner in British politics for more than 25 years, he opposes ID cards, nuclear weapons and power, the privatisation of public services and the erosion of civil liberties by draconian anti-terror laws.

Ed Howker
The Spectator

Ed Howker trained as a journalist on The Daily Telegraph and now writes for The Spectator. In between he developed a BBC drama in which women ran the country, worked as a producer on Channel 4 Dispatches, wrote about conservatives in Prospect Magazine and investigated asbestos scandals for the New Statesman.

Christopher Hope
Whitehall editor, Daily Telegraph
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/author/christopherhope/
Follow on Twitter: @christopherhope

Christopher Hope joined The Daily Telegraph in October 2003. Since then he has been Business Correspondent, Industry Editor, Home Affairs Correspondent, Home Affairs Editor and is now Whitehall Editor.

Stuart Etherington
Chief Executive, NCVO
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk
Follow on twitter: ncvo

Stuart Etherington was appointed Chief Executive of NCVO in 1994.  NCVO is a membership organisation that represents the interests of charities and voluntary bodies. It has over 7,500 member organisations.  Previously he was Chief Executive of the Royal National Institute for Deaf People, a major UK charity.

He has four degrees: BA in Politics, MA in Social Planning, MBA from the London Business School and a MA in International Relations and Diplomacy.  He has been awarded an honorary doctorate from Brunel University, and is an Honorary Visiting Professor at South Bank University and City University London.

Throughout his career he has been involved in the leadership of voluntary organisations and policies surrounding them.  As such he has become a leading commentator, both through his writing and his media profile.  His leisure pursuits include reading political biographies, going to the theatre, opera and film, watching Surrey County Cricket Club and Charlton Athletic.

Adam Sampson
Chief Ombudsman at the Office for Legal Complaints
www.officeforlegalcomplaints.org.uk

Adam Sampson was appointed as Chief Executive for the Office for Legal Complaints and Chief Legal Ombudsman in spring 2009, with a remit to set up the new Legal Ombudsman scheme by the end of 2010. Adam has spent a long career in the public and voluntary sectors.  Starting as Junior Dean at Brasenose College, Oxford – he joined the probation service before leaving to spend five years as Deputy Director of the Prison Reform Trust.  He was then recruited into Government to set up the Prisons Ombudsman Service, where he spent three years as Assistant Ombudsman.

Adam then returned to the voluntary sector, first as Chief Executive of the addictions charity RAPt and then as Chief Executive of Shelter, where he spent seven years leading the campaign for more affordable housing and managing the modernisation of one of the country’s leading voluntary sector organisations.  During this time too, he took on a number of senior roles in the voluntary and public sectors, including sitting on a number of high profile Government commissions.  He is now a Commissioner of the UK Drugs Policy Commission and Chairs the new Community Interest Company C4H.  He has written and broadcast regularly on issues of social policy and public practice.

Brian Lamb OBE
Executive Director of Advocacy and Policy, RNID
www.rnid.org.uk

Brian Lamb is Executive Director of Advocacy and Policy at the Royal National Institute for Deaf People.  Brian worked for Scope in a number of roles before joining RNID. He is Chair of the Special Educational Needs Consortium and was a member of the Government’s Disability Rights Task Force. Brian is the author of the “Good Campaigns Guide”, published by NCVO.

Danny Alexander MP
Liberal Democrat MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey
http://www.highlandlibdems.org.uk/
Follow on twitter: dannyalexander

Born in 1972, Danny Alexander grew up in the Highlands and Islands and went to Lochaber High School in Fort William. He then went on to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford.  After this Danny worked as a press officer for the Scottish Liberal Democrats before spending four years at the European Movement and then four years as Director of Communications for the Britain in Europe campaign. In 2003 he was appointed the Head of Communications for the recently formed Cairngorms National Park Authority before becoming an MP for the newly created seat of Inverness, Nairn, and Badenoch & Strathspey in the 2005 election.

Danny joined the shadow Work and Pensions team in 2005 and in July 2007 he was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, holding the post until June 2008. He gave this up to concentrate on the roles he currently holds as chief of staff to the party leader, Nick Clegg and Chair of the Manifesto group which sees him in charge of putting together the party’s election manifesto.  He is chair of the all-party group on media literacy, vice-chair of the all-party group on Citizen’s Advice, a trustee of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, and president of Strathspey Rugby Club.

Tom Watson MP
Labour MP for West Bromwich East
www.tom-watson.co.uk
Follow on twitter: tom_watson

Since being elected to Parliament in June 2001 to represent the people of West Bromwich East Tom has served as a Government Whip and Defence Minister as well as Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Treasury. He co-authored “Votes for All” which examined compulsory voting and “Taking Responsibility – dealing with the legacy of radioactive waste”.

Before entering the House of Commons, Tom worked as the Political Adviser to Sir Ken Jackson at the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union. He has also worked for the Labour Party and Save the Children. He served on the Rover Taskforce, the Government appointed body that helped extend the life of the Longbridge car plant.

Andrew Pakes
Labour PPC for Milton Keynes
www.andrewpakes.org.uk/
Follow on twitter: andrew4mk

Andrew is the Labour and Co-op parliamentary candidate for his home town of Milton Keynes North. He was born in Newport Pagnell and grew up in Milton Keynes working on the successful election campaign in 1997 where Labour gained both seats.

Andrew started his career in campaigning and pressure group politics, twice being elected President of the National Union of Students (NUS), and working on high profile issues such as tuition fees and university funding. Following his studies, Andrew worked for the Association of University Teachers (AUT), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and as Head of Political Communications at the Labour Party. He also worked for the Greater London Authority where he was Chief of Staff to the then Deputy Mayor of London.

He has a keen interest in environmental and ethical issues and is involved in the co-operative movement. Today, Andrew works for Connect Public Affairs advising clients on major policy issues and splits his time between Milton Keynes and his work in London.

Martin Tod
Liberal Democrat PPC for Winchester
www.martintod.org.uk
Follow on twitter: mpntod

Martin lives and works in the heart of Winchester with his wife Michaela.
He joined the Liberal party in 1983 at Cambridge University, where he was Deputy President of the Cambridge University Students Union and President of the Union debating society.

Outside the Liberal Democrats, Martin is actively involved in Winchester Friends of the Earth and Winchester Action on Climate Change. He is also a member of the Electoral Reform Society, the Howard League for Penal Reform, the European Movement, Amnesty International, the Open Rights Group, and No2ID.

Karen Gillard
Liberal Democrat PPC for South East Cornwall
www.karengillard.org.uk
Follow on twitter: KarenGillard

Karen Gillard was brought up in Torpoint, trained in Plymouth as a Barrister and now lives in Liskeard. She is involved with several charities including Chair of the South West Employment Rights Centre and the Saltash British Legion.

Karen in recent months has been running campaigns to safeguard local Post Offices, NHS dentists and to keep town centre parking charges low, helping local traders and local people.  Speaking recently Karen said “I feel I am well-equipped to campaign for the people of South East Cornwall, not only in Westminster, but wherever and whenever the need arises. I have always been based here and as a result I share and understand many of the concerns of local people.”

Stephen Twigg
Labour PPC for Liverpool, West Derby
www.twigg4westderby.com
Follow on twitter: StephenTwigg

Stephen Twigg was born in 1966 in Enfield and he studied Politics & Economics at Oxford University. In 1997 Stephen returned to Enfield Southgate to become its first ever Labour MP, defeating the then Defence Secretary Michael Portillo in what was later voted the “3rd greatest television moment ever”!

Stephen has 8 years’ previous experience in Parliament where he was an active campaigner on behalf of his constituents.  Stephen was a Government Minister for 4 years – first as Deputy Leader of the House of Commons working with Robin Cook to reform Parliament and then for 3 years as Minister for Schools where he led the new primary schools’ policy “Excellence and Enjoyment”.  Since April 2007 Stephen has divided his time between Liverpool and London.

Councillor Sue Anderson
Birmingham City Council
www.birmingham.gov.uk

Councillor Anderson’s political career dates back to 1961, when she joined the Young Liberals. She served on the West Midlands County Council for six years and was a member of both the Police Committee and Waste Disposal Committee, and Chair of the Women’s Committee.

Councillor Anderson was first elected to the Council in 1980 and has been a Councillor in Sheldon since 1990.  In 1998 Councillor Anderson was Lord Mayor of Birmingham.

Jonathan Ellis
Director of Policy and Development, Refugee Council
www.refugeecouncil.org.uk

Jonathan is Director of Policy and Development at the Refugee Council where he leads the team working on research, policy and campaigning as well as support for refugee community organisations (RCOs). He is the co-chair of the Refugee Teachers’ task force, and chair of the Access to Higher Education working group and of the Basis project board, which supports the development of RCOs.

Jonathan is the author of Campaigning for Success- how to cope when you achieve your campaign goal (NCVO 2007), is an external adviser on the Certificate in Campaigning and leads training for INTRAC on global advocacy. He is a member of NCVO’s Campaigning Effectiveness advisory group and is a campaign coach for the Sheila McKechnie Foundation. Jonathan has been a campaign manager for OXFAM, where he worked on a campaign with the Refugee Council and the Transport and General Workers’ Union, which led to the abolition of the asylum vouchers scheme.

David Babbs
38 Degrees
http://38degrees.org.uk
Follow on Twitter: 38_degrees

David Babbs is Executive Director of 38 Degrees, a new organisation which brings people together to take action on the issues that matter to them and bring about real change in the UK.  David makes sure that the campaigns are led by members and achieve real impact.

David previously worked at Friends of the Earth where he led the mobilisation for the Big Ask campaign, which achieved the world’s first Climate Change Law with binding targets. He’s previously worked on campaigns on poverty, refugee rights, and social housing.

Stella Creasy
The Scout Association & Labour PPC for Walthamstow
www.workingforwalthamstow.org/ www.scouts.org.uk/
Follow on twitter: stellacreasy

Stella has been working for Labour alongside local activists and community campaign groups for many years as an active member of the Walthamstow constituency, whether as a branch secretary, GC delegate, LGC delegate or a campaign organiser.  As a councillor for Waltham Forest Stella was the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Chief Whip.

Stella is part of the wider Labour movement too as a member of Unite, the Fabians, SERA and the Labour Women’s Network. Stella has worked with Douglas Alexander MP, Charles Clarke MP and Ross Cranston MP. As a speech writer and researcher to three Labour ministers she has wide knowledge of the machinery of government.  Stella is the Head of Public Affairs and Campaigns at The Scout Association

Samuel Coates
My Conservatives
http://www.myconservatives.com/
Follow on twitter: samuelcoates

Samuel Coates started out as Deputy Editor of the independent ConservativeHome.com in 2005, later moving on from blogging to work for David Cameron as a speechwriter.

Last summer, he took on a new role within the Conservative Party working on online campaigning in the run-up to the election – notably through the MyConservatives online organising platform.

Simon Collister
We are Social
www.simoncollister.com/
Follow on twitter: simoncollister

Simon Collister works for the UK’s leading social media agency, We Are Social, and helps not-for-profit, political and public sector organisations adapt to the digital society through researching emerging trends, developing creative communications strategies and delivering workshops and training. Previously Simon worked for the world’s two largest public relation firms, as Head of Digital in the UK with Weber Shandwick and prior to that as Head of Digital Culture and Emerging Media with PR firm Edelman.

Simon is also a Non-Executive Director with the Open Rights Group, a UK based digital rights NGO which campaigns to protect civil liberties threatened by the poor implementation and regulation of digital technology. Simon has also completed extensive research into the media agenda setting ability of political blogs and use of social media monitoring by UK political parties which has been presented at national and international academic conferences. He holds an MA in Modern Literature & Culture and a BA in English and Related Literature – both from the University of York.  He also holds a post-graduate diploma in PR from Leeds Metropolitan University.

Jonathan Isaby
Editor, Conservative Home
http://conservativehome.blogs.com
Follow on twitter: isaby

Jonathan joined ConservativeHome.com as co-editor in November 2008. A Conservative activist in London during his teenage years, in 1996 he went to study modern languages and linguistics at the University of York.  For most of the last decade, Jonathan has observed politics professionally, having joined the BBC on graduation as a political analyst based in the corporation’s Westminster newsroom.

In 2003 Jonathan joined The Daily Telegraph as a reporter on the diary column, Spy, later becoming its deputy editor. He latterly wrote his own daily political diary column, Three Line Whip, which sat alongside the blog of the same name on the paper’s website.

Jonathan is a regular media pundit and has appeared on BBC News Channel; Sky News; Channel Four News; BBC One’s Breakfast; BBC Parliament; Today, The World at One and PM on Radio Four; Radio Five Live; Radio Scotland; Radio Ulster; Nick Ferrari’s Breakfast Show on LBC; and German satellite channels Sat 1 and RTL.

Tim Montgomerie
Editor, Conservative Home
http://conservativehome.blogs.com
Follow on twitter: TimMontgomerie

Tim Montgomerie edits ConservativeHome with Jonathan Isaby. The website was launched on Easter Monday, 2005, with the aims of championing grassroots party members and advocating a balanced, authentic conservatism.

Tim was Iain Duncan Smith’s chief of staff for his last two months as Conservative leader and throughout 2004 helped him to establish the Centre for Social Justice.  Tim is a regular media pundit His broadcast experience includes Radio 4’s Today, The Week in Westminster, The World at One, PM, The World Tonight, Any Questions?, BBC1’s Daily Politics and Ten’o'clock News, BBC2’s Newsnight, Channel 4 News, Sky News, Fox News and Bill Bennett’s Morning in America radio programme. Tim has written for The Spectator and a number of national newspapers including The Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent and the Financial Times.

Elle Bullimore
Local Campaigns Coordinator, Leonard Cheshire Disability
www.lcdisability.org

As a politics graduate with a keen interest in public policy, Eleanor began her career as a key caseworker in a busy Westminster office. She then went on to work with The Campaign Company, a communications and social marketing consultancy which specialises in community engagement. Eleanor is now a Local Campaigns Coordinator for Leonard Cheshire Disability, supporting disabled people to campaign on issues that matter to them in their local communities.

John Benger
Clerk of Delegated Legislation, House of Commons
www.parliament.uk

John Benger read English Literature at Cambridge before completing a doctoral thesis on Elizabethan Puritan Literature at Oxford. He joined the Clerk’s Department in the House of Commons in 1986.

Like all House of Commons Clerks, John’s career has been divided between work on select committees and in the various procedural offices. He has served as second clerk of the Trade and Industry Committee and as Clerk of the Committee of Public Accounts, the Health Committee and most recently the Treasury Committee. John has also worked in the Private Bill, Public Bill and Table Offices.

John is currently Principal Clerk with responsibility for delegated legislation and has overall supervision of six select committees including Justice, Home Affairs, the Joint Committee on Human Rights and European Scrutiny.

Chris Shaw
Clerk, Public Bills Office
www.parliament.uk

Chris Shaw has been a Clerk in the House of Commons for twenty years. He is currently Head of the Scrutiny Unit, which provides financial, legal and statistical expertise to support of the work of select committees as well as the staff for pre-legislative scrutiny committees. Before that, he has worked for three select committees (Home Affairs, Defence and Science & Technology) and undertaken stints in the Table Office and Public Bill Office, where he was in charge of Private Members’ Bills. Chris has also served the UK Parliamentary Delegations to various international parliamentary assemblies and has just finished a 5 year stint as the Presidential Adviser to the President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

Liz Atkins
Director of Public Policy, NCVO
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk

Liz Atkins leads NCVO’s 45-strong Public Policy Department, covering campaigns, media, policy, research and partnerships work.  Before joining NCVO, Liz was Director of Strategy and Communications at the National Housing Federation.

Prior to that, Atkins was Head of Policy and Public Affairs at NSPCC, where she mobilised 140,000 supporters to back the charity’s campaigns. She has also held campaigning and policy positions at the Post Office, the Co-operative Union and the Labour Party.

Belinda Pratten
Head of Policy, NCVO
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk

Belinda is Head of Policy at NCVO, where she has lead responsibility for developing and taking forward NCVO’s civil society agenda, launched earlier this year. Previously, as Senior Policy Officer, Belinda led NCVO’s campaign for charity law reform and established the Third Sector Network, an alliance of umbrella organisations working across civil society. Before working at NCVO Belinda was senior lecturer in Health and Social Policy at London Metropolitan University.

Emma Moore
Chief Executive, Pink Stinks
www.pinkstinks.co.uk
Follow on twitter: emmahmoore

Emma is a trustee for the National Childminding Association, and in her spare time runs a campaign called Pinkstinks which challenges the culture of pink which invades girls’ lives as they grow up. Pinkstinks recently achieved worldwide media coverage in 26 countries, in the press and online.

She is also Head of Information and Publishing at NCVO. She is responsible for the strategic development of NCVO’s online presence and printed material including Engage magazine. She was recently responsible for the launch of NCVO’s new website and online communities.

Liam Barrington-Bush
Learning and Development Officer (Campaigning), NCVO
www.louder.org.uk
Follow on twitter: louderdevelop

Liam spent much of his youth in Toronto, Canada, inhaling tear gas at international trade summits, mobilising teenagers to fight exorbitant tuition fees and getting people in his neighbourhood to make the lives of local neo-Nazis generally unbearable.

Since then, he has come to England and learned that change happens in many different ways. Supporting community leaders to develop projects and small organisations at the Scarman Trust, and working voluntarily with community groups to secure funding and facilitate partnerships provides the context for Liam’s current role at Campaigning Effectiveness, where he has specialised in ‘e-campaigning’ and led on the development of Louder.org.uk, ‘the online home for people who want to change the world’.

Nick Wilson Young
Third Sector Foresight Officer, NCVO
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/NickWilsonYoung

Before NCVO, Nick was co-leader of a grassroots peacebuilding project across the frontline dividing the destroyed town where the Balkan wars began, about which he wrote the forthcoming book, A More Human Channel. He helped create the hands-on Zagreb Centre for Peace Studies, of which he is a Research Associate, and pioneered training for Amnesty across the newly ex-Soviet bloc, writing a manual used in over 30 languages. Nick led Victim/Offender mediation in London’s East End, and was chosen by Terry Waite to receive a Sheila McKechnie Foundation Award for his UK campaign strategy ‘Taxes for Peace not War’. He has a Certificate in Professional Campaigning Practice and says “I’m a huge fan of strategy because I’ve seen too many heroic organisations wiped out by events that they could have foreseen.”

Shaun Spiers
Chief Executive, Campaign to Protect Rural Engalnd
www.cpre.org.uk

Shaun Spiers, born in 1962, has been Chief Executive of CPRE since 2004. From 1999 to 2004 he was Chief Executive of the Association of British Credit Unions Limited (ABCUL). From 1994 to 1999 he was the Member of the European Parliament for London South East. He has a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from St. John’s College, Oxford University and an MA in War Studies from King’s College London.

John McTernan
Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for Scotland

John McTernan is special adviser to the Rt Hon Jim Murphy MP, Secretary of State for Scotland. From 2007-8 he was special adviser to the Rt Hon Des Browne, Secretary of State for Defence and Scotland. Prior to this he worked at 10 Downing Street for three and a half years. Until July 2007 he was Political Secretary to Prime Minister Tony Blair. From January 2004 until April 2005 he was a Senior Policy Adviser in the No 10 Policy Directorate leading on regeneration, social exclusion, arts, sports, lottery and gambling. He worked with Matthew Taylor, the PM’s Chief Policy Adviser, on Labour’s manifesto for the 2005 General Election.

Prior to this he was the senior political columnist, and leader writer, for ‘Scotland on Sunday’ and acknowledged as one of Scotland’s leading political thinkers. He also wrote a weekly column on social policy in ‘Community Care’. As a consultant he specialised in leadership and strategic thinking – running the Civil Service Top Management Programme for the Cabinet Office, and working with a range of public and private sector organisations across the UK including the Prudential, English Partnerships, Edinburgh City Council and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. John was also Head of Strategy and Chief Political Adviser to the First Minister of Scotland; Director of Operations at Cartlon Productions and a Special Adviser in the Department of Social Security. He has also been a councillor in the London Borough of Southwark.

John Bercow MP
Speaker of the House of Commons

From 1986 to 1987, John served as National Chairman of the Federation of Conservative Students, and in 1987 he was appointed by Norman Tebbit as Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Collegiate Forum to head the campaign for student support in the run-up to the 1987 general election. He became a Conservative councillor in the London Borough of Lambeth in 1986 (until 1990) and serving from 1987 to 1989 as deputy leader of the 21 strong Conservative Opposition Group. 1n 1995, John was appointed Special Adviser to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and later served as special Adviser to the Secretary of State for National Heritage.

John was elected as Member of Parliament for Buckingham in May 1997, with a majority of 12,386. In May 2005, John was re-elected with an increased majority of 18,129
In June 1999, he was appointed Front Bench Spokesman for Education & Employment. In July 2000, he was appointed Front Bench Spokesman for Home Affairs. In September 2001, he was appointed Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. From July 2002 to November 2002, he was Shadow Minister for Work & Pensions. From November 2003 to September 2004, he was Shadow Secretary of State for International Development.

He is co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Burma, vice-Chair of the All Party Groups on the Prevention of Genocide, Africa and Sudan. He is also Secretary of the All Party Group on Human Rights. In July 2005, John established the All Party Group on Brain Tumours to raise awareness of issues surrounding brain tumour care.

In September 2007, John was appointed by Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, to lead a review of services for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs. The final report of the Review was published in July 2008.

John was appointed to the Speaker’s Conference on Parliamentary Representation in November 2008. The Conference has been asked to ‘consider, and make recommendations for rectifying, the disparity between the representation of women, ethnic minorities and disabled people in the House of Commons and their representation in the UK population at large’. The Conference has until the end of the Parliament to conduct its inquiries.

John was elected as the 157th Speaker of the House of Commons on 22nd June 2009.

Rt Hon Baroness Hayman
The Lord Speaker

Baroness (Helene) Hayman is the first elected Lord Speaker of the House of Lords.  In that role, as well as presiding over proceedings in the Chamber, she represents the House on ceremonial occasions and at international meetings of Speakers. She also acts as an ambassador for the House, explaining the work of the House of Lords to wider audiences, and is developing an active outreach programme designed to engage the public and particularly young people.  She also chairs the House Committee, the principal committee responsible for the domestic affairs of the House.

Educated at Wolverhampton Girls High School she went on to read law at Newnham College, Cambridge and was President of the Union in 1969.  Following positions with the Social Services Department of the London Borough of Camden and the National Council for One Parent Families she was elected MP for Welwyn and Hatfield in October 1974.  Aged 25 she was the youngest MP of the House and one of only 27 women MPs at that time.  After losing her seat in 1979 she went on to serve as a member of the Royal College of Gynaecologists Ethical Committee, the first of numerous roles in the health care sector, which also included Chair of the Whittington Hospital NHS Trust and Chair of Cancer Research UK.

In 1996 she was made a Life Peer becoming Opposition Spokesperson for Health and, following the 1997 general election, Minister for Roads and subsequently Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Health.  She was promoted in 1999 to Minister of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and was made a Privy Counsellor in 2001.  Following Government reforms to the role of the Lord Chancellor, she was elected to the position of Lord Speaker by Members of the House of Lords on 4 July 2006.

George Freeman
www.georgefreeman.co.uk/

George Freeman is Conservative PPC for Mid Norfolk and a champion of the Conservative ‘Social Action’ movement, which is helping Conservative PPC’s and MP’s to actively engage in support of voluntary activity in the communities they serve.  George fought the 2005 election for the Conservatives in the Labour stronghold of Stevenage, under the banner of his campaign Positive Politics! http://www.georgefreeman.co.uk/positivepolitics/ and turned an 8500 majority into a 2900 with one of the biggest swings in the 2005 Election.

An early advocate of the need to reinvigorate local democracy and civic society, George started in politics founding and running localist think tank The Local Identity Agency in the early 90’s, working with councils and the NCVO on projects to devolve powers to local communities.

From 1997 to 2010 he has worked in biotechnology as a manager, investor and adviser to emerging biotech ventures, and is working with the Shadow Business and Enterprise team on Innovation policy.  He has written variously on localism, enterprise and civic society.

Simon Jones
Conservative PPC for Dagenham and Rainham
www.jonesvision.co.uk

Simon Jones, born in 1974, is the Conservative candidate for Dagenham and Rainham. Born and bred just down the road in Essex, he is pleased to be able to stand in this new constituency where three generations of his family have lived. His Great Grandparents moved to Chadwell Heath in the 1940’s and all his Aunts and Uncles grew up in East Brook & Rainham. His grandfather who worked in Dagenham’s Ford plant, was an inspiration to him.

Simon is a Project Manager by profession, having worked in the private sector for over ten years. He has many interests both within politics and outside. In his limited spare time he enjoys sailing, watching football and is involved with a number of charity projects.

Michelle Smyth
Acting Head of Campaigns and Public Affairs
Which?

Michelle is the Acting Head of Campaigns and Public Affairs.  She has been at Which? since 2003 leading on public affairs work on food issues and then as the public affairs manager.

Before joining Which?, Michelle worked for over four years as the parliamentary researcher to the late Phillip Whitehead MEP in the European Parliament.  This built on her previous employment experience in the communications team at BEUC (European Consumers’ Organisation) and in the European Commission’s then Department of Education, Training and Youth.

Ron Bailey

Ron Bailey has a 30-year record of organising Parliamentary and community campaigns across a broad range of issues. He has been instrumental in getting a number of Acts of Parliament on to the statute book, such as the Home Energy Conservation Act, Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act and the Road Traffic Reduction Act. He is also the parliamentary adviser to the the All Party Warm Homes Group and is currently campaigning for the Sustainable Communities Bill and the Food Justice Bill. Prior to becoming a political campaigner, he was involved in direct action politics such as the initiation of the current squatting movement in 1968.

Rosemary Frazer

Rosemary Frazer is an independent trainer and consultant on campaigning, advocacy skills and disability awareness training.  Rosemary has over 15 years experience working in a public policy and campaigning environment for a number of public and third sector organisations including the BBC, Mencap, RNIB and most recently was employed within NCVO’s Campaigning Effectiveness team with responsibility for the Certificate in Campaigning.

Paul Barasi
Compact Voice Officer at NCVO
http://www.compactvoice.org.uk/
Follow on Twitter: PaulBarasi

Paul focuses on supporting Local Compact engagement on the ground, and has spoken at Compact events in most local areas throughout England.  He sees the Compact as a campaign for good practice, promotes the Compact’s principles on the right to campaign, and spearheaded Local Sector Independence Day in 2007 to strengthen the independence of local groups.

Before moving to the Voluntary Sector, Paul worked as a policy officer in local government and as Policy Adviser to the Leader of the Inner London Education Authority.  He has previous Voluntary Sector experience at local level, having been Director of Job Concern in Mitcham before turning national with Alcohol Concern where he ran the first Think Drink campaign.  He has also been a trustee of numerous organisations including chairing London Voluntary Service Council and has run a range of local campaigns. Having experienced partnership from all sides of the local partnership table – as a council officer and a councillor, and as a voluntary sector trustee and a worker – Paul values both localism and campaigning as a way of achieving positive change at community level.

Ramesh Kukar
Chief Officer
Slough CVS

Ramesh Kukar joined Slough Council of Voluntary Services as its chief executive in June 2008. Ramesh starting out in the private sector as an accountant, with early disillusionment leading him into a long career in the voluntary and community sector. He has been involved in many community projects and setting up social enterprises with a focus on engaging young people and delivering programmes to assist them into employment and further learning.

Emma Taggart

Emma Taggart is a campaigns & public affairs consultant working exclusively with charities and not-for-profit organisations to create successful campaign and lobbying strategies and to build influencing capability through coaching and training. Emma’s clients include the National Autistic Society, Breast Cancer Care, Brook, UnLtd – the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, Central YMCA and Ovarian Cancer Action.

From 2008-9 Emma was chief of staff to Rt Hon David Lammy, MP for Tottenham and minister of state for higher education and intellectual property. Until 2006 she was director of policy & campaigns at Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

Will Perrin, Talk About Local

William Perrin is the Founder of Talk About Local a community empowerment project that gives local people skills to create a community website that they own and run.  Talk About Local is based on William’s experience with www.kingscrossenvironment.com in London’s Kings Cross where he was a founder member of his Safer Neighbourhood Panel and is a director of a local youth charity.  If you want a community website, contact William via http://talkaboutlocal.org.  Previously, William was a senior civil servant and Policy Advisor and Private Secretary to Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Andy May
Power2010 Local Campaigns Coordinator
www.power2010.org.uk

Previously Andy worked in Direct Marketing for Amnesty International.  He founded Defend Peaceful Protest, a civil liberties pressure group. Previously he worked as an Agent and Campaigns Organiser for Annette Brooke MP (Lib Dems).