Constituency: Weston-super-Mare

  Tel: 01934 613841
  Email: john@johnpenrose.org

  Address: 24-26 Alexandra Parade, Weston-super-Mare, BS23 1QX

  Web: www.johnpenrose.org 

About John: John Penrose was elected as MP for Weston-super-Mare in 2005 and again in 2010. John has lived in his constituency for well over a decade, in the village of Winscombe. His father was brought up in nearby Timsbury, and his grandfather taught in Midsomer Norton. 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 and they have two young daughters. Dido comes from a long-line of Somerset farmers and her horse, Cool Dawn, won the 1998 Cheltenham Gold Cup - John has been kicking himself ever since because he didn’t bet on the race!

In May 2010, Prime Minister David Cameron appointed John as the Government’s Tourism & Heritage Minister which, as John says, means he is now “an even stronger voice for Weston, Worle and the villages”. During his career in parliament, John has worked with Ken Clarke as a Shadow Business Minister, as the Joint Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Further Education & Lifelong Learning, on the Work and Pensions Select Committee and as Oliver Letwin’s Private Parliamentary Secretary.

Before being elected to Parliament, John had a long career in business and publishing. He was 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's involved in many local community initiatives. He is President of the Weston YMCA, a Governor of Weston College, Trustee of North Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau, Patron of the South West Branch of The Mankind Initiative and President of The Abbeyfield Weston-super-Mare Society too.

John is also a member of Amnesty International; his hobbies are fishing and beekeeping.

In 1998 John was in charge of research for the Bow Group, a long-established and highly-respected Conservative think-tank. He commissioned and published papers on Reforming the House of Lords, Human Rights, Reforming Europe and recruiting more Conservative women MPs.

To find out more about John and the work he's doing for Weston and the villages, check out his website at www.johnpenrose.org.