I'm delighted to be the Member of Parliament for Devizes and the candidate for East Wiltshire.
My career outside politics has been mostly spent working on community projects. In 2006 my wife Emma and I founded Only Connect, a charity working in prisons to stop criminals re-offending, which I ran for 10 years and now chair. I also set up and ran the West London Zone for Children and Young People, coordinating the work of schools, councils and charities with young people at risk. I have worked in journalism and in politics, including as the chief leader-writer at the Daily Telegraph, as a Government adviser on civil society, and as Political Secretary in 10 Downing St.
I am married to Emma, a former teacher and now director of our prison charity, and we have three school-age children.
What I believe
My politics are probably best described as communitarian. I believe in stability for children and support for people in their old age. I want more power and responsibility for local communities. And I want national independence, Parliamentary sovereignty, and a strong Armed Forces.
When we have these things - strong families, strong neighbourhoods, and a strong nation - we can be more generous to people who need help, here and abroad. The British people are tolerant, kind and fair-minded. We need a society that rewards people who look after themselves and their families, and that supports the people who face struggles in their lives. We need a low-tax economy in which people are incentivised to behave well towards other people and the environment.
And we need government to do its job. The UK and the world face a multitude of challenges - the threat of war, of ecological damage, of economic or technological collapse. We urgently need to strengthen our country to avert or withstand these shocks. That means investing meaningfully in national defence, building up our economic and technological resilience, and (perhaps most important of all) strengthening families and communities through good fiscal and social policy.
My book Covenant: the new politics of home, neighbourhood and nation (2023) sets out my political thinking in more detail. I also wrote a report for the Government in 2020 with detailed proposals for a stronger civil society, which you can read (along with the Government’s response) here.
You can watch my appearances in Parliament here
My priorities for Wiltshire
I grew up on a farm and I love the beautiful landscape of Wiltshire, its tranquillity and of course its history. I am also inspired by the future of our county. Here on the M4 corridor, at the centre of a vital economic artery and also a key tourism route, close to hubs of innovation in cyber, defence, and agriculture, we have huge opportunities for prosperity.
To make the most of these advantages we need a lot of things to get better: more support for our farmers and for the environment; better rural transport and broadband; more affordable housing in the places and the volumes where homes are needed; quicker access to a doctor and dentist or a hospital appointment, and more support for carers and care workers; more police officers and tougher action against criminals; and of course, more spending on defence to support the Army here in Wiltshire.
In each of those areas I am proud of the progress that has been made since 2019, despite the huge challenges of the pandemic and the inflation crisis caused by Russia. But more needs to be done. The following pages set out my thinking on each of these topics.
