A big welcome to my website.
I am not a professional politician. I had no intentions of getting into this. I saw my future as running my small businesses, dog walking, going to football, and overdoing it on curries and fish and chips. How wrong that was!
I joined the Conservative Party a few years ago because like so many of you, I was worried about the direction of our country and wanted to do something about it rather than just complain. So many of the values we hold dear, such as respect for hard work and the right to control our own borders, feel under permanent attack from the Organized Left.
I felt I could no longer sit on the bench while the game was being played. An MP friend whom I worked with on a charity project persuaded me to apply to the Candidates List, and the further I went down the path the more I realized that I could be a voice for the common sense people of Wolverhampton who feel they are not being heard.
I was an occasional Labour Party activist until my early 20s, and grew up at a time when Labour was very different to what it is now. Back then it was a patriotic party that favoured working people. Now what I am hearing on the doorsteps of Wolverhampton is that it is ashamed of our country, is dominated by woke professionals and no longer interested in what working men and women think.
The past few years have shaken our self-belief as a country, with enormous changes in society caused by COVID, global inflation and two major wars. People are scared and anxious for the future. I know I am. I would also be lying to you if I said that every decision made by the Government had been perfect, a sentiment that I know the Prime Minister shares.
It is important though to maintain a sense of perspective. There is full employment and the economy is growing. School standards are up massively. Inflation is coming down. The Government has spent £400b to support the economy through the energy crisis and COVID. The long-term planning for NHS reform will create more capacity in a system seriously tested by an ageing population, COVID backlog and recent strikes. And illegal migration is dropping, although it is still far too high.
The question for us here in Wolverhampton is stark: could Labour do any better? For many the argument that after 14 years it is time for a change is a powerful one, and not to be dismissed easily.
But change to what? There are no simple solutions out there to the complex problems we face in a world more unstable than at any time in living memory. If there were, believe me Mr Sunak would have implemented them.
Let me tell you, as a former Bank of England official with 25 years of financial markets experience, that Labour is lying through its teeth to you about what it will have the scope to do if it is elected.
Visit bankrupt Birmingham and see how well their council taxpayers are doing if you need reminding. Do you like the potholes in Wolverhampton? And also remember the 'Sorry - There's No Money Left' note Mr Cameron was left by Mr Brown.
It is not time to take that risk for you and your family. Starmer will say absolutely anything to get in, and let's not forget he tried to block your vote for Brexit through legal trickeration.
A bit about me personally. I was born and grew up here in the Midlands (Stafford), studying economics and history at King's College, Cambridge, before going to work for the Bank of England. I worked in London, New York and Hong Kong, before returning home to the place I love the best.
Before the Bank of England I was a pigman and potato sorter, and also drove vans in the Wolverhampton area for a year.
I am married to Lori who is from Milwaukee, USA and a big bulldog lover, as owner of Atticus who we rescued a few years ago. I run an economic consultancy and also have a mainline railway locomotive leasing business, and a pub. I am a reader at St Michael's RC church on the Coalway Road and will shortly be confirmed as a local school governor.
I have just launched a foundation to support the development of resilience in young adults from the West Midlands through mountain leadership training, and we will be launching the programme later this month. I am a fully qualified Mountain Leader from the National Outdoor Centre at Plas y Brenin.
