John Charles Baron (born June 21, 1959) is a British politician and the Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Billericay.
Early life
Redhill-born John Baron was educated at Queen's College, Taunton; Jesus College, Cambridge and at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He joined the British Army in 1984 and was a captain serving with The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers in Northern Ireland, Cyprus and Germany. He left the Army in 1987 and became a merchant banker, working as a fund manager then director of Henderson Private Investors Ltd (now Henderson Global Investors) and Rothschild Asset Management.
Parliamentary career
In 1995 John Baron became the treasurer of the Streatham Conservative Association. In 1997 David Amess decided not to push his luck again in his ultra marginally Conservative seat of Basildon and was ultimately selected for Southend West. Baron won the Conservative nomination to defend Basildon at the 1997 General Election. Amess's judgement was right and Angela Smith won the seat for Labour comfortably.
Next door to Basildon is the safer Tory ground of Billericay. Its high profile MP, Teresa Gorman announced that she would give up her seat at the next general election, and John Baron was selected to defend Billericay at the 2001 General Election. He held the seat with a majority of more than 5,000, which he doubled at the 2005 General Election. He made his maiden speech on July 20, 2001.
John Baron was a member of Iain Duncan Smith's frontbench team, but resigned in March 2003 in protest at Duncan Smith's support of the Iraq War. He was a keen supporter of David Davis in the most recent Conservative leadership election, and returned to the Conservative front bench as a health spokesman. John is now a Conervative Party Whip. John has been a keen supporter of MP’s accountability, pushing for more openness. One of the key aspects of this is his refusal to vote on his own pay increase and abstains from the vote, due to his belief that MP’s should not vote on their own pay.
Personal life
He is married with two daughters.
External links
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