Constituency : Birmingham Yardley 2005-2015
John took Birmingham Yardley from Labour at the fourth attempt.
John is an electrician's son from Birmingham. He was educated at King Edward School, Birmingham and Oxford. He set up his own financial software company and became a millionaire in his twenties. He also set up a record company in 1997. He stood for Birmingham Hall Green in 1983 and more than doubled the Liberal vote in third place. He stood for Birmingham Small Heath in 1987 and came a poor third. He became a councillor in 1990 and switched to the Yardley seat. He achieved a 50% increase in the Liberal vote in 1992 which turned the seat into a three-way marginal. In 1997 he overtook the Conservatives to move into second place and turned the heat up on Labour in 2001.
Amidst the bright young things who came in in 2005, John stood out as your old school eccentric grass roots campaigner. He declared an interest in succeeding Charles Kennedy with nobody being quite sure whether he was serious. He is a member of the Beveridge Group.
John increased his majority slightly in 2010.
John opposes super-injunctions and exposed both Freddie Goodwin and Ryan Giggs using parliamentary privilege. He supported a journalist banned from the UK for her work on the Jersey child abuse scandal.
In 2015 John was accused of being a part of a VIP paedophile ring in Staffordshire. His accuser later withdrew the allegation but John lost his seat. He slipped into third place in 2017. In 2018 he was cleared and successfully sued two journalists for promoting the claim. He criticised Labour for using the allegations against him.
John is an admitted serial adulterer.
He is now 59.
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