John Glen (politician)
Encyclopedia
John Philip Glen is a British Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 politician who has been the Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for Salisbury
Salisbury (UK Parliament constituency)
Salisbury is a county constituency centred on the city of Salisbury in Wiltshire. It elects one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, by the first past the post voting system....

 in Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

 since the general election in May 2010.

Early life

Glen was brought up in a small family horticultural business in rural Wiltshire. Glen attended King Edward's School, Bath
King Edward's School, Bath
King Edward's School , Bath, Somerset, England is an independent school providing education for 950 pupils aged 3 to 18.The school is a member of The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference....

 where he was Head Boy
Head boy
Head Boy and Head Girl are terms commonly used in the British education system, and in private schools throughout the Commonwealth.-United Kingdom:...

. He then attended Mansfield College of Oxford University, where he read Modern History and was elected President of Mansfield College JCR. Glen later entered the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

, where he studied for an MBA at Fitzwilliam College. He was the first person in his family to go to university.

Career

After graduating from Oxford, Glen worked for two Ministers in 1996-1997.

Glen went on to campaign in Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland
Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland (UK Parliament constituency)
Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

 for Michael Bates (now Lord Bates) in the 1997 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...

, following which he joined the Strategy practice of a large management consultancy firm, Accenture. Whilst there he worked on projects for Glaxo Wellcome, BP and the Post Office.

After three years in consulting, Glen worked for Rt Hon William Hague
William Hague
William Jefferson Hague is the British Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State. He served as Leader of the Conservative Party from June 1997 to September 2001...

 MP's team (then Leader of the Conservative Party). In his role as Head of the Political Section of the Conservative Research Department
Conservative Research Department
The Conservative Research Department is part of the central organisation of the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom. It operates alongside other departments of Conservative Campaign Headquarters at 30 Millbank, London SW1....

, Glen helped prepare Hague for Prime Minister's Question Time and briefed the Shadow Cabinet
Shadow Cabinet
The Shadow Cabinet is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition form an alternative cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the government...

 for media appearances. Hague has said the following since about Glen's prospects and character:


"John was a key adviser during my time as Leader of the Conservative Party. I have no doubt John will play a significant role in a future Conservative Government. He has absolute integrity, excellent political instincts and is highly regarded at all levels in the Party."


Glen was one of the youngest candidates at the 2001 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2001
The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...

, when he stood in Plymouth Devonport. He came second, achieving 27.1% of the vote and a 2.9% swing. Following this election, Glen took an MBA at Cambridge University and worked in the oil and gas industries in the UK and in the US for the next few years.

Early in 2004, Glen returned to the Conservative Party to work as Deputy Director of the Conservative Research Department in the run up to the 2005 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....

. He then became Director of the Department and set up the secretariat for the Policy Review
Policy Review
Policy Review is one of America's leading conservative journals. It was founded by the Heritage Foundation and was for many years the foundation's flagship publication. In 2001, the publication was acquired by the Stanford University-based Hoover Institution, though it maintains its office on...

 that was established after David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....

 became Leader.
Glen returned to business in 2006, managing his firm's relationship with the World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....

.
Glen became a Magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...

 (JP) at Horseferry Road, Westminster in 2006.

Parliamentary career

Glen was elected to Parliament in the General Election of May 2010 with an increase in the percentage share of the vote compared with the Conservative result in 2005.

Since then, he has been elected to the House of Commons Defence Select Committee
Defence Select Committee
The Defence Select Committee is one of the Select Committees of the British House of Commons, having been established in 1979. It oversees the operations of the Ministry of Defence and its associated public bodies, including the armed forces.-Membership:...

.

In October 2011, he raised the issue of planning decisions in Salisbury in a debate on the National Planning Policy Framework.

On 12 October 2011, he led a debate in Westminster Hall on innovation in the NHS, where he urged the government to bring in measures to allow the NHS fully to benefit, through cost savings and better patient outcomes, from innovative procedures and techniques developed "in-house" by the NHS.

He has raised the subject of mortgages for armed forces personnel in a Westminster Hall debate in June 2011.

In May 2011, he warned the house that it would be difficult to bring British intervention in Libya to a "neat, precise conclusion".

In September 2010, he urged investment in new capabilities, and the maintenance of capabilities to deal with future threats, in a debate on the Strategic Defence and Security Review. He later praised the conclusions of the SDSR as "the best that could have been achieved in the time available".

In his maiden speech in May 2010, he paid tribute to his predecessor, Robert Key
Robert Key (politician)
Simon Robert Key known as Robert Key is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He is the former Member of Parliament for Salisbury, Wiltshire.-Early life:...

, and called on the government to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy for small businesses, to address rural poverty, and to support rural economies.

Writings

Glen has written for Conservative Home on Higher Education access where he argued that the focus on admissions outcomes could compromise university standards and addresses the symptoms, rather than the cause, of lack of access to elite universities.

In October 2011, he wrote an article for EPolitix on commercial innovation in the NHS where he called for measures to be put in place to allow the NHS to benefit from the innovative techniques and procedures developed by NHS staff.

In the aftermath of the riots in August 2011, he wrote an article for Conservative Home on the causes of the riots entitled We need a change in direction... there are deeper causes for the rioting over recent nights.

Personal

John is married to Emma and he has two step children William and Emily. Emma used to work for the Foreign Office in Paris and now is a housewife.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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