ABOUT ME

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
I am 35 years old and advise David Willetts MP, the Shadow Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, on a part-time basis. Before that, I have spent more than 6 years working as a management consultant in financial services, where I also continue to work part-time.

VOLUNTARY WORK
Before starting university at Oxford, I spent a year working full-time for a charity helping elderly and disabled people. I experienced first hand how living with a disability can be a daily struggle, and this has made me particularly sensitive to the needs of the frail and disabled.

PERSONAL
I grew up in Germany and was educated at a local state school. Having spent my entire adult life in Britain, I am now seeking to serve our country as a Member of Parliament. In my spare time, I enjoy cooking for friends - offset by regular rounds of squash! I also like going to the cinema and to concerts at the Pump Room, and I have become a Friend of the Theatre Royal in Bath.

POLITCAL EXPERIENCE
I have been involved in Conservative politics for nearly 10 years, having stood in council elections in my local ward in London. I was constituency chairman of the North Southwark & Bermondsey constituency association from 2003 to 2006, during which time I trebled the local membership and moved the association finances from a deficit towards a big surplus. In 2005, as the general election agent for North Southwark & Bermondsey, I contributed to the second biggest national swing against a sitting Lib Dem MP and the biggest percentage increase in the Conservative vote of any constituency.