John Redwood was first elected as the Conservative MP for Wokingham in 1987, being reelected in 2019 with a majority of 7,383.
The constituency of Wokingham is located in Berkshire and contains the town of Wokingham and the large village of Winnersh on the outskirts of Reading. Located close to the M4 and with rail lines into both London and Reading, Wokingham is prime commuter territory.
An affluent area that has expanded considerably in the last fifty years, Wokingham is safe Conservative territory in which the party polled over 50% of the vote even in the Labour landslide year of 1997. In 2019, the Liberal Democrats in the form of the disgruntled ex Conservative MP for nearby Bracknell, Dr Phillip Lee, mounted a sizeable campaign here and jumped from third to second place at the expense of Labour, but ultimately to little avail.
John Redwood served in the Cabinet between 1993 and 1995 as the Secretary of State for Wales. During this time, Redwood was famously filmed attempting (badly) to sing the Welsh national anthem.
Redwood later resigned from the cabinet to stand against then Prime Minister, John Major in the 1995 Conservative leadership election. He stood again unsuccessfully for the Conservative leadership in 1997.
Previously he had served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary in the Department of Trade and Industry, and as Minister for Local Government and Inner Cities.
Born in 1951, Redwood was educated at Oxford University. Prior to being elected to Parliament, Redwood worked in banking and in manufacturing industry. He was Head of the Prime Minister’s Policy Unit when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister.
Redwood was elected to Oxfordshire County Council in the 1970s.
Redwood was a stronger supporter of Brexit in the 2016 EU referendum. He had previously written the book ‘Just Say No’ opposing further European integration.
He is a visiting professor at Middlesex University and has also written the book, ‘Superpower Struggles’.
According to the 2021 Register of Members Interests, John Redwood is Chairman of the Investment Committee of the investment advisory company, Charles Stanley. His duties are to write a twice weekly market review and investment report, to chair the investment committee and to make oral and written presentations. For this he receives £15,606 a month.
John Redwood is keen on cricket.
Email: redwoodj@parliament.uk
Personal Website: http://www.johnredwoodsdiary.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnredwood
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/john.redwood.official
