Welcome to my website

I hope you will find this website informative.

In 1984, whilst working for British Labour politician Barbara Castle, who was then Leader of the British Labour Group in the European Parliament, I first stood for election.

At my second attempt in 1989, I won London South West for Labour with the smallest majority in the country (518), and was then re-elected in 1994 with almost 50% of the vote, serving until June 1999 when the new regional list system substantially cut Labour’s representation.

During my ten years in the European Parliament I worked primarily on the Committee for Environment, Public Health and Consumer Affairs, specialising in urban environment and air pollution. I took part in the European GLOBE delegation to the UN climate change conference at Kyoto in 1997.

From 2000 to 2006, I worked as Head of European Policy at English Heritage. Prior to working for Barbara Castle I worked in advertising and book editing in both London and Australia. For more details, see Biography.

In October 2009, my first solo book was published. It is a history of Labour Members of the European Parliament from 1979 – 99, titled “Wreckers or Builders?” (see Book), with a Foreword by Neil Kinnock. The sequel is being researched.

Currently, I am a freelance adviser on European policy. With ten years’ experience as a Member of the European Parliament on one of its busiest legislative committees, I am ideally placed to offer advice to those who need to interact with European institutions.