Mark Francois

Conservative MP Rayleigh

Date of birth

14 August 1965

Political profile

Mark Francois narrowly missed out on the selection for the plum seats of Kensington and Chelsea and Huntingdon.

Nonetheless, he eventually landed the safe, if less glamorous seat, of Rayleigh, which propelled him into Parliament at the age of 35.

He cannot be accused of having failed to pay his dues - he took on the thankless task of standing for the Conservatives against Ken Livingstone in Brent East in 1997.

Prior to his election, he worked as a political consultant, initially for Market Access International and latterly self-employed.

He combined this with right-wing activism.

He made a plea at the 1995 Conservative conference for no cuts in defence spending.

In local politics, he served as a councillor in Basildon.

He cites the economy, defence and Europe as his major concerns.

He worked as a whip under Iain Duncan Smith but in Michael Howard's September 2004 reshuffle became a shadow minister in the economic affairs team.

Contact

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Constituency 01268 742044