David Warburton

Background and education

He was educated at state grammar school, Reading School, and co-educational comprehensive secondary, Waingels College.

After a variety of jobs, including several years as a shop assistant, a cleaner and a van driver while singing, playing lead guitar and keyboards in a succession of rock bands, he studied at the Royal College of Music, where he was a recipient of the Octavia Scholarship. He graduated in 1993 with a degree and a master's degree M.Mus.(Lond.) Dip.RCM.(Perf.) in music composition. At the Royal College of Music he studied under Edwin Roxburgh and Jeremy Dale Roberts, and had additional study with George Benjamin. He was the composition faculty representative on the Student Association Committee.

He then studied towards an M.Phil. and PhD at King's College, London as a Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust Scholar, under the tutelage of Sir Harrison Birtwistle. Though also a Sir Richard Stapley Educational Trust Scholar, he eventually left the course early due to a lack of funding.

Music and teaching career

Having spent time on the Orkney island of Hoy in 1994 studying with future Master of the Queen's Music, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Warburton worked as a freelance composer, winning composition prizes including the United Music Publishers prize, the Major van Someren Godfrey Composition prize, the Herbert Howells prize and the Elgar Memorial Prize.

He had works commissioned by music festivals, soloists and ensembles and studied film music composition with David Bedford at Dartington International Summer School under a Dartington scholarship.

Selected performances

Teaching

Warburton taught for five years at inner-city mixed community school, Hurlingham and Chelsea Secondary School, as a classroom and peripatetic teacher of music. He also taught A Level music, music technology, music theory, music history and aural at the Hurlingham Centre and at the Royal College of Music Junior Department.

Business career

Warburton founded The Music Solution Ltd (TMS) in 1999, initially providing downloadable music content to mobile phone networks and brands. As chief executive, he expanded TMS to become a service provider, offering website and mobile website branding and design, mobile content and its associated delivery, integrated payment systems and customer service on behalf of brands including the BBC, Celador, News International, Motorola, Real Networks, MTV Europe, Kazaa, Sprint PCS and Boosey & Hawkes.

Following a trademark battle in 2001, where British Telecom prevented TMS from using the brand Yellphone.com by claiming ownership of the name, Warburton was forced to change TMS's primary consumer brand to SplashMobile.com.

By 2005, TMS had become Pitch Entertainment Group, headquartered in Covent Garden, with operations in Australasia, Asia, South Africa, the US and across Europe. With Warburton as executive chairman, Pitch launched the first example of a mobile social network with ancillary content, and in 2007 was listed by the Sunday Times as the UK's 6th fastest growing technology company, having achieved sales growth of 326% a year.

Pitch partnered with Third Screen Media in 2006 to expand into the new arena of mobile advertising and expanded the service across its network. Warburton featured both on the front cover of the business newspaper City AM in August 2006 under the heading "The musician who became lord of the ringtones" and in its "Job of the Week" section. In 2008, after continued growth it was announced that Pitch had been acquired for an undisclosed sum by US mobile content provider PlayPhone Inc.

In 2009, Warburton set up the listed building property restoration and development companies Oflang Ltd. and Oflang Partners LLP, and with two others, Loaye Agabani and Tim Lewis, Warburton launched the online business MyHigh.St in Somerset in 2012. MyHigh.St allows local independent retailers to offer their products online, organised by local high street areas.

Political career

Warburton was Treasurer of Wells Conservative Association from 2009 to 2010 and its Political Deputy chairman and constituency spokesperson from 2010– to 2012.

In February 2013 he was selected as parliamentary candidate for Somerton and Frome. He was candidate during the Somerset floods of 2014, and campaigned for flood alleviation works. As candidate, he campaigned for improved broadband, local charities, rail connectivity, new schools, dualling of the arterial A303 road through Somerset, and reduced duty, regulation and VAT on pub sales.

At the 2015 general election, he was elected with 53% of the vote and, at 18.3%, the largest constituency swing to the Conservative Party after David Heath, who held the seat for the Liberal Democrats since 1997, stepped down. As an MP, he has petitioned Downing Street to prevent the EU imposing excise duty on sales of small-scale cider producers.

As of June 2015, he is one of 125 MPs who employ a member of their family; he employs his wife as a communications officer and personal assistant.

In April 2016, Warburton was one of 5 Tory MPs to rebel by voting against the Government whip in favour of an opposition amendment tabled by Lord Dubs demanding that Britain take in vulnerable children from refugee camps in Calais and Dunkirk., which presaged an eventual Government U-turn.

Warburton sits on several All-party parliamentary groups (APPGs). He was elected the chair of the British Council APPG, chair of the APPG on Small Business and chair of the Micro-Business APPG. He is also vice-chair of APPGs on both Music and Bullying. He is secretary of the APPG on Eggs, Pigs and Poultry, and secretary of the Music APPG. Warburton is also treasurer of the APPG for Taxation and for the Shops APPG.

In January 2017, he was elected to the European Scrutiny Select Committee, and since 2016 has chaired the British Council's Building Resilience to Radicalisation Inquiry exploring the roots of extremism and drivers of radicalisation as set out in the UN Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism.

He was re-elected at the 2017 general election with an increased vote share of 57% and an increased majority of 22,906.

Personal life

He married public relations professional Harriet (b. 1969, née Baker-Bates) in 2002. She is the daughter of the diplomat Merrick Baker-Bates CMG, former Deputy High Commissioner to Malaysia and British Consul General in Los Angeles.

Warburton is a member of Mensa, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Until 2017 he was a Trustee of Down's Syndrome support charity Ups and Downs Southwest and he is a Trustee of national youth music charity Music for Youth.