John Glen (politician)

Early life and education

Glen was born in Bath, and was brought up in a small family horticultural business in rural Wiltshire. He was educated at King Edward's School, Bath where he was Head Boy, and Mansfield College, University of Oxford, where he read Modern History and was elected President of Mansfield College JCR. He later entered the University of Cambridge, where he studied for an MBA at Fitzwilliam College. He was the first person in his family to go to university.

Career

After graduating from Oxford, Glen worked for two Ministers in 1996–1997.

He went on to campaign in Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland for Michael Bates (now Lord Bates) in the 1997 general election, following which he joined the Strategy practice of Accenture, a large management consultancy firm. Whilst there he worked on projects for Glaxo Wellcome, BP and the Post Office.

After three years in consulting, Glen worked for Rt Hon William Hague MP's team (then Leader of the Conservative Party). In his role as Head of the Political Section of the Conservative Research Department, he helped prepare Hague for Prime Minister's Question Time and briefed the Shadow Cabinet for media appearances.

Glen was one of the youngest candidates at the 2001 general election, when he stood in Plymouth Devonport. He came second, achieving 27.1% of the vote and a 2.9% swing. Following this election, he took an MBA at Cambridge University and worked in the oil and gas industries in the UK and in the US for the next few years.

Early in 2004, he returned to the Conservative Party to work as Deputy Director of the Conservative Research Department in the run up to the 2005 general election. He then became Director of the Department and set up the secretariat for the Policy Review that was established after David Cameron became Leader.

He returned to business in 2006, managing his firm's relationship with the World Economic Forum.

He became a Magistrate (JP) at Horseferry Road, Westminster in 2006.

In 2015 he completed a MA in International Security and Strategy, with distinction, at King's College London through the Royal College of Defence Studies.

Parliamentary career

Glen was elected to Parliament in the General Election of May 2010 with an increase in the percentage share of the vote compared with the Conservative result in 2005.

From June 2010 to September 2012, he sat on the House of Commons Defence Select Committee.

In the September 2012 reshuffle, he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. He was succeeded by Henry Smith in May 2015.

Glen sits on the Downing Street Policy Board with responsibility for constitutional affairs.

According to a survey by WriteToThem.com, a non-campaigning website which enables constituents to contact their MP, Glen was ranked as the second most responsive MP. Overall, MPs responded to only 56 per cent of mail sent to them through the site; John Glen responded to 95 per cent.

He won the recent 2015 election with 55.6% of the vote – an increase of 6.4% from 2010. After the 2015 General Election, Glen was made PPS to Business Secretary Sajid Javid MP.

Glen was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.

Following Theresa May's appointment as Prime Minister in July 2016, Glen was made PPS to Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond MP.

Following the snap election of 2017, Glen was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Arts, Heritage and Tourism.

APPG membership

Glen sits on a number of All-party parliamentary groups (APPGs). He is the Chair of the APPG on Global Uncertainties which exists to inform parliamentarians of the activities of the UK Research Councils in response to global security challenges which help governments, businesses and societies to better predict, detect, prevent and mitigate threats to security. Recent meetings have included topics such as Ebola, UK Human Trafficking and Religious Literacy in World Affairs.

Furthermore, Glen is vice-chair of the Carpet Industry APPG, which is funded by The Carpet Foundation. Glen also played a significant contributory role in the APPG Hunger and Food Poverty's Inquiry, Feeding Britain. Additionally, he is Secretary for British Council APPG which took him on a visit to Kabul as being a member of APPG Egypt and APPG Parents and Families.

His website lists his memberships:

Beliefs

Times columnist Tim Montgomerie of ConservativeHome described John Glen as a "full spectrum Conservative":

For want of a better expression, he's what I think of as a full spectrum Conservative. On the one hand he's a Eurosceptic; he's a believer in low taxation; he supports a tough approach to crime and strictly controlled immigration. But there's also a commitment to the greener, gentler conservatism of David Cameron. John was helping me with the social justice project ten years ago when we worked together in the Conservative Christian Fellowship. In his campaign video he makes it clear that, in fixing Labour's deficit, we mustn't balance budgets on the backs of the poor. He's a practical environmentalist; strongly committed to recycling, better use of energy and protecting the countryside.

Glen's top priorities are to encourage investment in the infrastructure of his constituency. In particular improving educational choices for young people and supporting the Armed Forces community. Glen has supported a new free Sixth Form and a University Technical College in Salisbury. These new institutions will capitalise on existing defence expertise in Wiltshire.

Glen has encouraged local community land trusts to secure a pioneering development opportunity on former Ministry of Defence land. Investment in the road network is long overdue, and he is fighting to secure a successful conclusion to the 20-year battle to upgrade the A303. Porton Down is rightly famous across the world, and Glen is campaigning to ensure Public Health England retains its base there. He wants to see greater support for the life sciences sector, and is working in partnership with the public sector, NHS and universities to establish a world leading research and development hub in his constituency.

Blood Stem Cell Donation

In June 2013 Glen joined the Delete Blood Cancer register at an event in Parliament. Despite the 1 in 1200 chance of being matched with a cancer sufferer, less than a year later he had been matched with a blood cancer patient. In January 2015, Glen donated his blood stem cells at The London Clinic, enabling the patient to have a second chance at life.

Glen said: "“It is a huge privilege to be asked to donate some of my blood stem cells to someone with a blood cancer who is in desperate need of them. On signing up myself I never thought I would hear from them again, but now I have this amazing opportunity for what is simply only a little discomfort to me.”

Free Enterprise Group paper

On 31 January 2013 Glen published a paper entitled 'Completing the Reform, Freeing the Universities' as a member of the Free Enterprise Group of MPs.

The paper advocated encouraging universities to build up endowments, which could then replace income from grants; reforms to the tuition fee cap towards "total course costs" instead of per-year caps, and allowing fee differentials by subject group; changes to the way in which research funding is allocated; and administrative savings from the Research Councils and the Office of Fair Access.

He wrote an op-ed for the Daily Telegraph about the policies advocated in the paper, entitled 'Tuition fees cannot be the last reform of university funding'.

The paper also received coverage in the Times Higher Education Magazine and was described as a possible basis for university policy in the next Conservative manifesto.