John was elected as MP for Weston-super-Mare in 2005. He serves on the Works and Pensions Select Committee. In 2006, he was appointed Private Parliamentary Secretary to Oliver Letwin MP. He was also appointed Joint Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Further Education & Lifelong Learning. It’s key role is to promote and develop the interests of further education, adult learning and skills sectors and to advise government ministers on matters of concern to these sectors.

John’s background is in publishing. Before being elected to Parliament, John was Chairman of Logotron Ltd, a small independent company creating educational software for schools, and used to be Managing Director of Longman, publishing school textbooks for the UK and parts of Africa. Earlier in his career, John worked in publishing for Thomson, in management consulting for McKinsey, and in banking for JPMorgan.

Oliver Letwin MP and John Penrose MP

John lives in his constituency, in the village of Winscombe. His father was brought up in nearby Timsbury, and his grandfather taught at Midsomer Norton school. His parents were both teachers, but John’s father died in 1992. His mother has since remarried and now lives in Scotland. John married Dido Harding in 1995. Her family have been Somerset farmers for many generations. Dido’s horse, Cool Dawn, won the 1998 Cheltenham Gold Cup, and John has been kicking himself ever since because he didn’t bet on the race.

John is a member of Amnesty International; his hobbies are fishing, beekeeping, rowing, singing in choirs, worrying while Dido rides in steeplechases, and celebrating when she wins.

John is involved in several local community initiatives. He is President of the Weston YMCA, which acts as an umbrella organisation for a range of local organisations such as the local Credit Union; the Teenage Pregnancy Advisory unit; Junction 21 (Weston’s Crime Concern Trust); Connexions (youth advice and mentoring); the local Deposit Guarantee Board (housing for the homeless); and VIA (drug and alcohol rehabilitation assessment).

He is a Governor of Weston College, President of the Winscombe and District Senior Citizens Forum and Patron of the South West Branch of The Mankind Initiative.

Stephen Fitzgerald – Project Manager, John Penrose MP, Patron of the South West Branch, and Councillor Roz Willis – County Co-ordinator. The Mankind Initiative

John was in charge of research for the Bow Group, a long-established and highly-respected Conservative think-tank, in 1998. He commissioned and published papers on Reforming the House of Lords, Human Rights, Reforming Europe and recruiting more Conservative women MPs.