John Stevens (English politician)

John Christopher Courtenay Stevens (born 23 May 1955) is a British politician. A Conservative Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1989 to 1999, he contested the Buckingham constituency in the 2010 general election as an independent, against Commons speaker John Bercow and came second with 10,331 votes (21.4%) compared to Bercow's 22,860 (47.3%).

John Stevens
Member of the European Parliament
for the Thames Valley
In office
15 June 1989 – 10 June 1999
Preceded byDiana Elles
Succeeded byConstituency Abolished
Personal details
Born (1955-05-23) 23 May 1955
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative (Until 1999)
Pro-Euro Conservative Party (1999–01)
Liberal Democrats (2001-10)
Independent (2010-)
Alma materMagdalen College, Oxford

Background

Stevens was educated at Winchester, where he won the Boxing Cup, and at Magdalen College, Oxford, taking a third class honours degree in law. He then worked as a foreign exchange and bond trader for Morgan Grenfell.[1]

He was the Conservative Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Thames Valley from 1989 to 1999, before leaving the party in protest over its increasingly Eurosceptic positioning. He then co-founded, along with Brendan Donnelly, the Pro-Euro Conservative Party (PECP) in that year. He contested the 1999 Kensington and Chelsea by-election for the PECP and came fourth.

The PECP was wound up in 2001 and Stevens joined the Liberal Democrats. He left the party in 2010 to stand against the Commons Speaker, John Bercow, and the leader of the UK Independence Party, Nigel Farage, in the 2010 general election.[2]

References
  1. "John Stevens". the Guardian.
  2. "Why Buckingham must re-elect John Bercow". New Statesman. 28 April 2010. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
European Parliament
Preceded by
Baroness Elles		 Member of the European Parliament for Thames Valley
1989 – 1999		 Constituency abolished


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