Nick Clegg is a regular columnist for Guardian Politics Unlimited, some of the web’s most widely read political commentary. Nick has a wealth of political experience at senior levels having served as an MEP for the East Midlands, which borders Sheffield Hallam, and as a party spokesman on trade and industry. Nick was elected in May 2005 as the new MP for Sheffield Hallam, suceeding Richard Allan, with a majority of over 8,600.
From 1999 until 2004 Nick was the Liberal Democrat MEP for the neighbouring Euro constituency of the East Midlands. In the European Parliament, he was the Liberal Democrat’s senior Trade and Industry spokesman, where he played a leading role in debates on world trade, energy, telecoms, transport and the problems of Government red tape. He served as the sole Liberal Democrat MEP on the European Parliament’s Temporary Committee of Inquiry into the Foot and Mouth outbreak, the only independent investigation into the Government’s handling of the crisis. He was also a founder member of the Campaign for Parliamentary Reform, a cross party campaign group pressing to reform and modernise the procedures of the European Parliament.

Nick Clegg in HallamHe has published numerous books/pamphlets on public policy issues, including European secondary education systems, world trade, and the need for EU institutional reform. He regularly publishes articles in the national and international press, and is a political columnist for the Guardian Unlimited website (http://www.guardian.co.uk), the most widely used political website in the UK.

In recent years he has been a part time lecturer at Sheffield University, and a guest lecturer at Cambridge University. He has also provided advice to British businesses on new legislation.

He was educated at Cambridge University, with post graduate research/degrees from the University of Minnesota, USA, and the College of Europe, Belgium.

He is married to Miriam, and they have two sons.

Tobias was born in New York, USA (due to parent’s overseas posting with the United Nations). He grew up in Bonn, Germany and Vienna Austria, but returned to the UK to complete his first degree at Loughborough University. He spent five years in the Army with the Royal Green Jackets, where he served in Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Kuwait, Germany, Gibraltar and Bosnia.

He returned to university to complete an MBA at the City University Business School. Tobias then moved to the London Stock Exchange for two years where he was a Senior Business Development Manager. Prior to being elected, he worked as a Business Development Consultant in the finance sector and lives in Boscombe, Bournemouth.

Tobias is 39 and is married to Hannah Ryan, who was born in Dorchester. He enjoys music, theatre, windsurfing and is a private pilot.

Tobias’ Experience

Tobias has worked as a researcher in the House of Commons and Somerset for the Rt Hon Tom King CH MP (now Lord King) and has gained experience on overseas campaigns including the 1998 election of Mayor Rudi Guiliani in New York.

Tobias stood as a Parliamentary Candidate in the last general election, in the constituency of Worsley, where he secured a swing to the Conservatives of 2.3%. He has been a Parish and Borough Councillor in Hertfordshire as well as a school governor.

He was elected as Member of Parliament in May 2005. In December 2005, he was appointed as an Opposition Whip.

Tobias – Working for Bournemouth East

Bournemouth Conservatives are very active on a diverse range of local, regional and national issues. They are leading the campaign to protect Bournemouth’s greenbelt and holding the Lib Dem Council to account on the demise of council services including the upkeep of the seafront.

They have campaigned against the dramatic changes to the town centre which include the sale of the Pavilion, Shelley Manor, and the BIC pool. They were also successful in securing government council tax grants which bailed the Lib Dem council out of announcing huge council tax increases of 16.5%.

Tobias has run a number of local campaigns including traffic management around the King’s Park area, regeneration issues for Boscombe, crime and the night-time economy, and securing Shelley Manor as a community facility.

The focus for local Conservatives is to provide better public services and a clear direction for Bournemouth as a premier seaside town.

Emily was elected to Parliament as Islington South & Finsbury’s MP in the General Election on 5 May 2005. She has lived in Islington for 12 years and has three young children who attend state schools. Raised by a single parent living on a council estate, her early experiences as a child have always motivated her both personally and politically. Previously Emily stood in the 2001 General Election in Canterbury, halving the Tory majority.

Emily has a strong sense of justice and traditional Labour values. She has been active in anti-racist campaigns across London. She campaigned successfully at the national level with trade unions and parents’ groups for more family-friendly employment policies and access to childcare – particularly for women. She was chair of the London Labour Women’s committee and Central Region Representative on the London Labour Regional Board. She is a member of the TGWU and has strong links with other trade unions.
As a human rights lawyer in the chambers of Mike Mansfield QC, she has many years’ experience of representing people as a criminal lawyer, working to achieve greater justice, equality and human rights.

Emily is a regular cyclist and is chair of the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group (APPCG). She also has a strong commitment to protecting the environment and tackling climate change. She is a member of the Environmental Audit Committee in the House of Commons: the Committee responsible for scrutinising the impact of Government policy on the Environment. Emily was also sponsor of the Climate Change Bill which aimed to set mandatory targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Most of all, Emily cares about poverty and disadvantage in Islington and across London. It is for this reason that she’s is taking part in the Westminster Challenge to raise money for Islington based Children’s Society, which works to help marginalized and disadvantaged children.

Ed Vaizey MP was elected as the Member of Parliament for Wantage and Didcot in May 2005.

Born in 1968, Ed attended Merton College, Oxford. When he left university, he spent two years working for the Conservative Party’s Research Department, before training and practising as a barrister.

In 1996, he left the law, and became the director of a highly successful public relations company based in London. In 2004, he left to become the chief speech writer for the then Leader of the Opposition, Michael Howard.

Ed also built up a career as a freelance political commentator, writing regularly for The Guardian, and appearing on programmes such as Despatch Box and The Wright Stuff, as well as broadcasting frequently on Five Live.

Ed married Alex in September 2005, they live in Letcombe Bassett and London and are expecting their first child in September.

Interests

Ed is a trustee of the Trident Trust, the largest work experience charity in the United Kingdom and is a Young Ambassador for the Samaritans.

In Parliament, Ed was a member of the Standing Committee on the Consumer Credit Bill. He is currently a member of the Modernisation and Enviromental Audit Select Committees and is Deputy Chairman of the Conservative’s Globalisation and Global Poverty Policy Group.

He is a member of the following all-party groups: kidney, duchenne-muscular dystrophy; India; arts & heritage.

In Wantage and Didcot, Ed is President of Didcot Town Football Club; Vice-President of the Friends of the Ridgeway; Patron of the Friends of St Mary’s Church, Buckland; a Vice-Patron of Style Acre, a charity for people with learning disabilities; a Member of the Faringdon Area Project; a governor of Cholsey Primary School.

Jenny Willott has worked in various charitable fields, including working for OXFAM and for a women’s organisation in Northern India.

Following her MSc in Development Studies at the London School of Economics, she became Head of Office for Welsh Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Öpik. She has also worked variously for a number of Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Members, the children’s charity Barnardo’s, UNICEF and until recently she was Head of Victim Support South Wales, based in Cardiff.

In the 2001 General Election she stood in Cardiff Central, reducing the Labour majority from nearly 8,000 to 659.

Jenny was elected MP for Cardiff Central on 5th May 2005, with a majority of 5,593 over Labour.

Jenny’s particular interests include crime, human rights, social justice and Third World issues.

Date of Birth: 29.05.1974
Education: Durham University, London School of Economics
Experience: Various charitable organisations, including Project Manager for OXFAM, Chief Researcher for Lembit Öpik MP
Interests: Music, reading, acting and travelling

Richard Stephenson served on the Board of the Conservative Party for four years. He became the President of the National Conservative Convention in 2004 and chaired the Party Conference in Bournemouth the same year. He has worked overseas on American Presidential campaigns and has spoken at conferences and advised political parties around the world, including in the USA, Uganda, Pakistan, Estonia and Serbia.

Richard has served as a school governor and a board member of two London based charities. He is a prolific charity fundraiser who started his charity work for Help the Aged at the age of eight. He also sponsors a child in India through Action Aid. He has participated on a number of charity expeditions including trekking along the Great Wall of China for Cancer Research UK and across New Zealand and then to the summit of Kilimanjaro, Africa’s tallest peak, on behalf of The Children’s Society.

Richard now works as a board director of City public relations firm, Smithfield. He is a Freeman of the City of London, a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.

Tania Branigan is political correspondent for the Guardian. Born in 1975, she began writing as a music journalist for Melody Maker. After graduating in Social and Political Science at Cambridge she was granted a Scott Trust bursary to take a postgraduate diploma at City University. She joined the Manchester Evening News in 1998 and moved to the Guardian two years later. Before joining the lobby she reported on everything from teenage bohemians
in Shanghai to the impact of EU accession on the Roma in Slovakia, winning an Amnesty International award for her coverage of Guantanamo Bay. She has also worked on The Australian in Sydney and the Washington Post in DC. Her
interests include reading, music, food and travel, especially within Asia.

Currently hosting UKTV’s popular Food Uncut, Merrilees Parker has an impressive record in worldwide TV and food programming.

Always a keen cook, her enthusiasm turned into a passion when, aged 17, she took a job as a chalet girl in France. The chef was impressed with her natural talent and inspired her to continue cooking once she returned to London. Once home, she immediately joined the kitchen at the Eagle, London’s first gastropub.

Television production also fascinated her and Merrilees was able to combine her twin interests by beginning her TV career researching for the BBC and Channel 4. A natural in the kitchen, she was quickly noted as a talented home economist and food stylist.

Working with Antony Worrall Thompson introduced her to the intensive world of event and corporate catering through his company, Wiz Events. In this role, Merrilees worked as a chef at live events, including London Fashion Week and The Motor Show. She further developed her style at the Lansdowne in London’s Primrose Hill, earning rave reviews for her no-nonsense cuisine.

Her first big break came with Anything You Can Cook, a 27-part BBC2 series co-presented by Brian Turner. She followed this with a spell as resident cook on House Call, BBC1’s live daytime show, which aired through 2001.

Merrilees has gone on to guest regularly on BBC2’s Saturday Kitchen and UKTV Food’s Great Food Live, as well as becoming one of the main presenters on BBC2’s primetime series, Full On Food. She has also become a popular face on the USA’s prestigious Food Network, hosting and cooking on Planet Food’s long-running series of 50-minute food and travel programmes; the series also airs worldwide and will soon be seen on UK screens.

Merrilees also runs Pink Food, her own catering company, and speaks fluent French.

Patrick currently works at Capstone Mortgage Services Limited, part of Lehman Brothers Mortgage Capital business in Europe. He was born in Sligo, Ireland and has spent all his working life in London.

He has taken part in various charity events, including The Three Peaks Challenge on behalf of The Home Farm Trust in 2000. He currently supports The Children’s Society and has, to date, taken part in treks to Nepal, Chile, Kilimanjaro and most recently Vietnam.

Patrick is passionate about charity work and combining this with his love of travel and adventure has allowed him to visit many corners of the world. The Arctic Challenge in 2007 will leave only the Antarctic on his wish list of ‘places to see before I die!’

For over 27 years Patrick has been involved in field hockey. He has played for both Middlesex and West of Ireland at Under 21 and senior representative level. He currently plays hockey for a local club in North London and has or still holds numerous County, League and Club Committee posts.

Christopher Golding is currently working with a West End boutique firm of chartered accountants advising media and entertainment clients. Prior to this Christopher ran his own property search and acquisition business following his time studying economics at Brunel.

Christopher has been an enthusiastic supporter of Westminster Challenge from inception. He holds a strong belief in what Westminster Challenge is aiming to achieve and is looking forward to the challenge of working with this new organisation. The mixture of adventure, good causes, personal development and the ability to help others has spurred Christopher on to sign up to the Arctic Challenge. He has a love of travel and a desire to explore new places along with an interest in the environment and a strong will to get fit. He is proud to be a part of the Westminster Challenge team.

On 7th January 2006 Steve stood at the finishing line of the Inaugural Antarctic Ice Marathon having run the distance in a time of 6 hours 41 minutes. He ran on ice and snow in temperatures of -20 degrees with 50mph winds. In completing this event Steve became the 9th person ever to run a marathon inside the Antarctic Circle.

This was not Steve’s first marathon but his fourth. The last one he ran was the London Marathon in 1987, in a time of 3 hours and 18 minutes. A horse riding accident in which he fractured his pelvis brought a (very long) temporary end to his marathon running.

Steve used this event to raise money for Cancer Research UK, a charity which he has supported for 19 years both independently and through the South Fylde Friends. Due to the generosity of a large number of his friends and patients Steve raised £29,000 in sponsorship through his Antarctic Marathon.

Steve’s other interests are golf and horse riding – neither of which he was able to indulge in Antarctica.

In his spare time Steve is a full time General Medical Practitioner in Blackpool, where he has worked for 25 years.

He is looking forward to the further challenge of this expedition to the Arctic Circle and of again supporting Cancer Research UK.

Steve is married to Cherith and they have 3 children, who have given up trying to work out what his next challenge will be and have reconciled themselves to his escapades.

Phil is currently working for Crimestoppers. He is responsible for initiating and running national projects aimed at young people to create awareness of the charity and its anonymous 0800 555 111 telephone number.

Previously, he worked for the environmental and regeneration charity Groundwork in both Camden & Islington and East London running youth projects as well as the BBC and the interactive television games company Two Way TV.

Phil believes Westminster Challenge is a really positive initiative which will greatly benefit all of the charities involved. He’s looking forward to the challenge ahead with a slight fear of the unknown but believes it is a life experience not to be missed.

Adam currently works at Southern Pacific Mortgages Limited, part of the Lehman Brothers Mortgage Capital Division. Born in Bray, Berkshire Adam currently lives and works in London.

He has previously undertaken charity events, the last being the three peaks challenge for Cancer Research where he trekked up Ben Nevis, Scafell Pyke & Snowdon in 21 hours.

Martin is Fundraising and Campaigns Director for the Children’s Society, one of the country’s leading children’s charities helping over 50,000 children and their families every year. At the children’s society he leads a team of over 100 staff, and firmly believes in not asking anyone to do anything that he wouldn’t do himself – which is one reason why he finds himself taking part in the Challenge!

Martin began his working life as a primary school teacher and then pursued a rather chequered career that eventually found him working with charities helping them raise funds and communicate more effectively..

He is an interested observer of politics. Noting that unity is often achieved in the face of common adversity he is excited that the challenge participants are setting aside their party differences to take on a formidable challenge for a very worthwhile cause.

Like Emily he is a keen cyclist, braving the London traffic each day. He passionately believes that children are not only often the best people to come up with solutions to their own lives, but that if we spent more time listening to them, they could probably help us solve some of the wider problems that we face. He has been confirmed in this belief by recently becoming a father of two small children

Born in Birmingham in 1974, Lewis spent his formative years in Dorset and Somerset before moving back to the Midlands. He studied Journalism at Cardiff University and worked, amongst other things, as a Landscape Gardener and Underwriter before moving into his current role as a Business Analyst for Capstone Mortgage Services, a Lehman Brothers company.

He enjoys the outdoors, a passion which has taken him from treking across glaciers in Norway and climbing via-ferrata in the Dolomites to heli-boarding and snow shoeing on a back country week in the alps.

A keen footballer, triathlete and cyclist Lewis is looking forward to the challenge of husky sledding and igloo building in the Arctic and welcomes the opportunity to do so in support of three worthy causes.