I was elected Leader of Suffolk County Council in May 2018, having served for the previous three years as Cabinet Member for Environment, Public Protection and Broadband.

I was born in Pakenham and brought up in Tostock. I went to Elmswell Primary and then the County Grammar in Bury. I trained to be an accountant, but then moved into payroll software and ran my own payroll bureau and training business until 2016.

I moved to Ipswich in December 1985. I have been involved in politics since 1979 and soon became the Chairman of the local branch in a village in Essex. I am married with three children, seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

I was brought up in Suffolk and have lived here permanently with my wife, Clare, and three children since 1990. After 30 years in investment banking and financial services, I became a local business owner in 2010.

My wife, who has family from Suffolk, and I moved to make our permanent home here in 2011. I have worked in charitable and private sector organisations and am a director of a national retail property company.