Jesse Norman is 44 years old, and a local family man. He has lived with his wife Kate and their three children near Hay-on-Wye for fifteen years, and Kate’s family has lived there for over forty.
They are active members of the Golden Valley Hunt and the GV Pony Club, and hugely enjoy canoeing and camping on the Wye and walking in the Black Mountains. He has a private pilot’s licence, and is a keen sailor and apprentice paraglider.
Jesse was educated at Oxford University and at University College London. He has had a serious and successful career, first as a Director of Barclays and later as a businessman, before turning to politics. He was able to draw on this experience in becoming an adviser to George Osborne MP, the Shadow Chancellor, in 2005.
Jesse has a twenty year track record as a political and voluntary campaigner. He has been a school governor of an inner city comprehensive and has worked for nearly a decade with the Roundhouse, an arts centre and urban regeneration project which has so far helped over 12,000 disadvantaged young people.
He has a reputation for getting things done, and has personally raised over £500,000 for charitable projects over the past three years.
Jesse has been a Conservative since university. He played a key role in helping Oliver Letwin to defeat a huge Lib Dem onslaught in West Dorset during the 2005 General Election, and stood as a Conservative candidate in Camden Town in the 2006 Council elections, when Labour lost control of the borough for the first time in 35 years.
He regularly writes for the national newspapers, and has appeared on Start the Week and Any Questions?. His recent book Compassionate Conservatism has been called the “handbook to Cameronism” by the Sunday Times.
