Born in 1956, Patrick is the son of an Anglican Bishop. Patrick has moved back to his home town of Newark where he now lives with wife Caitriona and son Rupert.
Educated at the King's School, Chester, Oxford University and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he has a degree in history. Indeed, history is his first love and when time permits he immerses himself in it. He has written several history books and has just expanded into fiction, his first trilogy having just been published.
After Oxford he joined Nottinghamshire's Regiment, the Sherwood Foresters in which his father had served during the war. Most of his service was in Northern Ireland though he also served in Germany, Canada, Uganda and Brunei. Latterly, he spent several months in the Balkans. Mentioned in despatches in 1983 and commended for gallantry in 1990, he was made MBE in 1992 and elevated to OBE in 1996 for service in Bosnia.
Leaving the Army in 1999, Patrick was the defence correspondent for BBC Radio 4's Today programme. This took him to the Balkans and East Timor. Moving from there to be the prospective parliamentary candidate for Newark in 2000, he kept body and soul together by working as a freelance journalist principally for the Daily Telegraph.
In 2001, Patrick took the Labour-held seat of Newark converting a Labour majority of 3000 to a Conservative majority of just over 4000. Whilst not unique, this was a pretty remarkable achievement on a day when Conservative victories were few and far between. On top of this, in the General Election of 2010, Patrick's majority rose to over 16,000.
Following the September 11th 2001 tragedy, Patrick served on the House of Commons Defence Select Committee and then moved into the Tory Defence Team where he acted as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Shadow Defence Secretary during the second Gulf War. He held the unique front bench post of Shadow Minister for Homeland Security between June 2003 and March 2007. This job was designed to underline the Government's incoherent approach to the preparation of this country for a terrorist attack.
In late 2004 he initiated a Private Member's Bill that was designed to alter the law in favour of householders rather than burglars. The whole issue was central to Newark from which Tony Martin's two intruders had come. Indeed, one of the young men who was injured in the infamous case in Norfolk still lives in Newark. He, Brendan Fearon, went on record to say that a change in the law would certainly deter many burglars.
Patrick introduced the Householder protection Bill in February 2005. It was a hugely popular cause both nationally and in the Newark and Retford constituency. Sadly the progress of the Bill was halted by the calling of the general election.
At home in Newark, Patrick is faced with the difficulties of a constituency that has depended, in the past, on agriculture and manufacturing. With both sectors in decline, it is crucial that the area reconfigures its industry towards the service sector. This is the challenge for Newark and Patrick looks forward to continuing to assist his constituents with this transition.