Claire grew up in North Somerset and was educated at an excellent local school, Nailsea Comprehensive. In 1982 she went to Brasenose College, Oxford and left with a degree in Geography in 1985. Claire was the first person in her family to go to University or indeed stay on in school beyond the age of 16 and as a result is passionately committed to ensuring all children receive the best possible education that can be provided. At Oxford she was also awarded two rowing Blues.
Claire worked for Bank of America for three years and then went to Harvard Business School where she took an MBA (a Master of Business Administration) in 1990. After that Claire had a business career in the United States and Britain, working for McKinsey and Company and Credit Suisse and starting her own small company offering financial advice for women. Claire then moved with her husband and children to Wiltshire in 2000 when she stopped paid work to bring up her small children. In 2007, she began working for George Osborne, now the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Claire currently lives in a small village near Salisbury with her husband Clayton (who is from New Zealand) and their three children ages 14, 12 and 8 and they are currently in the process of moving to a new family home in the Constituency of the Devizes.
On May 6th 2010 Claire was elected as the Member of Parliament for Devizes with a majority of just over 13,000 and with 55% of the vote. She feels honoured to have been elected to represent such a wonderful constituency and has pledged to do all she can to represent the interests of all of her Constituents in Westminster.
In Westminster, Claire has been elected to the Justice Select Committee, represents the UK at the Council of Europe and is a member of All Party groups on Connecting Communities (Chairman), Armed Forces, ANZAC, Child Protection, Churches and Historic Places of Worship, Penal Affairs (Vice Chairman), Rural Affairs and several others.
Claire is campaigning hard for a number of local and national issues including Beat Bullying, No2AV, supporting British Pubs, support for Armed Forces families, support for local pig farmers and an opt-in system for accessing pornography on the internet. For more detail please visit: http://www.claireperry.org.uk/working-for-you/campaigns
In her (ever decreasing!) free time, Claire enjoys reading, walking and cycling with her family and trying to grow some vegetables.