Shailesh has been the MP for North West Cambridgeshire, since being elected in May 2005. In May 2010, Shailesh became an Assistant Government Whip.
He was educated at Aylesbury Grammar School and Brunel University and qualified as a solicitor. He has worked in the City and the West End of London, as well as in Hong Kong. He is married with two children.
Shailesh has held various posts in the Conservative Party including being a Vice-Chairman of the Party during 2001-2005. Apart from his shadow ministerial brief, Shailesh holds a range of other responsibilities. These include being Joint-Vice Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Trafficking of Women and Children, Treasurer of the BBC All Party Parliamentary Group and Vice-Chairman of the Executive Committee of Conservative Lawyers. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Great Fen Project, which seeks to create a 3,700 hectare wetland in North West Cambridgeshire.
During 2005-6, Shailesh was a member of the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and in 2006 he served on the Standing Committee of the Companies Bill, scrutinising the largest Bill ever to go through Parliament. Moreover, during 2006 he was Joint Secretary of the Conservative Backbench Group on Foreign affairs.
In 2006 Shailesh introduced a Private Member’s Bill to extend the age range for women to have compulsory breast cancer screening from the present 50-70 to the 45-75 age range. Unfortunately, the government did not allow the Bill to progress.
Earlier this year, Shailesh tried to introduce another Private Member’s Bill to give greater protection to householders when they sought to defend themselves and their property from intruders in their homes. Again, the government did not allow the Bill to progress.
Shailesh Vara's Experience
Shailesh has been involved with the Conservative party since the late 1980s and has held various posts at local, regional and national levels. As Vice Chairman of the Party he had a broad range of responsibilities. These included advising Michael Howard, deputising for the Party Chairman, Party spokesman with the media and looking after Conservative Future (which comprises the 10,000 or so people in the party under 30).
In 2003, Shailesh was invited by the US government to take part in their "Young European Leaders" programme in which he was elected group leader by his fellow delegates from 12 countries. In the run up to the 2001 general election, Shailesh was a member of the Party's manifesto teams for Law and Order and Legal Affairs.