Conor spent the first few years of his life in Belfast before his family moved to Hertfordshire in 1980. After secondary school in St Albans Conor went to Southampton University where he studied Modern History and Politics. Since graduation he has had a variety of jobs working in the communications and finance sectors.
He was Company Secretary and Head of Business Development for successful information services company and later briefly ran the direct sales forces in the southern region of a large insurance company. Most recently he has been working for a large private company on the south coast and is on the board of the Spitfire Tribute Foundation which is working to construct a permanent monument to the Spitfire in the city of its birth.
He collects biographical books and loves spending time exploring second hand book shops. A keen swimmer Conor regularly goes to the gym and also enjoys walking in the countryside. Conor also loves to watch snooker and despite the relentless mickey taking by his friends he goes up to Sheffield to watch some of the world championship each year.
Conor is also very involved in several charities and takes his commitment to these very seriously. Conor is on the management team of a Home Start scheme that helps families struggling with the demands of everyday life.
Conor's Experience
Conor joined the Conservative party at the earliest age possible and became politically involved at school. On arriving at University Conor got involved with the Southampton University Conservative Association becoming Chairman in 1992. He was elected to Southampton City Council in 1999 taking what had previously been a safe Labour seat. He immediately became Housing and Urban Regeneration Spokesman. His St Luke’s Ward was abolished and having become Group Leader he moved at the last minute to another ward.
Having joined a Group of 3 Conor lead the Conservatives to increase their numbers to 12 but narrowly failed to win re-election himself in 2002. He is proud to have laid the foundations for the Conservatives to have taken control of Southampton City Council in 2008. Conor was selected to fight Eastleigh in 1999 and contested the 2001 and 2005 general elections.
In 2005 Conor missed by 568 votes against LibDem Chris Huhne. During his time in Eastleigh Conor led campaigns against oil drilling near a primary school, against a major development area on flood plain land, to save allotments and for less infill development.
The thing Conor most enjoys about politics is the opportunity it gives him to take up people’s problems and try to make a difference in their lives.
Campaigning in Bournemouth
Bournemouth is one of the most vibrant yet at the same time tranquil places in Britain. We have a large retired population living alongside the dynamic University that brings so much to the town. We have tens of thousands of visitors who coming to the town each year either on business and drawn by the conference facilities or as tourists to enjoy the unspoilt beach and the wonderful leisure facilities.
Yet underlying this Bournemouth faces some very real threats and challenges.
Local Conservatives are fighting the Government’s plans to impose 16,100 new dwellings on Bournemouth in the coming years – 1,500 being proposed on flood plain land that protects us from the River Stour. Local Conservatives believe that these decisions should be in the hands of locally accountable people and not taken by faceless people in Bristol and Exeter who have not been elected and cannot be removed.
Everyone who lives in Bournemouth or visits Bournemouth knows that our roads are already congested and there is already too much pressure on the local health services.
Local Conservatives celebrate and welcome the fact that the town has such a vital night life and enjoy people coming here to enjoy themselves. However we must ensure that our town remains an attractive and non threatening place for people of all ages to enjoy themselves. We want to reclaim the streets so that all may enjoy the town and this is especially true on weekend nights.
We are very fortunate that Bournemouth has relatively low crime rates and we want to keep it that way. Yet although crime is low fear of crime is on the rise. Local Conservatives want to see high visibility policing that makes people feel safe so that no one is a prisoner of their own home.
With a University in the constituency that is growing in size, stature and reputation with every passing year local Conservatives welcome the great boost to the area that having the University gives. We welcome the students who make their home in the town for the three years of their degree and the many who stay on. Yet we always work to promote respect between the young people and the long term residents and are pleased that relations between the two are good.
The presence of the University reminds us of the need for high quality local education. Local Conservatives are proud of the diversity of school locally and will always defend this diversity.
We are committed to being in touch with and easily accessible to local people and welcome contact. Please feel free to contact us at any time if we can help or if you have any suggestions as to how our town can be made to be an even better place to live and work.