Nicholas Boles
Nicholas Edward Coleridge Boles (born 2 November 1965), known as Nick Boles, is a Conservative MP and a former Director of Policy Exchange. He is a signatory of the statement of principles of the Henry Jackson Society Project for Democratic Geopolitics, a British neoconservative organisation. He is a former flatmate of Michael Gove. [1]
Biography
Boles's biography on the Policy Exchange website in 2001 stated:
Nicholas Boles is the director of Policy Exchange. He was born in 1965. He read PPE at Magdalen College, Oxford and won a Kennedy Scholarship to study for a master's in public policy at the Kennedy School, Harvard University. In 1995, Nicholas founded Longwall Holdings, a small group of manufacturing businesses supplying the DIY industry; he remains non-executive chairman of Longwall. In 1998, he was elected to Westminster City Council as a representative of the West End ward. He served as chairman of Westminster's Housing Committee from 1999 to 2001. In early 2002, Nicholas acted as associate producer of the West End production of The Mysteries. [2]
Boles states on his official website that before setting up his DIY business he 'worked for a few years in Germany, Russia and Eastern Europe, helping state-owned industries prepare for private ownership.' [3]
Boles left Policy Exchange in February 2007 to concentrate on his bid to be Mayor of London and was replaced by the Chief Political Correspondent of The Times Anthony Browne. [4] On his time at Policy Exchange Boles has stated:
My biggest achievement in politics so far has been to set up and run Policy Exchange, which is now the largest and most influential policy research institute on the centre right. While I was its director, Policy Exchange devised policies to make police forces more accountable to local people, to expand the number of places in good schools and to give local communities incentives to build more houses. We also exposed the activities of Islamic extremists in some mosques in the UK and their effect on the attitudes of young British Muslims. Many of our ideas have been adopted by the Conservative Party under David Cameron. [5]
Boles later withdrew from the London Mayoral race after revealing that he was suffering from Hodgkin's lymphoma. After Boris Johnson was elected Mayor he appointed Boles as his Interim Chief of Staff. Other Policy Exchange appointees included his cultural advisor Munira Mirza and Dan Ritterband. [6]
Boles was subsequently appointed head of David Cameron's Implementation Unit, where he was responsible for drawing up the Tories' plans for government with Policy Exchange founder Francis Maude.[7] In the 2010 General Election he was elected Conservative MP for Grantham and Stamford[8], the home town of Margaret Thatcher.
Affiliations
- Policy Exchange, former director
- Henry Jackson Society Project for Democratic Geopolitics, signatory of statement of principles
Notes
- ↑ Sam Coates, Francis Elliott, Fran Yeoman and Helen Nugent, 'The new generation of Conservative candidates', The Times, 30 April 2009.
- ↑ Internet Archive, Policy Exchange - Biographies, 25 May 2002.
- ↑ PDF of <http://www.nickboles.com/about/meet-nick-boles> created 13 May 2010.
- ↑ Iain Dale's Diary, 'Nicholas Boles Steps Down from Policy Exchange', 21 February 2007.
- ↑ PDF of <http://www.nickboles.com/about/meet-nick-boles> created 13 May 2010.
- ↑ Robert Watts and Jonathan Oliver, 'Boris Tory HQ team puts reins on Boris Johnson', Sunday Times, 11 May 2008.
- ↑ Andrew Grice, 'Talent 2010: The politician, Nick Boles', Independent, 26 December 2009.
- ↑ Nicholas Boles, www.parliament.uk, accessed 19 July 2010.
