Nicholas

Being a parliamentary candidate sometimes feels like a full time job. But it is unpaid so I still have to earn a living. Since 2002 I have been director of Policy Exchange, an independent centre-right think tank and registered charity which I helped set up. Policy Exchange's mission is to promote ideas and policies based on strong communities, personal freedom, limited government, national self-confidence and an enterprise culture.

I am also non-executive chairman of Longwall Holdings Limited, a company supplying paintbrushes, rollers and decorating tools to DIY stores and builders' merchants around the UK and Ireland. From 1995 until 2000 I was chief executive so I understand very well the challenges of running a small business in a highly competitive marketplace. I am very proud of the fact that the company employs over 100 people.

In 1998 I was elected on to Westminster City Council as one of the councillors for the West End ward. The West End includes Soho so it was a pretty lively place to represent! While on Westminster Council, I served as chairman of the Housing Committee.

It seems ages since I was a student. But I do remember enjoying it a lot! I studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford - and somehow scraped a first. I then went on to the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard for a couple of years to do a master's degree in public policy.

I am the youngest of six children and have fourteen nephews and nieces who tease me mercilessly and will never let me get too big for my boots.

If there's anything else you want to know, please send me an email to contact