Tobias Ellwood

Tobias Ellwood MP
Member of Parliament for Bournemouth East
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 May 2005
Preceded by	David Atkinson
Majority	7,728 (17.5%)
Personal details
Born	12 August 1966 (1966-08-12) New York City, New York, USA
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Hannah Ryan
Alma mater	Loughborough University, London Business School

Tobias Martin Ellwood (born 12 August 1966) is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bournemouth East.

Early life

Ellwood was born in New York City and educated at schools in Bonn and Vienna. He went to Loughborough University from 1986–90, where he received a BA (Hons) degree, and the Cass Business School at City University from 1997-8, where he was awarded an MBA. On leaving education he joined the British Army and the Royal Green Jackets in 1991. He left the army with the rank of Captain in 1996. After resigning his commission he became a researcher to the Conservative MP Tom King. He was elected as the chairman of the Hertfordshire South West Conservative Association for a year in 1998, and has been a senior business manager with the London Stock Exchange since 1999.

Parliamentary career

He was elected as a councillor to the Dacorum Borough Council in 1999, and unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary seat of Worsley at the 2001 general election when he was defeated by the sitting Labour MP Terry Lewis by 11,787 votes. He was successful at the 2005 general election, when he was selected to contest the safe Conservative seat of Bournemouth East when he succeeded the retiring David Atkinson. Ellwood held Bournemouth East with a majority of 5,244 votes and remains the MP there. He made his maiden speech on 19 May 2005.

A vocal supporter of David Cameron's campaign for the leadership of the Conservative Party, Ellwood was appointed to the Opposition Whips Office in December 2005. In the July 2007 reshuffle, Cameron promoted Ellwood to his frontbench team as Shadow Minister for Culture, Media and Sport, with specific responsibilities for gambling, licensing and tourism. Ellwood has since stated that these responsibilities are also of specific interest to his Bournemouth constituents, a town of seaside tourism, numerous bars and nightclubs, and the site of a proposed casino development.

Ellwood is one of the 98 MPs who voted to keep their expense details secret.

Following his re-election to Parliament, Ellwood was appointed PPS to then Defence Secretary, Dr. Liam Fox, and in October 2011 was appointed PPS to the Minister for Europe The Rt. Hon David Liddington MP in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

He is a proponent of "double summer time".

Personal life

Ellwood married Hannah Ryan, a corporate lawyer at Clifford Chance, in July 2005 in East Yorkshire.

His brother, Jonathan, who was the Director of Studies at the International School Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, was killed in the 2002 Bali bombing.

In June 2009 Ellwood was beaten by a gang of youths after confronting them for playing football in the street.

When figures for expenses were released in April 2011 for claims covering the last two months of 2010, Ellwood was found to have the highest claim figure at £14,105. However this is not an accurate reflection. The two selected months of November and December, have given the impression that his expenses are over £14,000 EVERY two months. Mr Ellwood could equally quote the three months of May June and October and claim on the basis of that snap shot that his expenses are £0. Both positions are of course inaccurate, the accurate figure is an average of £2,837 per month and so for two months this would be an average of £5,674 far less than the impression given by the Echo of £14,105. The Echo did not give an accurate reflection of the truth.

External links

• His website
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Tobias Ellwood MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Tobias Ellwood MP
• Bournemouth East Conservatives

News items

• Calling for the licensing of opium in October 2006
• Binge drinking in Bournemouth in February 2006
• David Cameron's election plans stolen by a car thief in November 2005
• BBC article on Bali bombing