John Baron was the Member of Parliament for Basildon and Billericay. Born in 1959, John is married with two daughters. His interests include history, theatre/film and financial journalism. After a state education, he finished his sixth form studies at Queen’s College, Taunton.
After a gap year traveling, John studied Law and Social & Political Sciences at Cambridge. He then joined the Army and The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. After Sandhurst, he served on a number of tours and postings including Berlin, Northern Ireland and Cyprus, before finishing in Germany as the Battalion Operations Officer.
On leaving the Army, he entered the City and ran a wide range of portfolios for charities and private clients as a Director of Hendersons and then Rothschild Asset Management. He remains a member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI).
He now writes a monthly column for the Investors Chronicle magazine (donating his fee to charity), occasionally speaks at financial seminars, and has written the ‘FT Guide to Investment Trusts’. He is also a Director of Equi Ltd, which runs an Investment Trust website, and is the chair of the Investment Committee at Baron & Grant, which specialises in managing investment trust-focused portfolios.
John was the Conservative Parliamentary candidate in Basildon in 1997, and was elected as the Conservative MP for Billericay and District in 2001, serving on Parliament’s Education Select Committee before becoming a Shadow Health Minister in 2002. However, he resigned from the Shadow Front Bench in 2003 in order to vote against the Iraq war.
He was subsequently re-appointed as a Shadow Health Minister with responsibilities including cancer services. He moved from Health to join the Opposition Whips’ Office in the summer of 2007. In 2010, he left the Whips’ Office, turned down a Cabinet PPS position, and stood for election as Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, of which was a member 2010-2017.
He further opposed the morphing of the Afghan mission into one of nation building after 2001, the bombing of Libya in 2011 and the policy of arming the Syrian rebels in 2013 (and extracting a Government promise that it would ask Parliament’s permission in a vote) – in part believing such interventions distracted from the greater threat of potentially hostile nation states.
Closer to home, over the years John has led on a number of campaigns including:
- As Chair of the Cancer All-Party Parliamentary Group (2009-18), a greater focus on outcomes (such as the one-year survival rate) rather than processes and subsequently orchestrated the introduction of Clause 5 of the Heath & Care Act 2022.
- Official recognition and support for our nuclear test veterans – the former was granted by David Cameron as Prime Minister in June 2014, and the latter by the formation of the Aged Veterans Fund in Budget 2015.
- Orchestrating pressure on the Conservative leadership in 2012/13 to include a promise of an EU referendum in the party’s election manifesto while tabling an amendment to the Queen’s Speech expressing regret legislation was not included.
- A Parliamentary rebellion to amend the Defence Reform Act 2014 to pause the implementation of the Coalition Government’s policy of replacing 20,000 Army regulars with 30,000 Reservists. It was a close vote.
- During Theresa May’s premiership, leading on a number of amendments to preserve the essence of the EU referendum vote, and voting three times against the Withdrawal Agreement.
- In 2012 he secured a debate opposing the abolition of the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, which was being cut as part of the Coalition’s Defence reforms. On the day John helped organize a march of Fusilier veterans on Parliament – thought to be the first time (ex-)soldiers had marched on Parliament since Cromwell.
- Other campaigns have included opposing and voting against HS2, supporting amendments to strengthen our economic crime legislation, and helping the British Council’s Afghan contractors to reach the safety of the UK.
John was chosen as one of the BBC’s Parliamentarians of the Year for 2013/2014 for his role in the vote against military action in Syria and for his work on the EU referendum campaign. In 2021, his longstanding views on Afghanistan were recognised by Conservative Home.
John is currently chair of the British Council APPG and the 1922 Defence Committee, while serving on the Treasury Select Committee and the European Scrutiny Committee.
To read more about John’s interests and campaigns in Parliament, please visit the Campaigns and Timeline pages.
In June 2023 His Majesty the King appointed John a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in his birthday honours, for his public and political service.
In October 2023 John announced his decision to stand down at the General Election. After 23 years in the House of Commons, he ceased to be an MP at the Dissolution of Parliament on 30th May 2024.