A qualified chartered accountant, Jeremy has a background in manufacturing, international trade and agriculture. He is married to Janet, a GP and university senior lecturer, and lives in Keele, Staffordshire.
From 1989 to 2000, he and his family lived in Tanzania where he worked in the coffee industry. On returning to the UK, he worked assisting smallholder farmers in East Africa, until his election to Parliament in 2010. He believes in tackling poverty through enterprise and job creation and founded Equity for Africa (www.equityforafrica.org) which provides equity-type funding for small businesses. In 2010 he helped to establish the charity Stafford Works, which promotes apprenticeships, job creation and entrepreneurship in Stafford constituency.
Jeremy’s involvement in politics stems from a desire to see people have the opportunity to make the most of their lives. He has served as a councillor and as cabinet member for resources in Newcastle-under-Lyme, before fighting the 2005 General Election in the seat. In 2007, he was selected for Stafford constituency and was the Member of Parliament between May 2010 and November 2019.
Jeremy served on the cross-party ‘Exiting the European Union Committee’. The committee examined the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Exiting the European Union and provided cross-party oversight of the negotiation process. He also served on the Joint Committee on Human Rights which examined matters relating to human rights within the United Kingdom. Jeremy was also a member of the Environmental Audit Committee.
Jeremy previously served on the International Development Select Committee, where he sat as one of 11 members.
Jeremy chaired a number of All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPG) including on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases and Tanzania. He has been a trustee of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine since November 2015.
Internationally, Jeremy has previously been Chair of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and IMF.
In September 2017, Jeremy was appointed the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Ethiopia. Trade envoys engage with emerging markets where substantial trade and investment opportunities have been identified by UK government.
Outside his work, Jeremy has served on the Independent Monitoring Board of a Young Offenders Institution and as a school governor; assists a local church youth group and enjoys playing and writing music, football, cricket, badminton and hill walking in the little spare time he has.