Biography

Ed Vaizey MP was elected as the Member of Parliament for Wantage and Didcot in May 2005. Since November 2006, he has been the Conservatives’ Shadow Minister for Culture, looking after arts and broadcasting policy.

Born in 1968, Ed attended Merton College, Oxford. When he left university, he spent two years working for the Conservative Party’s Research Department, before training and practising as a barrister.

In 1996, he left the law, and became the director of a highly successful public relations company based in London. In 2004, he left to become the chief speech writer for the then Leader of the Opposition, Michael Howard.

Ed also built up a career as a freelance political commentator, writing regularly for The Guardian, and appearing on programmes such as Despatch Box and The Wright Stuff, as well as broadcasting frequently on Five Live.

Ed married his wife Alex in September 2005, they live in a village near Wantage and in London with their son Joseph and daughter Martha.

Interests

Ed is a board member of Edexcel, the exam board, where he looks after the interests of the Trident Trust, the largest work experience charity in the United Kingdom, which was taken over by Edexcel in 2006.

He is a Young Ambassador for the Samaritans.

In Parliament, Ed was a member of the Standing Committee on the Consumer Credit Bill. Before going on the front bench he was a member of the Modernisation and Environmental Audit Select Committees and was Deputy Chairman of the Conservative's Globalisation and Global Poverty Policy Group.

In Wantage and Didcot, Ed is President of Didcot Town Football Club; a board member of Didcot First; Vice-President of the Friends of the Ridgeway; Patron of the Friends of St Mary’s Church, Buckland; and a governor of Cholsey Primary School. Since being elected in 2005, Ed has raised and donated more than £15,000 to local charities in the constituency.

Ed’s other interests include being a board member of the Bush Theatre in West London; a trustee of the Heritage of London Trust; and a trustee of the National Churches Trust