About Shailesh

Shailesh Vara speaks to Party Conference Shailesh is the Member of Parliament for North West Cambridgeshire, having been elected in May 2005. He is presently the Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons.

He was educated at Aylesbury Grammar School and Brunel University and qualified as a solicitor. He has worked in the City and the West End of London, as well as in Hong Kong. He is married with two children.

Shailesh has held various posts in the Conservative Party including being a Vice-Chairman of the Party during 2001-2005. Apart from his shadow ministerial brief, Shailesh holds a range of other responsibilities. These include being Joint-Vice Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Trafficking of Women and Children, Treasurer of the BBC All Party Parliamentary Group and Vice-Chairman of the Executive Committee of Conservative Lawyers. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Great Fen Project, which seeks to create a 3,700 hectare wetland in North West Cambridgeshire.

During 2005-6, Shailesh was a member of the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and in 2006 he served on the Standing Committee of the Companies Bill, scrutinising the largest Bill ever to go through Parliament. Moreover, during 2006 he was Joint Secretary of the Conservative Backbench Group on Foreign affairs.

Shailesh in his office Shailesh regularly questions Ministers on a range of subjects. The questions he has asked, and the government’s responses, can be viewed by clicking on the relevant section in the menu alongside.

In 2006 Shailesh introduced a Private Member’s Bill to extend the age range for women to have compulsory breast cancer screening from the present 50-70 to the 45-75 age range. Unfortunately, the government did not allow the Bill to progress.

In 2007 Shailesh tried to introduce another Private Member’s Bill to give greater protection to householders when they sought to defend themselves and their property from intruders in their homes. Again, the government did not allow the Bill to progress.

In North West Cambridgeshire

As well as helping constituents with various personal matters, Shailesh campaigns for issues that benefit the whole community. He is currently campaigning, with neighbouring MP Jonathan Djanogly, to ensure that Hinchingbrooke Hospital remains open and continues to maintain a full level of service. He is also campaigning to ensure that all residents in the Hamptons area have access to a broadband service.

Early in 2006, Shailesh presented a petition to 10 Downing Street, opposing the rail company GNER’s proposals to double car parking prices at Peterborough station. He was part of the successful campaigns to stop Cambridgeshire Police Constabulary from merging with other forces as well as ensuring that elderly residents received free bus travel throughout the county. Shailesh campaigned strongly to make safe the treacherous piece of road along the Forty Foot Drain, where the County Council has now agreed to install average speed cameras.

Map image produced from the Ordnance Survey Election-Map service.
Map image reproduced with permission of Ordnance Survey.

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