SE Region Euro Candidates June 2009

From left to right:James Elles MEP, Tony Devenish, Richard Robinson, Sarah Richardson,

Mark Francois MP, Nina Kaariniemi, Marc Brunel-Walker, Therese Coffey,

Richard Ashworth MEP, Daniel Hannan MEP

James Elles, Richard Ashworth, Daniel Hannan & Nirj Deva were successfully re-elected in June 2009.

Therese was born near Wigan and spent most of her childhood in Liverpool. Educated at various schools in the Liverpool area and North Wales, Therese attended university in Oxford and London, studying Chemistry finishing with a PhD and a number of academic papers. Therese has lived in Hampshire since 1997 where she has enjoyed serving as a town councillor and governor of her local school.

Therese worked for Mars for 12 years after leaving university, becoming a chartered management accountant, and worked most recently as Finance Director for a UK subsidiary. Therese left Mars in late 2008 and is working full-time on the European election campaign.

Therese first got involved in local politics in Liverpool in the 80's and has been active ever since. She has been a European candidate in 2004 and also was a candidate in the 2005 General Election in Wrexham.

In her spare time, Therese is a speaker for the charity Water Aid. More sociably, Therese is a member of Englandfans+, rarely missing a home international at Wembley (West End Level 1 is her favourite section). Therese can be found every Sunday night at her local pub's quiz night and also plays for the pub in the local quiz league. Addicted to Sudoko and Scrabble, Therese's other passion is music, attending live music as much as possible (Muse is her favourite band).

Last year, Therese adopted Rizzo, a rescue dog from the Dogs Trust near where she lives. Rizzo enjoys dragging Therese for walks and is rarely seen without a ball in her mouth. Already an expert at canvassing, Rizzo receives far more attention than Therese when out campaigning.

If Therese is elected to the European Parliament, she wants to use her skills and experience from industry to work for better jobs for Britain and to get the EU accounts signed off.

A journalist and editor specialising in education and employment, Sarah Richardson has worked for The Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian, Elle, The Independent and Vogue. She was launch editor of Real World, the graduate careers title, and a commissioning editor on the Evening Standard before going freelance five years ago.

A regular contributor to the Evening Standard, Sarah also co-ordinates press, communications and lobbying for the What Makes the Difference? Project (WMTD). Working with stakeholders including the DCSF and the Kent-based young people’s charity Rainer, WMTD aims to improve the current, appalling educational and emotional outcomes for older children in care and care leavers.

Sarah has worked for the Conservatives as a professional, a candidate at the European and Westminster Parliamentary elections, a volunteer, an activist and a fundraiser for nearly 20 years. She regularly speaks for Conservatives in the media and has contributed to Radio 5 Live, Radio 2, BBC London News, ITV News and Radio 4. Her work as a councillor has been profiled in Community Care magazine and The Municipal Journal identified her as one of their ‘40 ones to watch under 40’.

Sarah read English Literature at Durham University where she edited Palatinate, the student newspaper. A former international fencer - she was British Under 20 women’s foil champion and represented Great Britain at the World Youth Championships in Istanbul – she now enjoys more sedate exercise like yoga and walking in the North Downs near where she lives.

Sarah is married to Damian Collins; they met through the Conservative Party when they were both working on the 1997 General Election campaign. Last year, Damian was selected to be the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate in Folkestone and Hythe. Sarah and Damian live in East Brabourne, near Ashford in Kent, with their daughter, Claudia, and son, Hugo.

Richard has been involved in Conservative politics since a young age when he joined the Rochester and Chatham Young Conservatives and, in one way or another, has been involved in the Party ever since.

Richard spent his University years in Salford, ostensibly studying Economics, in practice learning how elections were run and won. 1974 offered two general elections and gave him his first chance to run a ward campaign in Chancellor of the Exchequer Tony Barber's Sale constituency. The mining constituency of Ashfield gave him his first taste of a Parliamentary by-election campaign and the rare pleasure of overturning a 23,000 Labour majority!

Richard stood for Rochester City Council at a by-election and served for several years as a City Councillor.

During these opposition years, Richard wrote Research Papers on economics and constitutional issues for the Federation of Conservative Students and Greater London Young Conservatives. The case Richard made for ending Incomes Policies went with the tide of Mrs Thatcher's Party; his advocacy of Devolution did not.

Marriage, children and a career with lots of international travel limited his involvement over the next few years. He moved to Surrey, joined his Ward Committee and became its Chairman and then later Deputy Chairman Political and Chairman of the Surrey Heath Association.

In 2004, Richard was a candidate on the South East regional list for the European Parliament.

His career in business has run parallel to his work for the Conservative Party: as an Investment Manager for the Miners' Pension Fund, an investment advisor to the Kuwait Government and, more recently, running his own international investment consultancy. He has run companies in Canada and the United Sates, and in Spain and France as well as the UK.

Niina was born in Finland, and came to Britain in 1988. Niina lives in Witney, Oxfordshire with her two children, Joshua eight and Nieko sixteen.

Niina studied for a BA Honours in European Studies with Spanish and also has a Post Graduate Degree in Business Management. She worked in the private sector for 10 years which included working in Spain, Scandinavian Countries and Brazil. For the last eight years she has worked for the Conservative Administration at Oxfordshire County Council.

Niina has been passionate about politics and voluntary work since the age of 14 - joining her grandparents fighting for better conditions for war veterans.

She became South East Co-ordinator for Women2Win in 2006, a Member of the Affairs Forum in 2007, Board Director for a Local Housing Association in 2008, Communications Director for the Conservative Political Officers Network. She actively participates in the Scholarship of Engagement for Politics and she looks after many Oxfordshire Election Campaigns.

Niina speaks Finnish, Swedish, Spanish, and Portuguese and gets by in Italian and German.

Niina still wants to trek the jungle in the Amazon, visit more historical places and learn another language. She does not like political correctness or positive discrimination and wants to see Europe staying as a union of independent sovereign states.