Sir Julian Lewis was first elected as the Conservative MP for New Forest East in 1997 being re-elected in 2019 with a majority of 25,251.
The constituency of New Forest East is a large rural constituency in southern Hampshire which spreads out from the western shores of the Solent around Southampton into the New Forest. With the New Forest itself relatively uninhabited, the bulk of the electorate live along the coast in the communities of Fawley, Totton, Marchwood, and Hythe. The National motor museum at Beaulieu is found in this constituency. The ExonnMobil oil refinery at Fawley is the largest facility of its kind in the UK. This area of England has supported the Conservative Party ever since the First World War. Over a quarter of the population are said to be retired, and three fifths backed Brexit in the 2016 EU referendum.
Sir Julian Lewis is Chairman of the Commons Intelligence and Security Committee overseeing the work of MI6 and MI5. In standing for this post, he stood against the Conservative Party’s preferred candidate, Chris Grayling, and lost the Conservative whip for six months in 2020 as a result.
Lewis was previously Chairman of the Commons Defence Select Committee between 2016 and 2019.
He was knighted in the 2023 New Year Honours List
Born in 1951, Lewis read Philosophy and Politics at Oxford before specialising in Strategic Studies. He was awarded a doctorate in 1981.
During his younger years before being elected to Parliament, Lewis was a prominent political campaigner. Between 1981 and 1985, he was a leader of the anti-CND campaigns waged by The Coalition for Peace Through Security. In 1985, he became Director of the political consultancy Policy Research Associates, which campaigned for changes in the law on Educational Indoctrination, Media Bias, Propaganda on the Rates, and Trade Union Democracy.
In 1988 he published the book, ‘Changing Direction: British Military Planning for Post-war Strategic Defence 1942-47’. A second edition, based on newly-declassified archives, was published by Frank Cass in March 2003
He was appointed Deputy Director of the Conservative Research Department in February 1990 and Director of the Conservative Party’s Media Monitoring Unit in 1995.
On the right of the Conservative Party, Lewis was a supporter of Brexit in the 2016 EU referendum. He has previously voted against inclusive LGBT education in schools.
Dr Julian Lewis is Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Surgical Mesh; and Vice Chair of the Party Parliamentary Groups on Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Lewis has previously served as a Royal Navy reservist.
Personal Website: http://www.julianlewis.net/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Julian-Lewis/1437468166521109
