John Howell was first elected as the Conservative Party MP for Henley in a 2008 by election, succeeding Boris Johnson who had been elected London mayor. He was reelected in 2019 with a majority of 14,053.
Henley is a large rural constituency on the eastern side of Oxfordshire, running down from Oxford in the north towards Reading in the south. An affluent area, this constituency was for many years represented by the former Deputy Prime Minister, Michael Heseltine, before he was succeeded by Boris Johnson between 2001 and 2008.
John Howell announced in April 2023 that he plans to stand down from Westminster at the next election.
Born in 1955, John Howell studied at the University of Edinburgh and obtained a PHD in archaeology from St John’s College, Oxford. He has lived in the Henley area for the last thirty years and is a former County Councillor.
During a varied working career, Howell was employed as a Tax Inspector for the Inland Revenue, a Business Reporter for the BBC World Service. He then became a Partner at the accountants Ernst and Young. He also once ran his own media production company.
In 2000, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for “services to Export in Central and Eastern Europe”.
Despite succeeding him as the local MP, Howell has at time been critical of Boris Johnson particularly during the Brexit period of 2017 to 2019.
Howell supported Remain in the 2016 EU referendum. He backed Jeremy Hunt in the 2019 Conservative Leadership election.
At Westminster he is Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Design and Innovation, Accounting for Growth, Alternative Dispute Resolution, the River Thames, and Fusion Energy. He is Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Policing and Security, Social Enterprise, and West Papua.
John Howell is also the Chairman of the Industry and Parliament Trust which arranges discussions and secondments for MPs with industry
Email: howelljm@parliament.uk
Personal Website: http://www.johnhowellmp.com/
Twitter: @JohnHowellMP
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/john.howellmp
