Richard believes firmly that the goverment should be the servant of the people, not the master. Like most people, he has given away in tax  more than half of what he has earned in life in the form of one tax or another, whether that be income tax, national insurance, VAT, fuel duty etc.  And, like most people, he has been happy to hand over this tax, provided that it is being well spent on our hospitals, schoold, roads and police. However, we have seen massive levels of waste in these 13 years of Labour government.

Richard passionately believes that Conservatives offer a better future for Britain where people are served by the government and not ordered by it; where they can expect value-for-money in hard-earned money they hand over to the state.

Richard’s initial fascination with politics began at university and his desire to become involved in the political process through the Conservative Party. During his time at Keble he held senior office in both the University Conservative Association and the Student Union. Nationally, he sat on the Executive Board of the Federation of Conservative Students and was a member of the National Union Executive of the Party.

He is a long-time member of the Conservative Party an was made a Treasurer of Party in 2008. He also had a longstanding involvement with the Conservative Friends of Israel, of which he became Chairman of the Executive Board in 2006. He has now resigned both these positions and has given up most of his business and executive interests in the last year to concentrate all his efforts on Watford.

In wider political circles he is best known as a forthright supporter of Ken Clarke’s leadership campaign in 2001.

This is the first election in which Richard has stood as a candidate. He has a deep familiarity and affection for Watford where he has longstanding family and business connections.

He was selected to stand in December 2008 and he has been fighting for hard-working families in Watford ever since. He has led cross-community efforts to keep Watford Market indoors and committed his support for Watford General Hospital and the proposed Health Campus.