Michael James Ellwood Berry is a British barrister who was a

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician while serving as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for

Kingston and Surbiton Kingston and Surbiton () is a constituency created in 1997 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Ed Davey, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats. Kingston and Surbiton has been considered a marginal seat, as wel ...

from May 2015 to May 2017.Kingston & Surbiton Parliamentary constituency

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In 2017 he returned to practising law at Serjeants' Inn Chambers.

Early life

James Berry was born and brought up in the city of

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. From 1996 to 2001, he was educated at

King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for 13 to 18 year old pupils) in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's ...

, an independent school in his home city, followed by

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, from which he graduated, and finally at the Harvard Law School in the United States, where he received a degree in Law.Simmons, Richard
Meet the lawyers standing for Parliament
, ''Lawyer 2B'', 10 April 2015

Career

Returning to England, Berry worked as a barrister in London, specialising in healthcare, professional negligence, and police law. In May 2015, he was elected as the Member of Parliament for

. During his campaign, he had stressed education as a key interest.Edwin Newberry
Conservative candidate for Kingston and Surbiton James Berry believes education is key for aspiration.
, ''Kingston Courier'', 16 November 2014 Berry strongly supports implementation of mindfulness meditation practices and beliefs for children in schools, which he states will positively impact pupils' future workplace productivity. Berry was at odds with his party with regard to lowering the voting age, for he was an advocate of the franchise being extended to 16- and 17-year olds. He was opposed to

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC ...

at the time of the 2016 referendum, and his constituency voted in favour of remaining in the European Union. However, Berry subsequently voted with the government to pass the Article 50 bill which became the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act 2017. At the 2017 general election Berry lost his seat, despite gaining almost 600 votes more than his 2015 result. The previous constituency MP,

Ed Davey Sir Edward Jonathan Davey (born 25 December 1965) is a British politician who has served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats since 2020. He served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2012 ...

, who had served from 1997 to 2015, beat him by a margin of 4,124 votes. In June 2017, Berry's chambers announced that he was returning to practising law full-time.Serjeants’ Inn welcomes James Berry back to Chambers
dated 22 June 2017

Personal life

Berry married a Harvard graduate in August 2013.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, James 1983 births Alumni of University College London English barristers Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Harvard Law School alumni Living people People educated at The King's School, Canterbury People from Canterbury Lawyers from Kent UK MPs 2015–2017