Member of Parliament for Shoreham & Worthing East
Tim was born in Eastbourne, Sussex in 1962. He was educated at The Priory School, Lewes; University of Warwick and Clare College, Cambridge, where he studied classics and Mesopotamian Archaeology. He lives in Sussex with his wife Elizabeth, son and two daughters.
After leaving Cambridge in 1984, he worked as a fund manager in the City of London for British merchant bank Flemings, becoming a director in 1992. He was also a non-executive director of an Internet start-up company Netlink from 1996 until it was successfully sold in 1999 to an American company.
His political interests include the economy, social exclusion, children’s issues, special educational needs, youth justice, the environment, and health. He is captain of the Lords and Commons Hockey Team and a member of the tennis and skiing teams. His other outside interests include archaeology, wine and the South Downs.
Tim Loughton's Experience
Tim joined the Conservative Party in 1977 and held various positions in the Young Conservatives in Lewes and South East region, followed by student politics at Warwick and Cambridge and was then closely involved with Wandsworth Council during his time in London. He first stood for Parliament in April 1992 against David Blunkett in Sheffield Brightside, narrowly losing on polling day by 22,681 votes (down from 24,191!).
Tim was first elected to Parliament on May 1st 1997, for the new West Sussex constituency of East Worthing & Shoreham with a majority of 5,098 increased to 6,139 in 2001 and 8,183 in 2005. He became a founding member of the House of Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee.
After a period as PPS to Shadow Chancellor Francis Maude, he was promoted to the front bench environment team in February 2000 with responsibility for regeneration, the regions and housing. In September 2001 he was made a Shadow Health Minister with mental health, social services and children's health as part of his brief, and since November 2003, he has been Shadow Minister for Children. He now holds this position on the Shadow Children, Schools and Family team and is responsible for looked after children, special educational needs, personal, social and health education, child welfare and social work, youth justice (shared with Shadow Justice Team) and general well being.
Tim Loughton's Parliamentary Speeches
Tim Loughton MP has raised the issue of crumbling roads in West Sussex exacerbated by the icy conditions during an emergency debate in the House of Commons yesterday (Thursday) about supplies of grit to deal with the cold snap. Notwithstanding the immediate imperatives to get the roads clear for traffic Tim pointed out that local roads were already suffering problems of potholes after the last cold spell and a wet autumn and the current icy conditions and use of grit will only make matters worse. Given that the budget for highway maintenance for counties like West Sussex has effectively been cut in recent years Tim asked the Minister to bear this in mind when dealing with the long term implications of the current weather before more of our roads become unusable or are dangerous more once the snow has been cleared.
Speaking in the Chamber, Tim said:
‘Notwithstanding the short-term impact of what needs to be done, I must say that there is a longer-term impact on the fabric of the roads. They were already breaking up after the most recent bout of poor weather, and they were not helped by gritting, either. Counties such as mine, West Sussex, have faced real-terms cuts in their highways grants over recent years, so will the Minister look at the situation and at how we can help authorities to repair roads in the longer term? If we do not, the problem will get worse and worse.’
