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May Ball
9th May 2008

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 About Matthew
   

 

Matthew was born in Swindon in 1981, and has lived in Faringdon, Oxfordshire for most of his life. From an early age it seemed likely that Matthew would follow a political career, following in the footsteps of both his father who was Mayor of Faringdon and his grandfather who was also Mayor of the Town as well as a District Councillor for the same ward that Matthew now represents.

 

Educated locally at Ferndale Preparatory School and then at Cokethorpe School in nearby Witney. In 1999 Matthew made the break from rural Oxfordshire as he travelled to West London to read Politics & Philosophy at Brunel University in Middlesex.

 

Whilst at University he became Chairman of the Brunel University Conservative Society, working hard to increase the membership and to integrate its activities with those of the local Uxbridge Conservative Association.

 

Whilst Chairman, Matthew travelled to Blackpool as a Conservative delegate to the National Union of Student Conference. This was the first year in many that Conservative Future had a significant and influential presence at the conference.

 

During his third year Matthew became Deputy Chairman of the Uxbridge Conservatives, a post which he held until 2005. During this time he was heavily involved in the organisation and planning of the 2002 Hillingdon Borough Council Election campaign. A campaign during which he stood for the Yiewsley ward only narrowly loosing out.

 

After graduating from University, Matthew returned to Faringdon and became heavily involved with both Wantage and West Oxfordshire Conservative Associations. As an active member of West Oxfordshire he became Secretary of the Conservative Future Branch in October 2002 and followed that by becoming Deputy Chairman of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Conservative Future Area in November of that year.

 

In his home constituency of Wantage, he became Chairman of the Faringdon branch in March 2003 and also took on the role of constituency representative at the Area Council.

 

It was in May 2003 that Matthew was elected as District Councillor for the Faringdon and The Coxwells ward of the Vale of White Horse District, topping the poll.

 

In his role as District Councillor Matthew has been appointed as a member of the Council's main scrutiny committee and also as a member of the Planning Committee. He has also been appointed Group Secretary.

 

As well as standing as a candidate in the 2003 district elections, Matthew also worked on the Conservative campaign in South Oxfordshire, publishing all of the election literature. This campaign was a great success returning a substantial Conservative majority for the first time in eight years.

 

Matthew worked for nearly three years as Researcher for John Randall MP, Conservative Member of Parliament for the Uxbridge Constituency and Party Whip.

 

In February 2004, just before his 23rd birthday Matthew was elected unopposed to Faringdon Town Council the third generation of his family to be a member of that Council.

 

In the run up to the 2005 General Election, Matthew took on the role of agent for the Oxford West & Abingdon and Oxford East constituencies. He ran the Parliamentary campaigns for both Virginia Morris and Amanda McLean as well as the election campaigns of twenty-six local government candidates. The result of the campaign was the Conservatives gaining an overall majority on the County Council for the first time in twenty years.

 
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Promoted by Matthew Barber on behalf of Oxfordshire Conservatives both of 8 Gorwell, Watlington, Oxfordshire, OX49 5QE.