I am a proud Cumbrian and grew up and went to School in Wigton. I am married to Ruth, a Community Midwife working in Carlisle.
I have been very proud to serve as a soldier in the British Armed Forces and I understand the nature of uniformed public service and values. I now hope to serve you and my home county as the Police and Crime Commissioner, because I believe that I am well qualified for the job.
I have recently retired from the Army after a career spanning 34 years. In this time I developed a strong understanding of leadership - I was Regimental Colonel of the 16,000 strong Royal Logistic Corps supporting operations in Afghanistan, HR Director for 20,000 Combat Service Support personnel and a range of appointments commanding very large organisations of both military and civilian personnel.
As a senior military logistician I have been personally accountable for multi million pound public budgets, major procurement contracts and large scale project management and significant organisational change. I have extensive experience of operations as diverse as Peace Support in Bosnia to Foot and Mouth here in Cumbria, and have worked with security and police forces around the world. I worked in the ministry of Defence working with Ministers and senior civil servants and have extensive training in counter terrorism.
I beleive that with these skills I can be the strong and efficient Police and Crime Commissioner that Cumbria needs. I hope this May that you think so too.