Mike
Weatherley selected as Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman for Brighton
Pavilion
Mike Weatherley
has been selected by Brighton Pavilion Conservative Association members to fight
the next General Election. The
final vote was carried out in a pioneering postal ballot process.
Brighton Pavilion Constituency is one of the first of only a handful of
Tory Party Associations to have taken part in a postal ballot trial to engage as
many members as possible in the selection of Parliamentary Spokesman, and has
been hailed as a total success.
Mike,
46, is a local family man and has lived in the Sussex area for over 30 years,
including Regency Square, Western Street, The Old Steine and Upper Lewes Road in
Brighton. He is married to
Brazilian born Adriana, and has two sons and a daughter.
Two of his children go to school in the city.
Mike has a degree in Business
Studies from London South Bank University, where Mike was President of the
Federation of Conservative Students, and is a Chartered Management Accountant.
During
the late 1990’s, Mike was the co-owner of a successful manufacturing company,
Cash Bases, in Newhaven of which a large number of employees live in Brighton.
Cash Bases manufactures cash drawers and has offices in France, Germany, Spain,
South Africa, and USA. Company won Queen’s award for Enterprise 2000,
Queen’s Award for Exports 1997 and Sussex Company of the Year 1999, exporting
to over 50 countries globally. 
Mike is currently Finance
Director for Pop Idol judge, Pete Waterman’s companies which include music,
trains and farms.
In his leisure time, Mike likes
to indulge in activities with his family that underpin his energetic and
enthusiastic character. Mike’s
interests include skiing (a former ski instructor in Aviemore, Scotland),
football (a qualified referee, doing the qualification to help out with his
son’s team, a Brighton and Hove Albion supporter and frequent spectator when
they played at the Goldstone, with Chelsea being his premiership team), motor
bikes (currently rides a Yamaha Tenere XTZ660) and, of course, music –
although not particularly the sort more normally associated with Pete Waterman.
As Mike says:
“I like heavy rock with Iron
Maiden and Rush high on my playlist – Pete and I agree to disagree when it
comes to what should be played on the office radio!”
On the announcement of the
result Mike said:
“This is an immensely proud
moment for me, and I thank the members of Brighton Pavilion Conservatives for
putting their faith and trust in me to become the next Conservative MP for this
constituency. I want to make a
difference in the city where my heart is, where I have my roots and where I call
home.”
Mike
was a candidate during the 2003 Brighton and Hove city council elections, and
during that campaign and in the months since, he has been out on the streets
talking to people of this city, and listening to their concerns.
On local issues, Mike supports the Seagull’s bid for a landmark stadium
and remembers when as a child he used to enjoy going on the West Pier. And is
appalled at Labour’s mismanagement of the City which has seen council tax soar
and services decline, calling for the people of Brighton to reject Labour at
every ballot box they can.
“It is time to restore freedom
of choice. A fundamental
Conservative principle that will allow people to live their lives as they choose
with out the interfering hand of Government holding them back. It is time to give pensioners dignity in retirement.
It is time to recognise that a politically integrated Europe is bad news
for the UK. It is time for honesty
in taxation and an end to Labour’s ever growing list of stealth taxes.
Above all, it is time to make
the streets safer with 909 extra police officers in Sussex.
After seven years of rising
taxes and worsening public services, enough is enough. It is time for a change.
It is time for a Conservative Government.”
February 2004