James Berry (barrister)

Michael James Ellwood Berry is a British barrister who was a Conservative Party politician while serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston and Surbiton from May 2015 to May 2017.[1]

James Berry
Member of Parliament for Kingston and Surbiton
In office 7 May 2015 – 3 May 2017
Preceded by	Ed Davey
Succeeded by	Sir Ed Davey
Personal details
Born	4 August 1983 Canterbury, England, UK
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	University College London Harvard University
Website	Official website

In 2017 he returned to practising law.[2]

Early life

James Berry was born and brought up in the city of Canterbury in Kent.[3] From 1996 to 2001, he was educated at King's School, Canterbury,[4] an independent school in his home city, followed by University College London, from which he graduated, and finally at the Harvard Law School in the United States, where he received a degree in Law.[5]

Career

Returning to England, Berry worked as a barrister in London, specialising in healthcare, professional negligence, and police law.[5] In May 2015, he was elected as the Member of Parliament for Kingston and Surbiton.[1] During his campaign, he had stressed education as a key interest.[6] Berry strongly supports implementation of mindfulness meditation practices and beliefs for children in schools, which he states will positively impact pupils' future workplace productivity.[7]

Berry was at odds with his party with regard to lowering the voting age, as he was an advocate of the franchise being extended to 16 and 17 year olds.[8] He was opposed to Brexit at the time of the 2016 referendum,[9] and his constituency voted in favour of remaining in the European Union.[10] However, Berry subsequently voted with the government to pass the Article 50 bill which became the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act 2017.

In the 2017 general election Berry lost his seat, despite gaining almost 600 votes more than his 2015 result. The previous constituency MP, Ed Davey, who had served from 1997–2015, 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.[11]

Personal life

Berry married a Harvard graduate in August 2013.[3]

References

1. Kingston & Surbiton Parliamentary constituency, BBC
2. James Berry at serjeantsinn.com
3. "Conservative Party: James Berry: Candidate for Kingston and Surbiton".
4. "Old King's Society – For the Record – Honours and Distinctions – News of OKS – James Berry (page 3)" (PDF). Old King's Society of The King's School, Canterbury. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
5. Simmons, Richard, Meet the lawyers standing for Parliament Archived 26 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Lawyer 2B, 10 April 2015
6. Edwin Newberry, Conservative candidate for Kingston and Surbiton James Berry believes education is key for aspiration. Archived 18 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Kingston Courier, 16 November 2014
7. "Miserable Children, Workforce Resilience and Why We Need Mindfulness In Schools | Huffington Post". huffingtonpost.co.uk. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
8. "New Kingston and Surbiton MP James Berry exclusively tells the River that maintenance grants 'was not right' and had to go |". riveronline.co.uk. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
9. Goodenough, Tom (16 February 2016). "Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence?". The Spectator. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
10. "How London voted in the EU ref, borough by borough". 23 June 2016.
11. Serjeants’ Inn welcomes James Berry back to Chambers dated 22 June 2017

External links

• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou