The Lunch club is delighted to welcome Oliver Colvile, to speak at The Seahorse on 9th November 1230 for 1pm. His huge business, political, community experience will make him a speaker not to be missed.
Oliver Colvile is the Director of Conservatives Abroad for the British Conservative Party. He took up his appointment in November 2017, following the recent General election. He is responsible for encouraging British Overseas Registration.
From June 2010 – June 2017 he was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Plymouth Sutton & Devonport, having previously fought the seat, at the 2001 and 2005 General Elections.
He comes from a distinguished Naval family; his father gaining the Distinguished Service Cross during the second world war for his part in the Narvick campaign and his maternal grandfather being a gunnery officer at the Battle of Jutland on HMS Valiant.
During his time in the House of Commons he was the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and previously to the Ministers of State at the Ministry of Defence.
He was also the Vice-Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Armed Forces with special responsibility for the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines; he is a Graduate of the highly respected Royal College of Defence Studies. Since the 2017 Election, he has been a member of Chatham House.
He was also the Chairman of the All Party Group for the Built Environment and responsible for producing a report on the Quality of New Build Housing – which is now Government policy. He also chaired the All Party Group for Zambia and Malawi and was the vice-chairman of the Zimbabwe APPG.
He still plays cricket for the Lord’s & Commons cricket team and was part of the winning Parliamentary Ashes team in Australia at the New Year.
Before becoming a Member of Parliament, he gained extensive commercial experience and was a Director of Polity Communications – which gives advice to developers seeking to gain planning permission and redeveloping brown field sites.
His political career began in 1980s when he was a Conservative Party Agent masterminding and devising political and community campaigns in south London. He trained under Sir Winston Churchill’s Agent. He also gave campaigning advice to some of the right of centre political parties in Bulgaria and Romania after the Cold War.
He has a house in London and retains a home in Plymouth. He is still on the Conservative Party’s Parliamentary candidate’s list.