- Jonathan Sheppard
Jonathan Sheppard was born in 1975 in Chesterfield, England. He attended the University of York where he received a BA Hons followed by an MA in political research. His full time career has primarily been in the Public Sector, working in various communications roles within the Royal Mail, before taking a similar role with a Midlands based retailer. Jonathan got engaged to Julie during the 2005 General Election, and has been married since February 2006. He continues to live in the Midlands but is a Northerner through and through.
He is currently the Managing Director of a Communications consultancy and is the founder and editor of 'Tory Radio', one of the most popular political podcasts in the UK that has been described by
Iain Dale as "required listening if you want to get inside the minds of leading Conservatives." [http://www.toryradio.com/jcms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=29] Jonathan also has a daily political blog on the 'Tory Radio' website and writes articles forConservativeHome .Political career
During his time at University he became the second youngest candidate in the 1997 General Election, standing for Sir James Goldsmith's
Referendum Party against the Labour MP Hugh Bayley. He was described by the York Evening Press as the Hero of the Campaign.Jonathan has also held various positions within the Conservative Party, from media adviser to a Group Council leader, to Association Chairman, and adviser to a then Shadow Minister, Andrew Turner. More recently he fought the North Nottinghamshire seat of Bassetlaw, gaining 12010 votes, and although he didn't get elected Jonathan helped lay the foundations for Bassetlaw to turn Conservative for the first time in 30 years in the 2006 local elections. [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,,-9128,00.html]
External links
* [http://www.toryradio.com/ "Tory Radio"] - homepage of Tory Radio, the political podcast run by Jonathan Sheppard that includes his political blog
* [http://www.toryradio.com/jcms/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=7&id=21&Itemid=45 "Tory Radio - podcast archive"] - contains all the previous Tory Radio podcasts
* [http://www.toryradio.com/jcms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=303&Itemid=45 "Tory Radio explained"] - a short podcast which explains all about Tory Radio
* [http://conservativehome.blogs.com/platform/jonathan_sheppard/index.html "ConservativeHome - Your Platform"] - Jonathan's articles for the ConservativeHome website
* [http://www.bassetlaw.gov.uk/ "Bassetlaw District Council"]
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