Interview with Sam Gyimah by Julia Church

As the new Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for East Surrey, 33 year-old Sam Gyimah hit the ground running after his selection on Saturday, 13th February;  within 24 hours he was on the campaign trail,   knocking on doors and introducing himself to his constituents.

I received a very positive response," said Sam.  "People wanted to know more about me, my background and my aspirations for East Surrey.  I have been getting to know the issues facing East Surrey during the run-up to the selection process and I now have an understanding of a whole range of issues concerning local people."

Sam currently lives in Hampstead, but will be moving to live in East Surrey before the General Election.

One of the main issues is that East Surrey is 90% green belt and there is a need to balance affordable housing with protecting the green belt.  I think the solution is for local officials, who have a better understanding of local needs, to have more say.  I want the government to give more power to local officials instead of key decisions being in the hands of central government representatives.

Town regeneration is also something I want to tackle.  I am aware of the Shop Smart initiative in Caterham and the SEEDA ('South East England Development Agency') grant that is helping to pay for improvements to the town.  Another way to regenerate town centres is to get to a state where we have lots of local independent shops, so I think a lot needs to be done to drive another generation of local businesses."

Sam is acutely aware of the problems with funding from central government faced by Surrey.  "Funding for Surrey is another big issue," he said.  " Surrey is in a more difficult position than other counties so I want to see that Surrey gets its fair share."

Sam's parents moved from Ghana to live in England and raised Sam and his two siblings in  Buckinghamshire; his father was a doctor and his mother a nurse.  After graduating in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University, Sam entered the world of business, and won CBI's Entrepreneur of the Future Award in 2005.

I joined the Conservative party when I was at university and got involved in student politics," said Sam.  "After uni I got involved in a whole lot of other things, not directly related to politics, but which still enabled me to make a difference through my business experience.  When I got to my late twenties I started to think that if I can do this in the real world, I would like to take it to another level and get involved in politics.  Politicians have different experiences.  Some cut their teeth in local politics and others, like me, come from a business background."

Sam has been chairman of the prestigious Conservative think-tank, the Bow Group, whose previous chairmen include Lord Howe of Aberavon (Geoffrey Howe) and Peter Ainsworth MP.  "The Bow Group is a good place to learn ideas about which policies will work," explained Sam.  It was during his membership of the Bow Group that Sam published a book on the future of the Conservative Party entitled: "From the Ashes ...."

Some people have commented on my young age, but I am the same age as Peter Ainsworth was when he was selected to be the Conservative candidate for East Surrey.  I have done a whole range of things that give me a range of energy, maturity and experience for this role."

So what attracted Sam to the Conservative Party?

I was not born a Conservative, but I just found out that was what I was as I grew up.  It is the whole idea of hard work and aspiration; if you work hard and take responsibility you get rewarded for it, that was what my parents ingrained into me.  I believe you improve yourself through working hard with support and encouragement from your parents and sometimes also with support from the state.  My parents also instilled a sense of service in me.  I grew up wanting to serve, as it was always very much drilled into us.  I cannot serve in the same sense as my parents did as medical professionals, but I can serve in other ways.  Being a politician is about passion; it is about energy and it is about hard work."