to support his legislative arguments. Having been elected Deputy Leader of the Conservative MEPs in November 2007, in June 2008 Bushill-Matthews was elected Leader after Giles Chichester chose to step down in order to clear his name following allegations of withdrawing parliamentary funds for private use. During his leadership he put in place a 'Right to Know' system whereby Conservative MEPs openly declared their expenses on line. While Leader he fell out briefly with David Cameron who wanted to pull Conservative MEPs out of the EPP-ED Group in the middle of the 2004-9 Parliamentary term, despite the fact that his predecessor (and each of the individual MEPs) had signed a binding commitment to stay in for the full five-year period. He did not submit his name for re-selection at the 2009 European elections and stood down as MEP in June 2009. In 2011 he was appointed a non-executive director of the Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust, and elected vice-chairman in 2012. He briefly came out of political retirement in 2016 to campaign for Remain during the 2016 referendum: his constituency of Warwick & Leamington was one of two constituencies in the West Midlands to vote to stay in along with neighbouring Kenilworth & Southam. Bushill-Matthews is the author of The Gravy Train published in 2003 (with a foreword by William Hague) and Who Rules Britannia? in 2005. His third book, The Eras of La Gomera, was published in summer 2018. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors. In September 2019, Bushill-Matthews joined the Liberal Democrats. Education 1950–1956: [Edgbaston Preparatory School (Hallfield)] 1956–1962: Malvern College 1962–1965: MA (English Language and Literature), University College, Oxford 1987: Harvard Business School: six-week Advanced Management Program 2015: BA Hons First Class in Archaeology, University of Leicester Career 1965: Joined Unilever 1976: Seconded to Thomas Lipton Inc., U.S. 1977: National Accounts Director, Birds Eye Sales Ltd 1980: Managing Director, Iglo Indústrias de Gelados, Lisbon 1981: Sales Director, later Sales & Distribution Director Birds Eye Wall's Ltd 1988: Managing Director, Craigmillar Ltd, and Director, Van den Bergh and Jurgens Ltd 1991: Managing Director, Red Mill Snack Foods Ltd, Wednesbury, West Midlands, and Managing Director, Red Mill Company BV, Netherlands 1999: Conservative MEP, European Parliament ; and Conservative Spokesman for Employment & Social Affairs, European Parliament 2003: Author of 'The Gravy Train' 2005: Author of 'Who Rules Britannia?' 2007: Deputy Leader of Conservative MEPs, European