Andrea Leadsom lives at the heart of the new Constituency of South Northamptonshire in a village near Towcester. She is married to Ben and has three children.

Andrea's family roots are in Northamptonshire from the heyday of the Boot and Shoe industry in Northampton, where the Museum still displays the Pilot's Escape boot designed by her Great Uncle Ron during WW2. She also has family links to the local farming industry and is a keen believer in buying British food.

In June 2006 Andrea was selected as the Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for South Northamptonshire and since then has worked tirelessly for the local community. She has visited many businesses, charities and schools has knocked on hundreds of doors to find out about the concerns of local residents.

Some background on Andrea:

Business Career:

Andrea has enjoyed a 25 year career in the banking and finance industry, having been Financial Institutions Director at Barclays Bank, Managing Director of a London hedge fund and more recently, Head of Corporate Governance for Invesco Perpetual, one of the UK's largest retail fund managers.

Voluntary Work:

Andrea has been closely involved as Trustee and Chairman of a children's charity for ten years. The charity helps families that are struggling to bond with their new babies. Research shows that the earliest relationship between baby and carer profoundly affect a baby's chance at lifelong emotional health. Many of the problems of our society today can be traced back to poor early attachment.

Political Career

From the age of 13, Andrea has wanted to enter Politics. She grew up with the 3 day week, strikes, power cuts, the Cold War, the 'super tax' on the self employed.....and finally Britain going cap in hand to the IMF. She profoundly believes in equality of opportunity, free enterprise and small but highly competent government.

In 2003 Andrea became a District Councillor and in 2005 she was selected as the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate in the strong Labour seat of Knowsley South, better known as Harold Wilson's old seat of 'Huyton'.

In 2006 Andrea was selected by South Northamptonshire Conservatives.

On 6 May 2010 Andrea was elected as the first Member of Parliament for South Northamptonshire.

On 24 June 2010 Andrea fought off stiff competition to be elected to the Treasury Select Committee by her fellow MPs.

Political Outlook:

Andrea is a firm supporter of David Cameron, believing, as he does, that power should be devolved as far as possible to local communities. Andrea would like to see Head Teachers responsible for their schools, doctors responsible for their patients, and parents responsible for their children. The dependance on welfare, and the proliferation of unelected quangos can only work against this. A government imposing beliefs from above is an out of date method of politics, and under the new Coalition government, real change will come from the people.