Vice-President of theConference 2009-10, he was born in Huddersfield and educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield and Manchester University Medical School. He qualified as a doctor in 1988, working in Manchester and Rochdale before becoming a principal in general practice in Leeds in 1994. He became a member of the Methodist Church in 1981 and a local preacher in 1990. From 1992 to 1993 he served as a mission partner in Nigeria. He became a member of the GP Committee of the British Medical Association in 2001, a negotiator on its behalf in 2004 and deputy chair in 2007. Since 2010 he has been an elected member of the BMA Council and the Royal College of General Practitioners Council. He is a member in the Leeds North-East circuit.