John Butterfill

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Sir John Valentine Butterfill FRICS (born February 14, 1941) British politician. He is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Bournemouth West.

John Butterfill was educated at Caterham School and the College of Estate Management in London. In 1962 he began his career as a valuer with Jones Laing Wootton, before becoming a senior executive with the Hammerson Group in 1964. He was a director at the Audley Properties Group from 1969 until he became the Managing Director of the St Paul's Securities Group. He became a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in 1974. He was elected as the Chairman of the Guildford Conservative Association from 1976-1982. In 1977 he became a senior partner in Curchod & Co Chartered Surveyors, where he remained until 1992.

In 1979 John Butterfill unsuccessfully contested London South East Inner at the European Parliamentary election but was defeated comfortably by Labour's Richard Balfe. He was selected to contest the Croydon North West by-election in 1981 which was caused by the death of Conservative MP Robert Taylor. It came as a great surprise when Bill Pitt won the seat for the Liberal Party, on a 24% swing and with a majority of 3,254. He was subsequently chosen to contest the south coast seat of Bournemouth West on the retirement of the veteran MP John Eden. John Butterfill won the seat at the 1983 General Election with a majority of 13,331, and has remained the MP there since.

John Butterfill has remained a backbencher for the entirety of his parliamentary career, he was however the Parliamentary Private Secretary PPS to the Secretary of State for Energy Cecil Parkinson in 1988, he remained Parkinson's PPS when he became the Secretary of State for Transport in 1989. His job ended when Parkinson resigned from the Cabinet at the election of John Major to succeed Margaret Thatcher in 1990.

John Butterfill has served on many select committees during his more than 20 year Westminster career. He has been responsible for introducing many Acts of Parliament including the Registered Homes {Amendment) Act 1991 [1]; the Insolvency (Amendment) Act 1994 [2]; and the Policy Holders Protection Act 1997 [3]. He has recently been noted for campaigning for an increase in parliamentry pay and been quoted in the press as saying that "there are a lot of unhappy bunnies" in relation to MP's remuneration."

He has been married to Pamela Ross-Symons since 1965 and they have a son and three daughters. He was awarded a knighthood in 2003 for 'services to Parliament'. He is also a businessman and is a director and advisor to many companies, and is council member of the PDSA. His constituency includes the centre of Bournemouth. He speaks Spanish, Danish and French.