Biography
Born in Southmead Hospital in August 1969, Jack has lived and worked in Bristol and the South West area all his life. On finishing school at 15, he worked in his fathers ice cream and catering business locally for over ten years. After leaving his family business in 1997, Jack worked in the financial services and residential property sectors, as a consultant and as a manager. Prior to being elected in 2010, he worked in the private security sector.
Jack lives locally in Bradley Stoke. He married Andrea Jenkyns in 2017 and together they have a young son, Clifford, who was born in that year. Jack also has three grown up children, Dominic, Sophie and Michael.
Jack served on Bristol City Council for eight years between May 1999 and May 2007 for the Stockwood Ward. In 2001 Jack was the Parliamentary Candidate for Bristol East. Jack also stood for the South West Region, which includes Gibraltar, at the European Parliament elections in 2004.
Jack is an Army veteran and served with 29 Commando, Royal Artillery as a mobilised reservist Gunner for a year. Jack was deployed to Helmand Province in Afghanistan on Operation Herrick 9 in the Autumn/Winter of 2008-9.
In his spare time, Jack enjoys reading and studying military and political history; he is a member of the General George Patton Historical Society and the International Churchill Centre. He is a Vice-President of the Stoke Gifford Branch of the Royal British Legion, a member of Bradley Stoke Lions and is a Freemason. He is also an avid film fan, enjoys hill-walking and good food and wine with friends.
Jack was re-elected to Parliament in December 2019. Since January 2021, Jack has been elected as Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Apprenticeships and Kurdistan, and is Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Sovereign Defence.
Appointments
Select Committees
Jack is currently a member of the Select Committee on the Armed Forces Bill, which is examining the Armed Forces Bill 2019-21. You can follow the Committee on Twitter @ArmedForcesBill.
Jack has previously served on the following Select Committees in his time in Parliament:
- Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee (July 2010 – July 2018)
- Armed Forces Bill Select Committee (Jan 2011 – March 2011)
- Chair of the Armed Forces Bill Select Committee (Oct 2015 – November 2015)
- Defence Select Committee (October 2016 – May 2017)
- Defence Sub-Committee on the Arctic (October 2016 – May 2017)
- Overseas Electors Bill Committee (October 2018 – November 2019)
- Welsh Affairs Committee (November 2018 - September 2019)
All Party Parliamentary Groups
Jack has also been involved in many All-Party Parliamentary Groups over his time in Parliament. He is currently an Officer of the following Groups:
- Sovereign Defence Manufacturing Capability (Chair, Founding Member)
- Apprenticeships (Co-Chair)
- Kurdistan Region in Iraq (Co-Chair)
- Education (Vice-Chair)
- Gibraltar (Vice-Chair)
- 22q11 Syndrome (Vice-Chair)
- Children, Teenagers, and Young Adults with Cancer (Vice-Chair)
- Music (Vice-Chair)
- St George’s Day (Treasurer)
- Performing Arts Education and Training (Vice-Chair)
Jack also served on the NATO Parliamentary Assembly between 2015 and 2018.
Government
Jack has served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to the following Ministers:
- Steve Barclay, Secretary of State, Department for Exiting the European Union (2018-19)
- Ministerial Team, Ministry of Defence (2018)
- Desmond Swayne, Minister of State, Department for International Development (2014-15)
Professional Memberships
Jack is a member of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), the world's oldest independent think tank on international defence and security.