Hitchin Constituency

PPC - Charles Bunker

Biography:

I have lived in Hitchin since I was five years old. I went to school at St Andrew’s School (old site) and then Kingshott before going to school in Bedford. For one fabulous summer I was a lifeguard in Hitchin’s outdoor swimming pool.

My wife, Suzie, was both a pupil and teacher at Hitchin Girls' School until her retirement. My three children were educated locally in Hitchin, Letchworth, and Baldock.

After a period in banking, I qualified as a chartered accountant and spent most of my career in international corporate finance, working in technology start-ups (including green technologies), turnaround and recovery situations. Until a year ago, I ran the Orchard Tea Garden in Grantchester, famous for its links to Rupert Brooke and the Bloomsbury Set.

I served two terms as a non-executive director of the QEII Hospital in Welwyn Garden City. Over a five-year period, this hospital was the best performing in the region with a 25% increase in Completed Patient Episodes for a 5% increase in real income. It is on record that I was strongly opposed to the merger of the Lister and QEII hospitals because it was obvious that we needed more, and not less capacity, in our NHS. I think I have been proved right! To me, solving the problems of the NHS are not a matter of theory as they are with many candidates. I know the issues involved and have helped to address them. And they are not all about money!

I am also a former Chairman of the Board of Governors of both Regent’s College and the European Business School. I helped rescue both these educational colleges from bankruptcy and helped set them on the path to becoming Regent’s University in the middle of Regents Park. This means that I fully understand the problems our universities are now facing as our students realise that the price / benefit ratio of many university degrees has turned negative.

I was the founding chairman of the Hitchin and Harpenden Conservative Association. Thanks to the hard work and enthusiasm of many others, it became one of the most successful associations within the Conservative Party. Sadly, for our country, the Conservative Party today is a shadow of its former self, hence the need for Reform UK. It is my contention that I have not left the Conservative Party. It left me!

I was the Parliamentary Candidate for the Brexit Party in Bedford in the 2019 General Election. A salutary and sobering experience.

I have published four historical novels in the de Gressier and am regular contributor of essays and pamphlets on Substack.

If, like me, you are fed up with the state our politics and believe that the two-party system has run its course then do get involved. Come and join us, volunteer and help us campaign to put the Brightness Back in Britain.