Island Life Magazine Ltd November/December 2005 | Page 12

INTERVIEW
Having been brought up by parents who were both teachers, and
then choosing that same career for himself, it was perhaps no
surprise that Andrew Turner’s first steps into politics should have
been prompted by an educational issue. The threat of Grammar
School closures was a subject very close to his heart, and one he
fought tooth and nail against.
As he observes: “The only way to prevent things from happening is
to do something about it, and that’s exactly what I have always
done”.
After winning a scholarship to Rugby’s famous School, Andrew went
on to Oxford, where his fellow students included Newport’s current
parish priest Father Bruce Barnes, as well as William Hague, who was
to become a future Tory leader.
At Oxford, Andrew became an active member of the Union and
joined the Conservative Party – unwittingly sowing the seeds of his
own future life in politics.
After Oxford, he followed his parents’ career path, teaching
geography and economics for seven years at comprehensive schools
in Oxfordshire – but all the while, he was becoming more and more
active within the Tory party.
So, it was no great surprise when, in 1984, he quit teaching to join
the full-time staff at Conservative Central Office. Subsequently, he
was appointed to the full-time salaried position of Special Advisor to
the Minister of Health and Social Services. He subsequently ran the
Grant Maintained Schools Foundation, and acted as an education
consultant to clients including the Girls’ Day School Trust, the
American education company Edison, and the London Borough of
Southwark.
It was in 1996 that Andrew first applied to become the Conservative
candidate for the Isle of Wight, when the previous long-standing
Member Barry Field was retiring through ill health.
In 1997 he stood against Peter Brand and fought an exhausting, but
ultimately unsuccessful campaign.

What makes
Andrew tick?
He loves old cars, is hopeless at DIY, loathes the idea of wasting
anything – but reckons the Isle of Wight’s County Hall is so ugly it
should be demolished!
Andrew Turner is a million miles away from the cardboard cut-out
version of a Tory MP, as anyone who has seen him batting about
the Island in his beloved, M-registered 1994 red Mini will quickly
realise.
We went to meet him and got a glimpse of just what makes the
Island’s Parliamentary representative tick.

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