James Elles is the Conservative European MP for the South-East with special responsibility for Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

James has been a Member of the European Parliament since 1984. Born in September 1949, he graduated from Edinburgh University with a BSc (hons) in agriculture.   He became a European MP after an eight-year career as a civil servant with the European Commission, initially as a Tokyo Round negotiator and latterly as Assistant to the Deputy Director General of Agriculture.

James is one of four Conservative European MPs for the South-East region, where after the next General election there will be no less than 84 Westminster constituencies.  In order to make themselves as democratically accountable as possible to the electorate, the four Conservative Members have divided up the region into specific geographical areas.  James Elles has special Conservative responsibility for the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.   The three counties have a combined population of over two million, they cover over 2,100 square miles and take in 21 Westminster constituencies.

Now in his sixth term, James is the longest serving member of the European Parliament’s budgets committee, having been a member for the past 27 years.  James is also a substitute member of the Foreign Affairs committee and EU-US delegation.
 
A linguist, speaking French, Italian and some German, James is chairman of the European Parliament’s Golfing Society. Outside politics, his interests include running, music and gardening.  James lived for many years in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire but recently moved to the village of Nettlebed in Oxfordshire (he also has a base in Brussels).