Brooks Newmark has been the Member of Parliament for Braintree in Essex (UK) since 2005, representing the British Conservative Party. Over his Parliamentary career, he served as a Member of the Science and Technology Select Committee (2005-07) and Treasury Select Committee (2006-07) before serving as the Treasury Whip (2007-08) and Foreign Affairs Whip (2009-10) while in opposition. Following his re-election to Parliament in the 2010 general election, he served as a Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury and also as a Government Whip (2010-12), serving in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and later the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Department for International Development. His special interests include economic policy, foreign policy (Middle East, India, China and the US), poverty reduction and international development (microfinance), special needs education, and women and gender equality. Currently, Brooks is Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Friends of Syria; Vice-Chair of the Associate Parliamentary Group on Women, Peace and Security; and a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Russia Group. He is also Co- Chairman and Founder of Women2Win; Founder of the Million Jobs Campaign; and Chairman of the United and Cecil Club. He is a Board Director and Vice President of the Harvard Alumni Association (Harvard University) and has served on the Advisory Board of London Business School's Private Equity Institute. Brooks was educated at Harvard College (AB History) and Harvard Business School (MBA Finance). He was also a research graduate in Politics at Worcester College, University of Oxford, where he met his wife Lucy. He has five children (Benjamin, Sam, Max, Lily and Zachary), is a keen Newcastle United fan and enjoys running and skiing. Prior to entering politics, he was a Senior Partner at Apollo Management, a leading international private equity firm. His publications include Direct Democracy: an Agenda for a New Model Party (2005), Simply Red: The True State of the Public Finances (CPS, 2006), The Price of Irresponsibility (CPS, 2008) and The Hidden Debt Bombshell (CPS, 2009).Brooks is involved in numerous charities including Get Kids Going!, PARC, Farleigh Hospice and A Partner In Education, which he founded in 2010. .