Charles Geoffrey Cox, QC (born 30 April 1960, Swindon) is a British Conservative politician and barrister. He is the Member of Parliament for Torridge and West Devon.
Early life
Geoffrey Cox was educated at King's College, Taunton and Downing College, Cambridge where he studied Classics and Law. In 1982 he became a barrister, and in 1992 founded Thomas More Chambers. During part of this time he was the standing counsel to the government of Mauritius. He took silk in 2003.
Geoffrey Cox has successfully led for the defence in a number of high profile cases. He is widely regarded as a gifted defence advocate, recently defending Nicholas van Hoogstraten, who was initially convicted of murder in July 2002, but who was found not guilty on appeal under British criminal law which requires proof beyond reasonable doubt rather than on balance of probabilities.
Parliamentary career
In the 2001 general election, Geoffrey Cox unsuccessfully contested the marginal seat of Torridge and West Devon, being narrowly defeated by the Liberal Democrat John Burnett by just 1,194 votes. Geoffrey Cox successfully contested the seat again at the 2005 general election, beating Burnett's Liberal Democrat replacement, David Walter with a majority of 3,236. Geoffrey Cox made his maiden speech in Parliament on 28 June 2005 which was voted one of the four best maiden speeches of the year. He is also a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee.
Geoffrey Cox's constituency has been reduced by boundary changes. The new notional majority for 2007 is widely thought to be around 2,700 before changes to levels in national support for each political party and Geoffrey Cox's performance are taken into consideration.
Personal life
He married Jean. They have one daughter and two sons.
External links
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