John Bowis is Spokesman on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety in the European Parliament. In his political life, John has been an election agent in Harborough, Councillor and Education Chairman in Kingston upon Thames, Member of Parliament for Battersea, which he gained from Labour in 1987 and held until 1997, and Minister 1993-6 at Health and 1996-7 at Transport.

Since 1999, John has been Member of the European Parliament for London. He was Deputy Leader of the Conservative MEPs from 2002 to 2003, and is currently Spokesman on Health and Consumer Affairs. He has been Rapporteur for the Parliament on Food Safety and on the Health Implications of EU Enlargement. He is Vice President for the EP Joint Parliamentary Delegation with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.

John is a member of the Environment, Public Health & Food Safety Committee, a substitute member on the Development Committee and a substitute member on the Internal Market & Consumer Protection Committee.

Before his election as MEP, John worked on WHO global campaigns for neurological conditions and mental health. He was also International Policy Adviser to the Institute of Psychiatry in London.

John is married with a daughter and two sons. He was educated at Tonbridge School and Brasenose College, Oxford. His career outside politics has included the British Insurance Brokers Association and the National Federation of Small Businesses. He had previously been National Secretary of the Federation of Conservative Students and National Organiser of the Conservative Trade Unionists.

His interests range across the arts, education, health and disability. He has been on the Boards of the Royal National Theatre, the South Bank, Battersea Arts Centre, International Social Service, National AIDS Trust, Epilepsy Research Foundation, Saneline, Share Community and the International Institute for Special Needs Offenders. He supports a number of organisations, as patron or vice-president, in the fields of health, youth and ex-offenders.