Born and raised in Bucks, Dom went to Dr Challoners Grammar School in Amersham. He studied law at Oxford and for a Masters at Cambridge, winning the Clive Parry Prize for International Law. Outside the lecture halls, Dom captained the university karate team and boxed.

Law in the City

Dom started his career as an international lawyer at Linklaters, a law firm in the City, working on project finance, international litigation and competition law. He also spent time on secondments at Liberty (the human rights NGO) and in Brussels advising on EU and WTO law.


Joining the Diplomatic Service

In 2000, Dom joined the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. He advised on a wide range of briefs, including UK investor protection, maritime issues, counter-proliferation and counter-terrorism, the UK overseas territories and the international law of outer space.

In 2003, Dom was posted to The Hague to head up a new team, focused on bringing war criminals - including Slobodan Milosevic, Radovan Karadzic and Charles Taylor - to justice. On return to London, he advised on the Arab-Israeli conflict, EU law and Gibraltar.

House of Commons

Dom left the FCO in 2006, and worked for three years as Chief of Staff to respective Shadow Home and Justice Secretaries, advising in the House of Commons on crime, policing, immigration, counter-terrorism, human rights and constitutional reform.

On 21 November 2009, in one of the largest 'open primaries' held to date, Dom was selected to represent the Conservatives in Esher and Walton. On May 6 2010, he was elected MP with 59% of the vote, increasing the Conservative majority by 13% with a turnout of 72%.

Author

In January 2009, Dom published his first book, The Assault on Liberty - What Went Wrong with Rights (Fourth Estate), criticising Labour's approach to human rights and making the case for British Bill of Rights.

Travel

Dom has visited, studied and worked across Europe, the US, Latin America and Asia. He is particularly interested in the Middle East, having studied and worked in Israel and the West Bank, and travelled around Egypt and Pakistan. In 1998, Dom spent a summer at Birzeit university (near Ramallah), and worked for one of the principal Palestinian negotiators of the Oslo peace accords, assessing World Bank projects on the West Bank.

Other Interests

Outside work, Dom practises karate (black belt 3rd Dan, former UK Southern Regions champion and British squad member) and enjoys theatre and travel.

Dom is married to Erika, and they live in Thames Ditton, Surrey.

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