Before going into Parliament he was co-founder and director of Vivid Children's Theatre, Head of Drama at Benjamin Britten High School in Lowestoft and Conservative Party Agent in Eltham, Norwich North and Waveney.
After his defeat, he returned to teaching, this time at Kirkley High School in Lowestoft (now East Point Academy), where he became Head of Performing Arts.
All his publications are under his Walk in My Shoes imprint, with the logo of a pair of surgical boots he has to wear on account of his Charcot Marie Tooth condition, which has deformed his feet.
During his time in Parliament, some said that he never managed to completely step out of the shadow of his predecessor, the Conservative Cabinet Minister from Lowestoft, Jim Prior.
He regularly campaigned for Britain to leave the European Common Fisheries Policy, preferring a system of local control with a yearly 'Sabbath' (ban of fishing) rotating through each sea area around the United Kingdom waters.