Jo Gideon was elected as the Member of Parliament For Stoke-on-Trent Central in December 2019.
Jo is not a career politician, but someone who has come to the world of politics after many years working in and for the community, supporting good causes and running a small business. Jo believes that a society can best be judged by how it looks after its most vulnerable. She also believes that a strong economy is the key to funding our public services. Originally from the West Midlands, Jo ran a handmade paper import and wholesale business for ten years. She moved from Kent to Stoke-on-Trent when she was selected to stand in the 2019 General Election and is now proud to call Stoke-on-Trent home. Jo has three grown up children and three grandchildren. Jo’s father, Eric, a D Day veteran, passed away in 2017, shortly after receiving the Legion D’Honneur for his service to France during the Second World War. Jo’s mother was a music teacher who inspired many young children to sing. Jo has been a small business owner for over 25 years, and has balanced family and work whilst taking an active part in her local community.
Jo has helped many business and charity leaders from all over the country with their challenges, and throughout her life has been a community champion, with a wide range of voluntary or civil roles – including as member of a town centre management committee, school governor, PTA representative and small business member on a Leadership Board for Business in the Environment, as well as twelve years as a district councillor and trustee of a national charity. Periods of living and working abroad (in Germany and the Middle East), and raising a family, give Jo a breadth of life experience which means that she is able to serve the local community as a well rounded and independent-minded individual.
Jo believes passionately that our government needs to look more like the society it represents. There were too few MPs who had first-hand experience of managing a family budget on a low income, running a small business or working directly with vulnerable groups or communities, and at all levels of public appointments there is still not enough diversity. The change in Parliament in 2019 has come about by many constituencies in the Midlands and the North selecting Members of Parliament who have real world experience from the widest range of professions. Jo is a Conservative because she believes in the power of the individual to effect change and achieve. She believes that quality public services have to be supported by a strong economy, and sees the Conservative message as one of aspiration and opportunity.