25 Facts About Jack Lopresti

Giacomo "Jack" Lopresti was born on 23 August 1969 and is a British Conservative Party politician.

Jack Lopresti has been the Member of Parliament for Filton and Bradley Stoke since the 2010 general election.

Jack Lopresti served in the Territorial Army as a gunner with 266 Commando Battery, Royal Artillery from 2007.

Whilst in Afghanistan, Jack Lopresti ran the Camp Bastion Half Marathon, for Help for Heroes, on New Years Day 2009.

From 2011 to 2013, Jack Lopresti served as a trooper in the Royal Wessex Yeomanry, an army reserve cavalry unit.

Jack Lopresti unsuccessfully stood as the Conservative candidate in the Bedminster ward of Bristol City Council in 1995.

Jack Lopresti was again unsuccessful when he stood in Hartcliffe ward in 1997 and Redland ward in 1998, but was elected in the Stockwood Ward in 1999.

Jack Lopresti worked as councillor in that ward until May 2007, when he stood down and a new Conservative candidate won the seat.

Jack Lopresti stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative Party candidate for the Bristol East constituency in 2001, and for the South West at the European Parliament elections in 2004.

Jack Lopresti was a member of the Conservative Party's A-List in 2006.

Jack Lopresti is a member of the Conservative Friends of Israel group, and has attended delegations of that group including during the Operation Defensive Shield conflict when he visited in 2014 for an Israeli military briefing on the Iron Dome air defence system.

In July 2016, Jack Lopresti was criticised for sponsoring and hosting a parliamentary event at which Bahrain's relationship with the UK was to be celebrated, after the MP had received several thousand pounds' worth of funding for foreign trips to the country.

Jack Lopresti had faced further questions over one of the trips to Bahrain, which was paid for by the state's foreign affairs ministry, when it was reported he had attended it with fellow MP Andrea Jenkyns a month after their affair had been revealed.

Jack Lopresti responded that the trip centred around the Bahraini Airshow, which was relevant to his defence brief, while he argued more generally that Bahrain is one of the country's key strategic allies in the Gulf and that the Bahrainis were in the process of building the UK's first naval base east of Suez since the 1970s.

Jack Lopresti was subject to a failed attempt before the 2017 general election by some members of his local party to deselect him as the Conservative Candidate for Filton and Bradley Stoke.

Jack Lopresti said he had made a complaint to the police over a letter urging Jack Lopresti's deselection, which had been circulated by a "former very bitter party member and possibly a disgruntled employee", and appeared to have broken data protection laws.

In Parliament, Jack Lopresti has served on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, Armed Forces Bill Committee and Defence Committee.

In December 2017, BBC News Online reported that Jack Lopresti was facing an investigation after his ex-office manager made a formal complaint about his behaviour, following her resignation.

However, two former staff members said they had had a good relationship with Jack Lopresti, and that he was a good employer.

Subsequent to this, the BBC reported on 11 July 2019 that the ex-office manager, Jo Kinsey, felt she had been 'vindicated' following her complaint, having received a letter of apology from Jack Lopresti following an internal Conservative party investigation.

Jack Lopresti said he categorically rejected the allegations, and had concerns about the inquiry process.

On 8 April 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, Jack Lopresti sent a letter to cabinet minister Robert Jenrick asking him to reopen churches for Easter.

Jack Lopresti, who is of Italian ancestry, is divorced from his former wife Lucy, the daughter of Lord Cope of Berkeley; the couple had three children.

In December 2015, it was revealed that Jack Lopresti was having an extramarital affair with fellow MP Andrea Jenkyns.

Jack Lopresti has received treatment at the Bristol Royal Infirmary.