Simon Christopher Coombs (born 21 February 1947), is a former British

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

politician. Coombs was MP for

Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...

from 1983 until 1997 when the seat was divided by boundary changes. Coombs stood in the new Swindon South seat but lost to Labour's Julia Drown. He stood again for the seat in 2001, but was unsuccessful. Coombs' Parliamentary term coincided with Swindon being the centre of a technology boom. Sir Tim Berners Lee developed the idea of the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is an information system that enables Content (media), content sharing over the Internet through user-friendly ways meant to appeal to users beyond Information technology, IT specialists and hobbyis ...

while at the

Science and Engineering Research Council The Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) and its predecessor the Science Research Council (SRC) were the UK agencies in charge of publicly funded scientific and engineering research activities, including astronomy, biotechnology and bi ...

(SERC) in Swindon. Coombs served as Treasurer of PITCOM, the Parliamentary Information Technology Committee and as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Rt. Hon Kenneth Baker, MP, Minister of Information Technology in the Department of Trade and Industry, and as PPS to Baker during his 1984–85 term as Minister for the Environment. He later served as PPS to Rt. Hon

Ian Lang Ian Bruce Lang, Baron Lang of Monkton, Privy Council (United Kingdom), PC Deputy Lieutenant, DL (born 27 June 1940) is a British Scottish Conservative Party, Conservative Party politician and Life Peer who served as the Member of Parliament (Uni ...

, MP during his terms as Secretary of State for Scotland (1992–1995) and President of the Board of Trade (1995–1997). Coombs also served as Parliamentary advisor to the UK Cable Television Association, representing at the time the constituency with the highest cable penetration in the country. He was also Chairman of the Conservative Backbench Tourism Committee and a member of the British Recording Industry Association's All-Party Parliamentary Group and the Select Committee on Employment. Since leaving Parliament, he has kept active in the music sphere as a trustee of the

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams ( ; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

Society and organizer of the Vaughan Williams exhibition in the composer's home village of Down Ampney.

References

*''Times Guide to the House of Commons'', Times Newspapers Limited, 1997

External links

* 1947 births Living people Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1940s-stub