SPEAKER PROFILE

Sir Gerry Neale


Writer, Lyricist, Mentor and Former MP For North Cornwall. After Dinner Speaker. Motivational and Inspirational Speaker



Gerry Neale was born in Bedfordshire in 1941. He went to Bedford School .He left there to go straight into the legal profession and on qualifying opened his own practice in what was to become Milton Keynes.



Embracing the opportunities presented by the new city development, he became the first commercial tenant in the City centre; became the third Mayor of the new borough in the Queen’s Jubilee Year; and helped found and establish new charitable and public bodies.



He fought the October 1974 General Election in North Cornwall against a 10000 plus Liberal majority held by John Pardoe their Deputy Leader. Gerry reduced the majority to under 4000 and then in 1979, won the seat with a similar majority. He held it in 1983 and 1987 slightly increasing the majority each time.



He was knighted in Margaret Thatcher’s Resignation Honours List in 1990. He was involved in the Government Departments on Trade and Industry, Transport, Environment and Defence. He was defeated by the Liberals In 1992.



Since then he has focussed on assisting small companies to grow and develop. He has been mentor and advisor to top brand names in retail, motor vehicle manufacture, telecommunications and information technology.



He gained some notoriety in two ways in the 1990s. During the 1992 -1997 parliament under John Major when Gerry Neale was brought in to intervene and mediate settlements successfully in a number of cases involving Tory MPs with severe money problems. He was labelled “ Mr Fix It” by the press. In 1997 he fell foul of parties seeking to commit fraud and he was censured professionally.



His creative talents defy the old image of a Tory in a dark grey suit. He has written around 60 lyrics to various genres of music. Self-taught, he has become an accomplished watercolour and mixed media painter.



He has become a prolific writer. He has written a novel just submitted for publication. He has written numerous internet articles on cognitive psychology and is about to publish a series of ebooks.



He is a motivational speaker, grounding his inspirational speaking in proven psychological research. He is also a Visiting University Lecturer on Cognitive Thinking. He has conducted mentoring sessions to teams and individuals for companies and local authorities. And he mentors on-line.



He has a long-held fascination for rural and regional humour, having studied the ways in which styles have evolved in different parts of the UK. He has a formidable memory for anecdotes and a natural talent to re-tell them. He gives an entertaining insight by providing examples of the different ways across the UK we find laughter in human situations.