George Lee was born in a converted pig shed in a poor village in the New Territories of Hong Kong. He was only one when his parents left him and his siblings in the care of a family friend to head to Britain to start a new life. From the age of five, instead of going to school, he was forced to work in a toy factory making plastic flowers and toy soldiers. He rejoined his parents when he was 10, arriving with only one word of English, ‘tomorrow’. He and his five siblings lived and worked in their Chinese takeaway in Portsmouth, and went to the local comprehensive school.

Since then he has striven to break the mould of traditional expectations of class and race in his private life and a career in public service. His entry into politics is a continuation of a vocation; to help people fulfil their promise, no matter what their background or racial group, and help make a society in which anyone can get as far as luck and skill will take them.

George Lee’s life and career has been a model of hard work and successful integration. After leaving school in 1979 he became one of the first Chinese civil servants in the Ministry of Defence, working in Industrial Relations in the Royal Dockyards. In 1981, when few ethnic minorities joined the police, he became one of the first British Chinese in the Metropolitan Police. He was involved in many of the great social events that shaped modern Britain, including the miners’ strike, the News International dispute at Wapping, the Broadwater Farm riot, and the Poll Tax disturbances.

The Home Office spotted his high potential and sent him on a much sought after Bramshill Scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge University, where he studied Chinese and Social Political Sciences, completing a four year course in three years. During his time at Cambridge, George founded ABACUS (Association of British and Chinese University Students) to encourage second generation Chinese to make a greater effort to integrate into UK mainstream life.  ABACUS now has branches in a number of UK universities.

During his policing career, George worked in the Vice, Riot and Murder Squads, receiving Commendations for solving a number of high profile cases, as well as in Drugs and Organised Crime. He was Sector Commander at Paddington Green, assigned to MI6 and seconded to the Royal Hong Kong Police Triad Unit. He was a Bramshill Staff College Course Director, Hendon Recruit Training Instructor, and Community Race Relations & Equal Opportunities Advisor to the Home Office. He was a founding member of the Black Police Association, and became its External Officer.

George left the Metropolitan Police in 1998 to build a very successful career in the private sector. Initially he joined management consultancy Gemini Consulting (now Cap Gemini), where he helped Tesco to become Britain’s leading supermarket, and was involved in setting up Egg, the online bank. Over the next ten years he consulted for banks, pharmaceutical and insurance companies.  As Programme Director for VodafoneLive! the first mobile multi-media service in Europe, he helped transform modern telecommunications, before becoming Executive Vice President at T-Mobile International, based in Germany.

Until May 2009, George was a Senior Partner at Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman), responsible for their Telecom, Media & Technology business in UK and Ireland. Since then, other than providing ad hoc freelance consulting advice to business clients, his focus has been on his campaign to win Holborn & St Pancras.

He joined the Conservative Party in 2007 and was very quickly selected as a priority candidate (A list). The Conservative Party believes that his real world experience will be invaluable in Parliament, and demonstrates his ability to deliver positive change to the people of Holborn & St Pancras. A compelling alternative to the incumbent MP, George Lee is proof, at a time of disenchantment with politics, that ‘we can change tomorrow’.

George is married to Sally, and has two children, Sabrena and Simeon.