Jacques de Cazalès

Jacques de Cazalès
Born in 1968 in Croydon, Jacques de Cazalès is from a French immigrant family. His father, Charles, a financier, and his mother, Ann-Marie, a housewife, came from Paris and settled in the South East in 1960.

Jacques has one brother, Dominique (b.1957) who lives in Montpellier.

Education
Jacques attended the local Comprehensive School where he achieved five 'O' Levels; later he passed 'A' Levels in Law, History and Economics. He did not attend university, preferring to follow his passion of playing chess - which he did professionally from the age of 18 to 34.

Work
Away from chess, Jacques opened a successful restaurant in London in 2000.

Family
In 2009, Jacques married a Cornish lawyer, Charlotte (b.1985). They live in Croydon with their cat, Pops.

Interests
Jacques is an international chess player who has also represented France fencing sabre. He also enjoys spectator sports, in particular football, and is also a keen skier. As a restauranteur, he is a gastronome and wine-taster. His food interests are explicitly raw and very rare beef dishes. Jacques likes gin and tonic, and smokes L&M Red cigarettes.

Political Moves
In 2000, incensed by the overthrow of Margaret Thatcher, Jacques joined the Conservative Party with the aim of making a mark on national politics. He was elected as a councillor in 2005, and selected to stand for the Conservatives in Croydon South for the 2010 General Election - a seat which he easily won with over 50% of the vote.

He is currently an Opposition backbencher, who is seen as an acerbic right-winger.