 Before being elected an MEP he worked as a PE teacher in Liverpool and was a county councillor for Merseyside County Council, a member of the Merseyside Police Authority, deputy chair of the Liverpool Airport and councillor at Warrington Borough Council.In this last position he held the post of deputy chair of finance and chair of the Performance and Policy Review Unit.During the brief period from 2004 to 2006 that he was out of Parliament, he became director of the North West Rail Campaign.