On leaving school at the age of 16, he attended Erith College (now Bexley College) for a year before enlisting in the United States Air Force at the age of 17, where he served for three years as a radio operator before taking an early discharge and returning to the UK to attend Merchant Navy College (formerly the Thames Nautical Training College), Greenhithe, Kent, qualifying as a Radio Officer in 1989. During this period, he first became involved in politics, leading the ultimately unsuccessful campaign to prevent the closure of the college in 1989.