Robert Seely

Seely first worked as a foreign correspondent in eastern Europe for four years. He then served as a soldier in the British Army, deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. He has been awarded a Joint Commanders Commendation in 2009 for his tour of Iraq and Military MBE in the 2016 Operational Awards and Honours List.

He has also worked at Conservative Central Office as an adviser to Francis Maude and Sir Malcolm Rifkind.

In 2005, Seely stood in the Broxtowe parliamentary seat but lost to Labour incumbent Nick Palmer by 2,296.

In 2013, he was voted to represent Central Wight on the Isle of Wight Council for the Conservatives and retained the seat in 2017. After the decision by incumbent Andrew Turner to not fight the 2017 general election, Seely was selected as the candidate for the Isle of Wight seat and won with 38,190 votes, representing 51.3% of the vote. He previously worked with Turner on the One Wight campaign, acting as campaign co-ordinator, in 2010. During his campaign, he suggested that were he to be elected, he would campaign for improvements to the Island Line rail network.

Despite his election as MP, he currently remains a Councillor for the Central Wight ward on the Isle of Wight Council. He has previously stated that he is "not in a rush" to leave this position, with earnings being donated to causes within the ward.

He has also been a research associate at the University of Oxford and studying for a PhD at Kings College London, looking at the conflict and war, and has worked as a member of the PR team for music channel MTV.

Seely lives in Chillerton, Isle of Wight. He comes from a long line of family members involved in politics on the Isle of Wight and elsewhere in the country. Seely’s great-great-uncle, General Jack Seely, was MP for the Isle of Wight between 1900 and 1906 and again between 1923 and 1924, in between which time he served in the First World War – including leading the Battle of Moreuil Wood on his war horse Warrior.