John Maples

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John Cradock Maples (born 22 April 1943) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom.

He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewisham West from 1983 until he lost the seat at the 1992 general election. He re-entered Parliament as MP for Stratford-upon-Avon in 1997. He has held the seat, one of the safest Conservative seats, in both the 2001 and 2005 general elections.

Maples was a member of William Hague's shadow cabinet from 1997 to 2000, holding the posts of Shadow Health Secretary (1997- 1998), Shadow Defence Secretary (1998- 1999) and Shadow Foreign Secretary (1999- 2000). In the reshuffle prompted by the return of Michael Portillo to the front bench, he lost his job to Francis Maude and left the shadow cabinet.

He returned to the front bench in a minor reshuffle in November 2006, when David Cameron appointed him Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party with responsibility for candidate selection. He replaced ex-shadow cabinet minister Bernard Jenkin. Because of Mr Cameron's high-profile attempts to have more female and minority candidates selected, which has met with some opposition from local parties, the post is seen as an important one.

He was widely believed to be one of the main "plotters" behind the downfall of former Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith.^{[citation needed]} He is a barrister.

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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Christopher Price	Member of Parliament for Lewisham West 1983–1992	Succeeded by Jim Dowd
Preceded by Alan Howarth	Member of Parliament for Stratford-on-Avon 1997 – present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Richard Ryder	Economic Secretary to the Treasury 1989–1992	Succeeded by Anthony Nelson