James Elles has been a Member of the European Parliament since 1984. He became a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) after an eight-year career as a civil servant with the European Commission, initially as a Tokyo Round negotiator and latterly as Assistant to the Deputy Director General of Agriculture.

Now in his sixth term, James is the longest serving member of the European Parliament’s Budgets Committee, having been a member for the past 28 years. James is also a substitute member of both the Foreign Affairs committee and EU-US delegation.