David Warburton

David John Warburton FRSA (born 28 October 1965) is a politician and businessman from the United Kingdom. He has a background in music, having been an award-winning composer and music teacher before setting up a mobile media business in 1999, followed by several subsequent ventures. In February 2013, he was selected as the Conservative Party parliamentary candidate to contest the Somerton and Frome Constituency at the 2015 General Election.

Background and education
Born in Buckinghamshire, Warburton was educated at Reading School, and the co-educational comprehensive secondary, Waingels College. He later won a place at the Royal College of Music, where he was a recipient of the Octavia Scholarship and graduated in 1993 with a degree and a master’s degree M.Mus (Lond.) Dip.RCM (Perf.) in music composition.

He later worked as a freelance composer, winning composition prizes including the United Music Publishers prize, the Major van Someren Godfrey Composition prize, the Herbert Howells prize and the Elgar Memorial Prize. He also spent five years at Hurlingham and Chelsea Secondary School, as a classroom and peripatetic teacher of music.

He is married and lives with his wife Harriet and two children in Somerset.

Business career
Until 1999, Warburton worked in a variety of jobs including teaching, playing the piano in London hotels, bar tending and cleaning. He then founded The Music Solution Ltd, providing downloadable music content to mobile phone networks. In 2005 the company became Pitch Entertainment Group, with operations in several countries, and listed by the Sunday Times as the UK’s 6th fastest growing technology company.

In 2009 Warburton set up Oflang Partners LLP, a property company, and was a founder of the online retail website MyHigh.St in 2012. Since 2007, Warburton has traded the Eurodollar on the foreign exchange markets. He also works with local businesses as an advisor, and with charities including Age UK Somerset, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, and The Working Knowledge group.

Political activity
Warburton was Treasurer of Wells Conservative Association from 2009-10, and its Political Deputy chairman and constituency spokesperson from 2010-12. He campaigned locally against the proposed Alternative Vote referendum in 2011, and represented the constituency Conservative party for local campaigns and debates.

In 2012 he joined the list of approved Conservative parliamentary candidates, and was selected in 2013 as the Conservative Party parliamentary candidate to contest the Somerton and Frome Constituency at the 2015 General Election.