Peter grew up in the North and the Midlands, the son of a vicar and a teacher, and he went to the University of Durham. After spells working in insurance, a brewery and as a road construction engineer he taught in Birmingham and Italy before training as a community worker at the University of York. Subsequently, he established and ran a community centre in Inner London where much of his work centred on welfare and housing issues. It became clear to Peter that most of those seeking his centre’s assistance had real difficulties with reading and writing, so he decided that he could best assist with this problem by becoming a teacher.

Peter moved to Downham Market with his wife Julie, also a teacher, in 2005, and he taught part-time in a Cambridge Sixth Form College. He has temporarily suspended his teaching career to concentrate fully on his role as Labour's Prospective Parliamentary Candidate. In addition to his teaching, Peter has written a number of plays, and his new translation of a major German play was performed in Cambridge in February 2008, co-directed by his partner Julie and himself. He has directed and co-directed over sixty plays and has toured with many productions in Europe. He continues to work as a moderator in GCE Drama and Theatre Studies. He is a keen cyclist and mountain walker, has an interest in a wide range of sports and enjoys playing badminton.

Throughout his adult life Peter has been an active member of the Labour Party as well as a committed trade unionist. He is an accredited caseworker for a major teaching union. He is a member of CND and Amnesty, and is currently Chair of both Downham Market Labour Party and SW Norfolk Constituency Labour Party. He was selected as Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the constituency in September 2007.

Whilst Peter has always been a loyal Labour Party member, and is very proud of the achievements of the party since its return to power in 1997, he will only support party policy on the issues he considers to be the most important if he is convinced of their rightness.

Peter is affiliated with the following organisations. He supports their aims, objectives and advocates their issues.