John Bowis was born on 2 August 1945 in Brighton, UK. He was educated at Tonbridge School and Brasenose College, Oxford, where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Bowis started his political career in 1987 as Member of Parliament for Battersea; between July 1999 and February 2009 he was member of the European Parliament. During this period Bowis was member of the Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats, and member of the Bureau of the same party; he was Vice-Chair of the Delegations to the parliamentary cooperation committees and delegations for relations with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia, Vice-Chair of the Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy, he was elected among the Members from the European Parliament to the Joint Parliamentary Assembly of the Agreement between the African, Caribbean and Pacific States and the European Union (ACP-EU), he was member of the Committee on Development and Cooperation, member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, member of the Delegation for relations with the Palestinian Legislative Council, member of the Temporary Committee on Climate Change.