He completed his Master of Arts (MA) at the University of Cambridge in 1975. He worked as a marketing consultant, and he ran his own business for more than 15 years. Between 1995 and 1997, Davies served as Member of Parliament for the Littleborough and Saddleworth constituency (Oldham/Rochdale), represented Lees ward on Oldham MBC from 1994-98.
In 1999 Chris Davies was elected member of the European Parliament and remained an MEP until 2014. During that period he was member of the Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party, member of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy, member of the Delegation to the EU-Cyprus Joint Parliamentary Committee, 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 and member of the Committee on Fisheries.