Elected as Conservative MEP for Lincolnshire to the first European Parliament in 1979, Bill Newton Dunn contested every election until Brexit in 2020. He won seven times out of nine, making him the longest-serving MEP in Europe. In 2000, he crossed the floor to the Liberal Democrats. From 2009, he represented six counties in the East Midlands.

He was born in 1941, and after obtaining a Masters's degree in natural science, he first worked in industry and then entered politics. He has been married to Anna for fifty years, and they have two children and four grandchildren.