Richard Barnes

Richard Barnes
Barnes on stage at the St George's Day festival, 2010
Deputy Mayor of London
In office 6 May 2008 – 4 May 2012
Mayor	Boris Johnson
Preceded by	Nicky Gavron
Succeeded by	Victoria Borwick
Member of the London Assembly for Ealing and Hillingdon
In office 4 May 2000 – 4 May 2012
Preceded by	Constituency Created
Succeeded by	Onkar Sahota
Personal details
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	University of Wales

Richard Barnes is a politician and a Conservative politician, who was the Deputy Mayor of London from 2008 to 2012, and the Member of the London Assembly for Ealing and Hillingdon from 2000 to 2012, when he lost his seat to Labour.

Education

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Barnes is a graduate in economics from the University of Wales, and having spent a number of years living in various Scandinavian countries speaks Norwegian, Danish, Swedish and French and is currently learning British Sign Language. He is no longer fluent in some of the languages however.

Political career and community involvement

Barnes has been a councillor in the London Borough of Hillingdon since 1982 and was leader of that council from 1998, securing the re-election of the Conservative administration with an 11% swing, one of the most remarkable results in a poor year for the party. He is currently a councillor for Harefield, re-elected in 2006.

Barnes is a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, of which he was formerly deputy chairman. He speaks on policing for the Conservatives on the London Assembly and in late 2007 was elected as Leader of the Conservatives in the London Assembly. After a shock election result on 4th May 2012, Barnes was beaten by Dr Onkar Sahota to represent Ealing and Hillingdon in the London Assembly. This is the first time he has not represented the area since the creation of the assembly in 2000.

A member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, formerly Deputy Chair, law and order / crime and disorder / London resilience and safety are Richard’s foremost interests on the Assembly and he authored the report, and chaired the enquiry, into the London bombings of 7 July 2005. This has led to his taking a very public national and international role in the fight against terrorism, particularly in addressing the ability of urban authorities to build resistance and response mechanisms to potential atrocities. In 2007 he spoke at conferences in both Dubai and New York.

Barnes opposed Section 28 and is openly gay.^[1]

Appointment as statutory Deputy Mayor of London

After Boris Johnson's victory in the 2008 mayoral election, Barnes was appointed on 6 May 2008 as statutory Deputy Mayor of London,^[2] making him both the first male and the first LGBT Deputy Mayor of London.

References

External links

• Biography from the London Assembly
• Official website

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