Mike's Record

Mike has been a member of the London Assembly since March 2002 and was re-elected on the London-wide list in the June 2004 elections.

In May 2006 he was elected by his colleagues to lead the five-strong Liberal Democrat group on the Greater London Authority and also speaks for the Lib Dems on environmental issues. From 2002 until 2008, Mike was a member of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, leading the group for two years. 

At City Hall, in addition to membership of the Environment Committee, he is a member of the Budget Committee and the Business Management and Appointments Committee. From 2002 to 2004, he chaired the Assembly’s Economic and Social Development Committee. 

In 2004 Mike was appointed by the Mayor to represent the Assembly as a member of the London Sustainable Development Commission. He was a member of the Commission for Racial Equality's London Board until its abolition in 2007.

London government

Mike's first experience in London government was in 1985-86, when he took on Labour in their neglected inner city "backyard' and won a spectacular by-election to the GLC/ILEA in the Vauxhall constituency.

A decade later, he became deputy leader of the Lib Dem group on the borough’s London-wide coordinating body, the ALG (Association of London Government). Among other responsibilities, he led for the Lib Dems in the successful effort to reunify the joint boards (grants, traffic, housing and employers) with ALG to form a powerful voice for London local government.

From 1998 to 2000, Mike was a board member of the London Development Partnership, the forerunner to the London Development Agency, and was responsible for the LDP's assessment of SRB5 bids, selecting the best from over 100 applications for the £320 million in regeneration funds in the 1999 round.

Among other regeneration agencies, Mike has served as a board member of Business Link London, the support agency for small businesses, Brixton City Challenge, the Cross River Partnership, the Central London Partnership and the South Bank Partnership.

Lambeth government

Mike served on Lambeth Council from 1990 to May 2002. He led the team that ousted Labour from control of the Council in the run up to the 1994 elections and then ran the Borough for four years as de facto joint leader when the Liberal Democrats were the largest party. He was group leader from 1990 to 1998, when it rose from just three members to 25, and was elected and then reelected by his colleagues every year unopposed.

Labour left behind a horrendous mess and the achievements of the Lib Dem group, without an overall majority, were extraordinary. Just some of the highlights include:

• paid off the funny money deals and wrote off huge bad debts run up by Labour - still cut the Council Tax from £91 more than London average under Labour (Band D) to £50 below
  
• consulted residents about spending and service levels and the Council tax and rent levels
  
• set up a special anti-fraud unit and dedicated audit committee, praised by the District Auditor - increased Benefit Fraud savings from £874,000 under Labour to £10 million a year
  
• replaced all the senior officers, recruiting Heather Rabbatts and a first rate team
  
• got the housing repairs system going again, clearing Labour's backlog and bringing in planned maintenance; cut empty homes by 1000 and increased rent collection from 86% under Labour to 98%
  
• increased the number of tenant managed estates from one under Labour to 15
  
• started the Borough's first ever 'green box' recycling scheme
  
• achieved the biggest one year increase in school standards in the country
  
• set up a programme to involve parents from minority ethnic communities to combat discrimination in education and raise expectations
  
• funded the Borough's first ever volunteer bureau
  
• increased library usage after years of decline, bringing in computerised records and CD loans
  
• focused street services (cleaning, lighting, pavements and potholes, etc) onto an area basis, linked to five town centres; started a Grimebuster cleaning hit squad
  
• adopted a 'pedestrians first' policy, extended traffic calming to include the needs of cyclists 
  
• formed a strategic partnership with the local police, with a seconded inspector working full time alongside the Borough's first ever crime prevention officers

Political activity

Mike has served in a variety of positions at all levels in the party. These have included:

• constituency treasurer and target ward organiser (Vauxhall)
• treasurer and then vice chair campaigns for the London Region (1983-87)
• chair, Parliamentary Liberal Party Staff Association (1986-87)
• constituency rep to Federal and regional conferences
• pro bono consultant on party conference management for national ‘Review Group’ (1989)
• chair of the Federal policy working group on urban policy (1990) and member of the policy working groups on inner cities (1995) and local government (1998)
• member of the London region Lib Dem Strategy Committee for 1998 local and 2000 and 2004 GLA elections
• member of policy review group on public sector pensions (2006 - )
• member, London Region executive committee (2006 - )

Mike has stood successively for election to public office:

• GLC/ILEA by-election (won) 1985
• local Lambeth ward (lost by only 100 votes) 1986
• ILEA for Vauxhall constituency (gained second place for first time) 1986
• Streatham General Election candidate 1987 (and ILEA by-election the same year)
• Parliamentary by-election candidate for Vauxhall 1989
• Prince's ward Lambeth (with two colleagues turning a split ward into a safe majority) 1990
• Vauxhall General Election candidate 1992
• Prince's ward Lambeth (re-elected) 1994 and 1998
• Greater London Authority 2002 to present and London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority 2002 to 2008