Richard Leese

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Sir
Richard Leese
Richard Leese talking at the University of Salford in 2012.
Leader of Manchester City Council
Incumbent
Assumed office
1996
Preceded by Graham Stringer
Personal details
Born Richard Charles Leese
(1951-04-21) 21 April 1951[1]
Mansfield, Nottinghamshire
Nationality British
Political party Labour
Spouse(s) Michal Evans (1982 -2000)[1]
Joanne Green (2003–present)[1]
Alma mater University of Warwick
Occupation Labour councillor
Awards Knight Batchelor (2006)
Order of the British Empire (2001)
Website http://www.manchester.gov.uk/councillors/60/richard_leese
Sir Richard Charles Leese, CBE Kt (born 21 April 1951)[1][2] is a politician in the City of Manchester in the United Kingdom. He has been the leader of Manchester City Council since 1996 and a member of the Labour Party since 1984.[1]

Education

Leese was born and brought up in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. He was educated at The Brunts School and went onto the University of Warwick, graduating with an undergraduate degree in Mathematics.[1]

Initially, Leese worked as a teacher of mathematics at Sidney Stringer School in Coventry[1] and as an exchange teacher at Washington Junior High School in Duluth, Minnesota, USA before moving to Manchester to take up a post as a youth worker. Leese has been employed variously in youth work, community work, and education research 1979–1988.

Political career

Leese was elected to the Manchester City Council in 1984 and was its deputy leader from 1990 until 1996, having previously chaired the Education Committee (1986–1990) and Finance Committee (1990–1995). As of 2011 he is a Labour councillor in the Crumpsall ward.[3]

He was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2006 List after overseeing the 10-year regeneration of the city after the IRA bomb of 1996. He was awarded a Knighthood for "services to local government".[4]

Leese was one of the main advocates of Congestion Charging in Greater Manchester, as part of a bid to the Government's Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) for a £2.7 billion package of transport funding for Greater Manchester. Congestion charging was ultimately rejected by the local population in a referendum.[5][6][7]

He is current chair of the North West Regional Leaders Board (4NW).

On 14 April 2010 the BBC reported that Leese had stood down temporarily from his post as leader of Manchester City Council after having been arrested on suspicion of the common assault of his 16-year-old stepdaughter. He was released after accepting a police caution.[8] Which according to The Guardian is an admission of guilt [9]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "‘LEESE, Sir Richard Charles’, Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012". 
  2. ↑ "Core Cities Summit". Core Cities. 7 November 2007. Retrieved 4 November 2008. 
  3. ↑ "Councillor Richard Leese". Manchester City Council. 
  4. ↑ "Knighthood for leader who saw city reborn". Manchester Evening News (M.E.N. Media). 17 June 2006. 
  5. ↑ "Voters reject congestion charge". BBC News. 12 December 2008. Retrieved 22 May 2010. 
  6. ↑ Salter, Alan (5 May 2007). "C-charge details revealed". Manchester Evening News (M.E.N. Media Ltd). Retrieved 25 November 2007. 
  7. ↑ Staff and agencies (27 July 2007). "Manchester makes move towards congestion charge". guardian.co.uk (London: Guardian News and Media). Retrieved 26 November 2007. 
  8. ↑ "Manchester City Council leader steps down after assault". BBC News. 14 April 2010. 
  9. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/apr/14/manchester-richard-leese-cautioned
Political offices
Preceded by
Graham Stringer		 Leader of Manchester City Council
1996–present 		Incumbent
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