Victoria Borwick

Councillor
Victoria Borwick
AM
Deputy Mayor of London
Incumbent
Assumed office
9 May 2012
Mayor Boris Johnson
Preceded by Richard Barnes
Assembly Member for the Conservative Party (London-wide)
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 May 2008
Personal details
Born 26 April 1956
London, England
Nationality British
Political party Conservative
Spouse(s) Baron Borwick
Children 4
Residence London

Victoria Lorne Peta, Lady Borwick (born Victoria Lorne Peta Poore, 26 April 1956) [1] is a British businesswoman and politician, and current Deputy Mayor of London. She is a member of the Conservative Party.

After holding a senior management position with P & O and DMG World Media, Lady Borwick became the Conservative Party's director of fundraising. She has been prominent in London politics as a councillor in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and has run for the Conservative nomination to be Mayor of London. In 2008 she was elected to the London Assembly and was appointed Deputy Mayor in 2012. She will contest the Kensington constituency at the 2015 general election.

Personal and business life

Victoria Borwick was born in London. On 20 March 1981 she married Jamie Borwick,[2] who succeeded to the Peerage as Baron Borwick in 2007 and was elected to the House of Lords in 2013; they have three sons and a daughter.[3] For most of her working life, Lady Borwick has been in events management. She was group director of the events arm of shipping company P & O.[4] She organised the Olympia Fine Art and Antiques Fairs as Director from 1990 until 2001,[5] and in 2002 was recruited to assist International Fine Art Expositions' New International Fine Art Fair in New York City.[6]

Political life

In September 1999, Victoria Borwick was picked by Steve Norris as his running mate and potential Deputy Mayor, during Norris' bid for the Conservative Party nomination in the race for Mayor of London.[7] When Norris became the candidate she was given a place on the Conservative Party list for the London Assembly; however she was not elected.

Lady Borwick was elected to Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council in May 2002 in Abingdon ward.[8] She became Director of Income Generation and Marketing for the Conservative Party in October 2002, aiming to increase revenue from the party's supporter base.[9]

In the run-up to the 2004 Mayoral election, Victoria Borwick offered herself as a candidate.[10] She made the shortlist but was not in the final two in the selection, which went again to Steve Norris.[11] Despite her defeat she spoke at the 2003 Conservative Party conference in support of Norris, using her resemblance to television host Anne Robinson (including red hair) to direct the catchphrase "You are the weakest link, goodbye" to incumbent Mayor Ken Livingstone.[12]

2008 Mayoral contest

Victoria Borwick stood again for the nomination for the 2008 race, declaring her candidacy in July 2006; contrasting her appearance with the nickname for the incumbent Mayor, she declared "London needs a redhead, not Red Ken".[13] However, the Conservatives found the candidates "did not satisfy the party's hopes of attracting a national name" and postponed the planned open primaries.[14] In 2007 she published a pamphlet for the Centre for Policy Studies outlining "The Cost of Ken" which itemised the Greater London Authority budget.[4]

In the middle of the postponed Mayoral selection, Lady Borwick ran for the selection to be Assembly candidate for West Central, but lost to Kit Malthouse.[15] The Mayoral selection resumed in summer 2007 when Boris Johnson declared his candidacy; although Borwick made the shortlist of four[16] and ended up second in the ballot, she was far behind Johnson, receiving 1,869 votes to Johnson's 15,661.[17] She was appointed as a consultant to the Johnson campaign.[18]

In an interview with the Evening Standard she was described as "the person who would step up should Boris ever fall under a London bus."[19] [20] Lady Borwick was named in the Evening Standard's 'Power 1000' list of the most influential people in London.[21]

Assembly

Lady Borwick was placed second on the Conservative list for the London Assembly. The Conservatives won three seats and so Borwick was elected in the 2008 election.[22] After being re-elected in the 2012 election, Boris Johnson appointed her Deputy Mayor of London - succeeding Richard Barnes.[23] [24]

Parliamentary Candidate

On 13 March 2015, Borwick was selected as the Conservative candidate for the Kensington constituency at the 2015 general election to be held on 7 May. The seat was held by Conservative MP Malcolm Rifkind during the 2010-2015 parliament. It was reported following her selection that she intends to serve out the remaining twelve months of her term as an Assembly member if she is elected to parliament.[25]

References

  1. ↑ "Debretts biographies.
  2. ↑ "Marriages", The Times, 21 March 1981, p. 16.
  3. ↑ "Borwick, 5 Baron" in "Debrett's People of Today, 2008".
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "The Cost of the London Mayor", Centre for Policy Studies, January 2007.
  5. ↑ Will Bennett, "Contemporary market", Daily Telegraph, 24 September 2001, p. 18.
  6. ↑ "DMG Brings Antique Fair to New York", Gifts & Decorative Accessories.
  7. ↑ "Norris names his running mate", Evening Standard, 17 September 1999, p. 2.
  8. ↑ Abingdon Ward Local Elections May 2002.
  9. ↑ Mark Kleinman, "Tories hire chief to regain core votes", Marketing, 10 October 2002, p. 1.
  10. ↑ "10 fight Norris for Tory mayor chance", Evening Standard, 2 December 2002, p. 6.
  11. ↑ Charles Reiss, "Norris becomes Tories' favourite to be Mayor", Evening Standard, 16 January 2003, p. 2.
  12. ↑ "Conservatives in Blackpool: Yesterday's Highlights", The Independent, 8 October 2003, p. 11.
  13. ↑ Joe Murphy, Pippa Crerar, "The redhead aiming to challenge Red Ken; Zero-tolerance from woman entering Tory mayoral candidacy race", Evening Standard, 18 July 2006, p. 10.
  14. ↑ Brendan Carlin, Jonathan Isaby, "Mayoral fanfare backfires on Tories", Daily Telegraph, 5 August 2006, p. 8.
  15. ↑ "Londoner's Diary", Evening Standard, 27 March 2007, p. 15.
  16. ↑ "Boris joins Tory four for London", Sunday Times, 22 July 2007, p. 2.
  17. ↑ Ross Lydall, "Tory candidate Boris: King Newt's days as Mayor are numbered", Evening Standard, 27 September 2007, p. 1.
  18. ↑ Pippa Crerar, "Team BoJo creates big tent in bid to reach City Hall", Evening Standard, 20 November 2007, p. 1.
  19. ↑ "Evening Standard 16 June 2013.
  20. ↑ "From The Hornet's Nest, It would be fantastic to take over from Boris.
  21. ↑ "Evening Standard 'The Power 1000'.
  22. ↑ London-wide Assembly members by party, London Elects.
  23. ↑ "Victoria Borwick named new Deputy Mayor of London".
  24. ↑ "Investment providing platform for economic growth".
  25. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/14/victoria-borwick-kensington-conservative-candidate

External links