Mike Freer

Early life

Mike Freer was born in Manchester in 1960. Part of his childhood was spent in council accommodation, which was then bought by his parents following the Conservative government's right-to-buy policy. He was educated at the Chadderton Grammar School for Boys and subsequently at St Aidan's College in Carlisle. He read accountancy and business law at the University of Stirling but, in not taking his finals, did not graduate.

Freer worked in managerial roles for a number of fast-food chains, including Pizzaland, Pizza Hut and KFC, prior to a management career in the financial sector. Freer worked for Barclays Bank as a relationship director.

Political career

Freer was first elected to Barnet Council in 1990 for the St. Paul's ward, winning the seat from Labour. However, he lost the seat in 1994, in which the Conservatives were routed nationally. He was re-elected to the council, for the Church End ward, in 2002. He became leader of the council on 11 May 2006, replacing Brian Salinger as Conservative group leader, having previously been Salinger's deputy. His appointment was approved unanimously.

In the 2005 general election, Freer contested the Harrow West constituency in the neighbouring borough of Harrow. He finished second to the Labour incumbent Gareth Thomas, whose majority was cut from 6,000 to 2,000. He was selected for Finchley and Golders Green on 10 December 2006.

Freer is a member of Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI). Although he is not Jewish, The Jewish Chronicle, in its list of 100 most powerful influences on the Jewish community, named Freer 99th, not least because of his membership of CFI and his chairmanship of the Barnet multi-faith forum. Freer chose to resign his position as parliamentary private secretary to Nick Boles in order to vote against a backbench motion recognising Palestine as a state alongside Israel, arguing "the two-state solution we all want to see should be the end not the start of the process".

Following the collapse of Icelandic banks Glitnir and Landsbanki in October 2008 in which Barnet Council had invested £27.4m of council taxpayers' money, Freer was named Private Eye's "Banker of the Year" in its Rotten Borough Awards of 2008, stating: "He told councillors that he couldn't be blamed for the council losing £27.4m in dodgy Icelandic banks because he had never bothered to review the council's investments. Ever. And in a former life he used to be, er, a banker. Quite." The money was subsequently recovered.

In 2009, Freer announced a new model of local government delivery for the London Borough of Barnet, called 'Future Shape' which he claims could save Barnet Council £24 million a year. The scheme has been dubbed easyCouncil because of its similarity to easyJet's business model.

In October 2011 he was the target of an attack at a mosque in his constituency of Finchley by members of Muslims Against Crusades.

Freer was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.

On 15 June 2017 Freer was appointed by the Chief Whip Gavin Williamson to the Whips Office as Assistant Government Whip.

Personal life

Freer is gay, which he revealed to fellow MPs during a speech in the debates over the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013.

He lives with his husband, Angelo, in Finchley, north London. He entered into a civil partnership in January 2007. On the eighth anniversary of their civil partnership, in January 2015, they converted it into a marriage.