Nationality British Role Politician Preceded by Frederick Lever Name Richard Leese | ||
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Full Name Richard Charles Leese Spouse(s) Michal Evans (1982–2000)Joanne Green (2003–present) | ||
Labour moving forwards with sir richard leese warwick politics society warwick labour
Sir Richard Charles Leese, CBE (born 21 April 1951) is a politician in Manchester, England. He has been the leader of Manchester City Council since 1996 and a member of the Labour Party since 1984. On 6 May 2017, Leese was appointed Deputy Mayor for Business and Economy by Greater Manchester Combined Authority Mayor, and former Shadow Home Secretary, Andy Burnham.
Contents
- Labour moving forwards with sir richard leese warwick politics society warwick labour
- Sir richard leese on corbyn manchester andy burnham and elections raw interview
- Education
- Career
- References
Sir richard leese on corbyn manchester andy burnham and elections raw interview
Education
Leese was born and brought up in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. He was educated at The Brunts School and went on to the University of Warwick, graduating with an undergraduate degree in Mathematics.
Career
Initially, Leese worked as a teacher of mathematics at Sidney Stringer School in Coventry 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.
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.
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".
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.
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 and admitting striking his stepdaughter across the face.