Steven Norris

Early life and career

Steven Norris attended the Liverpool Institute for Boys, a grammar school, from 1956 to 1963; there he became a prefect and, in his last year, Head Boy. He gained an open Exhibition in Social Studies and graduated from Worcester College, Oxford where he was President of the University Law Society. After graduating he pursued a career in the engineering and motor industries, and entered politics when he was elected to Berkshire County Council in 1977.

Parliamentary and ministerial career

He became the Member of Parliament for Oxford East in 1983. After narrowly losing that seat in 1987 to Andrew Smith, he re entered the House of Commons at a by election for Epping Forest in 1988.

He served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to William Waldegrave at the Department of the Environment, Nicholas Ridley at the Department of Trade and Industry and Kenneth Baker at the Home Office, before being promoted to Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport and Minister for Transport in London by John Major in 1992, where he was responsible for the Jubilee line Extension, the largest extension of the London Underground network to date.

Norris became known in particular for his interest in public transport. He is, or has been, Chairman of the National Cycling Strategy Board, Director General of the Road Haulage Association and President of the Motor Cycle Industry Association, a Commissioner with the Independent Transport Commission, and a patron of the cyclists charity, Sustrans and of the Campaign for Better Transport (UK) Trust.

London Mayoral bids

In 1996, he published his autobiography Changing Trains, in which he first expressed an interest in running to be Mayor of London. He stood down from Parliament at the 1997 General Election to pursue business interests.

2000

In September 1999, Norris was pitted against writer Jeffrey Archer, in the race to become Conservative candidate for Mayor of London. The battle was bitterly fought, with Norris at one point remarking to a Conservative colleague that he would never support Archer "alive or dead".

Archer was selected, but withdrew in 1999, after it was revealed that he had committed perjury in a libel case. Archer was subsequently convicted and imprisoned. Norris was selected as the Conservative party candidate in a ballot of Conservative Party members in London at the end of that year. In the Mayoral election itself he came in second, with 42% in the final round, losing to temporarily independent, but former (and future) Labour member Ken Livingstone.

2004

In November 2002, he formally announced his intention to run again to be the Mayor of London. In February 2003, he was again selected as Conservative mayoral candidate for the next elections in 2004. His platform included promises to open the Tube until 3.00am on Fridays and Saturdays and a "zero tolerance" approach to crime, adapted from New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whom he met to discuss strategies to combat crime in April 2004. The 2004 Election saw him increase his share of the vote, in contrast to the London wide vote of Conservative candidates for the London Assembly, which fell two percentage points compared to 2000.

Possible future candidacy

After speculation that he would run again in 2008, Norris declined to put his name forward in time for the deadline for nominations to be submitted, initially scheduled for 4 August 2006. The day following Norris's announcement the Conservative leader David Cameron extended the deadline for nominations in the hope of attracting a heavyweight candidate. Norris did not rule out being the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London in the 2008 Mayoral Election.

On 22 February 2007, in an interview, Norris demonstrated his continued interest in and passion for the Mayoralty. He concluded by saying: "If I run, I'll win." By 16 July 2007, however, he did not hand in his nomination papers by the new later deadline, and Boris Johnson was later selected.

Business career

Norris was a non executive director of Jarvis plc and took over as chairman and later executive chairman, when the company ran into difficulties.

In May 2002, when the Potters Bar rail crash occurred, the company was initially triggered. This was as Jarvis were the maintenance contractor. Norris was part of the company during asset disposals and business improvements.

He was senior independent director at AIM listed ITIS Holdings plc and is currently chairman of Soho Estates and BNP Paribas Real Estate UK. He is also chairman of Virtus Data Centres Ltd and a director of Cubic Corporation. He is deputy chairman of Optare plc, and a non executive director of Driver Group plc. He is a founding partner of Norris McDonough LLP with David McDonough OBE.

Personal life

Norris married his first wife, Vicky, in 1969, and has two sons from that marriage. He has another son with his second wife, Emma, whom he married in April 2000. He is a supporter of home town side Everton F.C.. During the 1990s, it was widely reported that he had had a series of extramarital affairs.