Richard Leese

Sir Richard Leese CBE
Richard Leese talking at the University of Salford in 2012.
Leader of Manchester City Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 May 1996
Preceded by	Graham Stringer
Member of Manchester City Council for Crumpsall
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 May 1984
Preceded by	Frederick Lever
Personal details
Born	Richard Charles Leese 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	Knighthood (2006) CBE (2001)

Sir Richard Charles Leese, CBE (born 21 April 1951^[1][2]) 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.^[1][3][4]

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.^[1]

Career

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.

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.^[5]

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".^[6]

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.^[7][8][9]

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.^[10][11]

References

1. "'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".(subscription required)
2. "Core Cities Summit". Core Cities. 7 November 2007. Retrieved 4 November 2008.
3. Richard Leese on Twitter
4. Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council explains why HS2 is good for Manchester on YouTube
5. "Councillor Richard Leese". Manchester City Council.
6. "Knighthood for leader who saw city reborn". Manchester Evening News. Trinity Mirror. 17 June 2006.
7. "Voters reject congestion charge". BBC News. 12 December 2008. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
8. Salter, Alan (5 May 2007). "C-charge details revealed". Manchester Evening News. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 25 November 2007.
9. Staff and agencies (27 July 2007). "Manchester makes move towards congestion charge". The Guardian. London: Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 26 November 2007.
10. "Manchester City Council leader steps down after assault". BBC News. 14 April 2010.
11. Carter, Helen (14 April 2010). "Manchester council leader Richard Leese cautioned over stepdaughter assault". The Guardian. London: Guardian Media Group.