Graham Tope, Baron Tope

Graham Tope, Baron Tope, 2017

Graham Tope, Baron Tope CBE (born November 30, 1943 ) is a British politician of the Liberal Party and now the Liberal Democrats , who was temporarily a member of the House of Commons and has been a member of the House of Lords since 1994 .

Life

Party official and member of the House of Commons

Tope was a member of the National Council of the Liberal Party between 1970 and 1976 and was also involved in its youth association , the National League of Young Liberals , of which he was vice-chairman between 1971 and 1973, before he was President of the Young Liberals from 1973 to 1975.

On 7 December 1972, he was at a by-election ( by-election ) in the constituency Sutton and Cheam elected MPs in the House of Commons and belonged to this until February 28 1974th In the general election on February 28, 1974 and October 10, 1974 , he also ran in the constituency of Sutton to Cheam , but was defeated in each case and thus lost his mandate. During his membership in the House he was from 1972 to 1974 spokesman of the faction of the Liberal Party for environmental policy .

Local politician in the London Borough of Sutton and member of the House of Lords

After leaving the House of Commons, Tope became involved in local politics and has been a member of the council of the London Borough of Sutton since 1974 . During this time he was between 1974 and 1999 chairman of the parliamentary group of the Liberal Party or, after its dissolution, since 1988 of the Liberal Democrats. As such, he was leader of the opposition from 1984 to 1986 and then chairman of this council between 1986 and 1999.

Tope, who was chairman of the Liberal Democrats in London from 1991 to 2000, was raised to the British nobility in 1994 as a life peer with the title Baron Tope , of Sutton in the London Borough of Sutton, and has been a member of the House of Lords ever since . During his membership in the House of Lords, he was initially between 1994 and 2000 spokesman for the Liberal Democrats group for education policy and between 1998 and 2000 also Whip of his group. Most recently, Lord Tope was his group's spokesman for parishes and local government between 2008 and 2010.

He was also a member of the London Fire and Civil Protection Agency between 1995 and 1997, Vice-President of the Local Government Association from 1997 to 2005, and Vice-Chairman of the Association of London Government between 1997 and 2000 .

Member of the London Assembly and commitment to Europe

Tope, who has served on the London Borough of Sutton's board of directors for community safety, leisure and libraries since 1999, was elected to the London Assembly established by the Greater London Authority Act 1999 in 2000 and was a member until 2008. During this time he was chairman of the Liberal Democrats from 2000 to 2006 and was also part of the Mayor's cabinet as chairman of the finance committee (2000 to 2008) and as a member of the authority for the Metropolitan Police Service (2000 to 2008) from 2000 to 2004 of London .

He was also a member of the London Borough of Croydon's Strategic Partnership Panel from 2002 to 2008 and a Security Partnership Panel from 2004 to 2008. He is also interested in the Borough of Sutton, where he has been a member of the Strategic Partnership Committee since 2003. He has also been a member of the Sutton Security Partnerships Committee since 2004, and has been chairman since 2009. Since 2005 he has also been chairman of the local government group for Europe.

At the same time he was involved in the EU Committee for a Europe of Regions , of which he has been a member since 1994. In addition, he has been Vice-Chairman of the British delegation there since 1996 and has also been a member of the committee's office since then. He was also a member of the Council of Europe Congress for Local and Regional Authorities in Europe from 1996 to 2000 and President of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Group between 1998 and 2002 and was then a member of its Commission for Constitutional Affairs from 2002 to 2004.

Lord Tope has been political coordinator of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) since 2007 and was a member of its political observation group between 2008 and 2010 and a member of the ALDE working group for the Western Balkans since 2008. He was also rapporteur for smarter regulation of the ALDE between 2010 and 2011.

Web links

• Entry on Parliament's homepage (accessed on 6 July 2012)
• Mr Graham Tope at Hansard (English)
• Entry in They Work For You (accessed July 6, 2012)