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Andrew John Pelling (born 20 August 1959) is a British politician. First elected as a
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
he was an independent Member of Parliament for
Croydon Central Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensive ...
and on 30 March 2010 announced his intention to contest the seat as an Independent at the 2010 general election, but lost the seat to his former party. He was also a member of the
London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds super-majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject ...
for Croydon and Sutton and a councillor in
Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
. Pelling later became a member of the Labour Party in February 2011; he was subsequently expelled from Labour in February 2022.


Education and local government

Pelling and his family have lived in Croydon for six generations. He was educated at the Trinity School, Croydon and then
New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...
, where he led the
Oxford University Conservative Association The Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA) is a student Conservative association founded in 1924, whose members are drawn from the University of Oxford. Since October 2009, OUCA has been affiliated to Conservative Future and its su ...
. He was elected to the position of Librarian of the
Oxford Union The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest ...
, a senior position, and ran for President several times without being elected, on one occasion losing to
William Hague William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
. Before becoming a full-time politician, Pelling was an international
investment banker Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated with ...
. He was elected to
Croydon Council Croydon London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Croydon in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. Croydon is divided into 28 wards, electing 70 co ...
in 1982 in Broad Green ward and later represented the ward of Heathfield. He served as Chair, first of the Education Committee in the early 1990s and subsequently became Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group when they lost control of the Council in 1994. From 2002 until 2005, he was the leader of the Conservative group in Croydon and stepped down from the Council in 2006 after 24 years. Pelling was first elected to the
London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds super-majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject ...
in 2000, and retained his seat in 2004. He was a member of the
London Development Agency The London Development Agency (LDA) was from July 2000 until 2012 the regional development agency for the London region in England. A functional body of the Greater London Authority, its purpose was to drive sustainable economic growth within ...
and chaired the GLA budget committee.


Political career

At the 2005 general election, Pelling won the Croydon Central parliamentary seat by 75 votes, beating the incumbent, Labour's Geraint Davies. On 28 May 2007 Pelling was one of 18 Conservative MPs to vote in favour of an amendment to the Freedom of Information Act proposed by
David Maclean David John Maclean, Baron Blencathra, (born 16 May 1953) is a Conservative Party life peer. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Penrith and The Border from 1983 to 2010. Early and later life Born in Scotland, Maclean was educated at F ...
, which would have seen the Houses of Parliament and MPs exempted from the disclosure requirements of the Act. However, he was 625th out of 646 MPs in the expenses league table and did not take a second-home allowance. On 18 September 2007 Pelling was arrested on suspicion of assaulting his wife Lucy after the
Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
received a complaint. He was released on bail later that night after being questioned. The police later announced that no charges were to be made against Pelling nor would the
Crown Prosecution Service The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal adv ...
prosecute. The allegations caused the Conservatives to remove the
whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...
, suspending him from the party. In December 2007, Pelling announced that he would not seek re-election for Parliament nor the London Assembly, but he subsequently decided to contest the Croydon Central seat as an Independent, saying "I am very much up for representing Croydon for another term, there are lots of important issues to speak about." He said that as an Independent, he had the political freedom to best serve Croydon. He has been quoted in 2010 as saying "Independence has allowed me to do politics differently, enabling me to put Croydon residents ahead of party politics and to lobby effectively for Croydon by being non-partisan. I do not have to obey party bosses and so can speak out for Croydon and on issues like immigration, an EU membership referendum and foolish overseas wars that the parties prefer not to speak of." According to Pelling's own website, "The Leader of London's Green Party once called me 'the acceptable face of Conservatism'." Pelling lost his seat to the Conservatives at the 2010 general election. He remained active in political circles, attending the 2010 Labour Party Conference in Manchester. In February 2011 it was announced that he had joined the Labour Party. In June 2013 it was announced that he would be standing in the upcoming Croydon Council elections for the marginal seat of Waddon. He was elected to Croydon Council on 22 May 2014. In February 2022, Andrew Pelling was expelled from the Labour party for leaking to the press, campaigning for a directly-elected mayor, and voting against the party on council tax cuts In the fourth episode of the
Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...
documentary "The Labour Files" it was revealed that much of the evidence used to prove Andrew Pelling had been leaking to the press was obtained through an email hacking against the blog "Inside Croydon", and that the Chief Whip, with permission from the London Regional Officer, used these hacked emails as evidence during the disciplinary case. It was also revealed that these hacked communications had been sent to
Shadow Secretary of State for Justice In British politics the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice is the member of the Shadow Cabinet who shadows the Secretary of State for Justice The secretary of state for justice, also referred to as the justice secretary, is a secretary ...
Steve Reed, who in turn forwarded it to
General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...
David Evans


Personal life

Pelling was married to Sanae for 16 years, and the couple had three children. In 2006, Pelling married Lucy. They have since separated after allegations of assault.


References


External links


Andrew Pelling MP Putting Croydon first
* ttps://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/andrew_pelling/croydon_central TheyWorkForYou.com – Andrew Pelling MPbr>Biography from the London Assembly
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelling, Andrew 1959 births Living people Alumni of New College, Oxford Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Politics of the London Borough of Croydon Conservative Members of the London Assembly Councillors in the London Borough of Croydon UK MPs 2005–2010 Presidents of the Oxford University Conservative Association People from Wolverhampton People educated at Trinity School of John Whitgift Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom