Chris Cooke is a British Labour Party politician. Since May 2023, he has been the

directly elected Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they desire to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are cho ...

Mayor of Middlesbrough The Mayor of Middlesbrough is the executive mayor of the borough of Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire, England. The incumbent since 2019 is Andy Preston. Referendums 2001 2013 Election results 2002 2007 2011 201 ...

. By virtue of being Mayor of Middlesbrough, he is a member of the

Tees Valley Combined Authority The Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) is the combined authority for the Tees Valley urban area in England consisting of the following five unitary authorities: Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees ...

Board and the Cleveland Police and Crime Panel.

Early life

Cooke was born in 1990, and brought up in Teesville (Eston District), Redcar and Cleveland. . He grew up in care. He was educated at St Peter's Secondary School, a

Catholic school Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...

South Bank, Redcar and Cleveland South Bank is a township in the Redcar and Cleveland borough in North Yorkshire, England on the south bank of the River Tees. It is east of Middlesbrough and south-west of Redcar. The town is served by railway station. The namesake ward had ...

. After school, Cooke began an apprenticeship at

Laurence Jackson School Laurence Jackson School is a coeducational secondary school located in Guisborough, North Yorkshire, England. It has a capacity of 1,250 pupils. The school's headteacher is Catherine Juckes. A 2019 Ofsted inspection judged Laurence Jackson S ...

Guisborough Guisborough ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England. It lies north of the North York Moors National Park. Roseberry Topping, midway between the town and Great Ayton, is a landmark i ...

as an IT technician. He remained at the school after completing his apprenticeship. Some time after being elected a councillor in 2019, he left his IT job and became a community cohesion co-ordinator at Streets Ahead, a charitable help and advice centre in Middlesbrough.

Political career

On 2 May 2019, Cooke was elected as one of three councillors to represent the Newport Ward on

Middlesbrough Council Middlesbrough Council, formerly known as Middlesbrough Borough Council, is a unitary authority based in Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire, England. The authority has combined some duties with its nearby councils to form the Tees Valley Combined ...

Mayor of Middlesbrough

On 4 May 2023, he was elected

with 10,956 votes, defeating the incumbent Andy Preston by 760 votes. Shortly after his election, Cooke expressed the need for a change of culture within Middlesbrough Council stating there to be “an adversarial culture between politicians and officers”. Cooke vowed the council he leads would become "a service-led organisation", and that children's social care would get his full focus.

Personal life

Cooke is married to Julia Cooke, who serves a councillor on Middlesbrough Council. He is a Christian.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Chris Living people Labour Party (UK) mayors Mayors of Middlesbrough Directly elected mayors in England and Wales Councillors in North Yorkshire 1990 births