Danny Beales

Danny Boy Beales (born 1988) is a British Labour politician. He has been a member of Camden London Borough Council since 2014.

Beales was the party's candidate for the 2023 Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election, the seat previously held by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He lost the election to Conservative Party candidate Steve Tuckwell

Early life

Danny Boy Beales was born in 1988 and grew up in West London. Beales was raised by his mother as a single parent. He was made homeless twice while a teenager, both times after his mother was made redundant from work, living for a while with his grandparents in Northampton, and then in a council house in the area. He benefitted from an Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), allowing him to complete his A-Levels. He joined the Labour Party around this time, frustrated by the financial difficulties his family faced. Beales studied politics and social policy at the London School of Economics.

Political career

Camden Council

Following his studies, Beales went on to work in campaigning and communications with the Labour Party.

He was first elected at the 2014 Camden London Borough Council election, and was re-elected at the next two subsequent council elections. Beales was initially elected to represent Cantelowes, unseating the ward's sole Liberal Democrat councillor. Cantelowes was abolished for the 2022 elections, and Beales was subsequently elected for the Camden Square ward. He was a governor at Torriano Primary School, on his local street.

Since his election, he has been one of the most high-profile councillors, with the local paper writing of him, "With an ever-expanding brief, Cllr Beales has been there for every Camden policy, every flashpoint." He is quoted nearly every week in the local press.

He is currently Camden Council's Cabinet Member for New Homes, Jobs and Community Investment. In this role Beales is responsible for the Community Investment Programmes which is Camden's estate regeneration and property development programme. CIP - and Beales personally - has been criticised on a cross-party basis for failing to meet its own target for building council homes and for allowing private developers to 'seize' part of sites for their own use.

He supported adding a pedestrian crossing in Camden with the transgender flag, the first of its kind in London.

Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election

In December 2022, Beales was selected as the Labour candidate for Uxbridge and South Ruislip to become the candidate at the by-election, which was announced less than a day after the constituency's MP, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, had resigned. This was just prior to the publication of the Commons Privileges Committee investigation into Johnson's involvement in Partygate. Beales then began campaigning with the party's national campaign co-ordinator, Shabana Mahmood. He remained (and remains) a Camden Council Cabinet Member.

During campaigning, Beales challenged the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan's policy to expand the Ultra Low Emission Zone into outer London, including Uxbridge and South Ruislip. Beales suggested the scheme should be delayed, while the Conservative candidate, Steve Tuckwell, wanted to scrap the scheme completely.

Candidate controversy

The Uxbridge and South Ruislip Constituency Labour Party was overruled in its original choice of candidate, Connor Liberty, a 22 year old described as "inexperienced", by the party's London Region, which replaced him with Beales.

Following Beales' by-election defeat, the Labour chair of the Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency party, David Williams, resigned from both his post and his membership of the Labour Party, and praised Jeremy Corbyn, Labour's former national leader.

Personal life

Beales is openly gay.

Electoral results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beales, Danny
1988 births
Living people
21st-century English politicians
Councillors in the London Borough of Camden
Labour Party (UK) councillors
Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates
English LGBT politicians
Gay politicians