Keith Arthur Whitmore (born 15 June 1955) is a former British politician. He was a

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

and later

Liberal Democrat Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties ...

member of

Manchester City Council Manchester City Council is the local authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester is the sixth largest city in England by population. Its city council is composed of 96 councillors, three ...

for more than thirty years, retiring in 2012, and was also a member of the

Committee of the Regions The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union's (EU) assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities (i.e. regions, counties, provinces, municipalities and cities) with a direct voice w ...

and the

Congress of the Council of Europe The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities is the pan-European political assembly representing local and regional authorities from the forty-six member states of the Council of Europe. Its role is to promote local and regional democracy, imp ...

, of which he was President from 2010 to 2012. He now chairs the Greater Manchester Transport Heritage Partnership and is active in other bodies with a similar focus.

Early life

Keith Whitmore was born in 1955 in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, the only child of Arthur Edmond Whitmore and Mavis J. Kretschmer.

Manchester political career

Whitmore was first elected to Manchester City Council in May 1979 and remained a member until May 2012, representing the

Levenshulme Levenshulme () is an area of Manchester, England, bordering Fallowfield, Longsight, Gorton, Burnage, Heaton Chapel and Reddish; it is approximately halfway between Stockport and Manchester city centre on the A6. Levenshulme is predominantly re ...

ward. In

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

and again at the 1987 general election, Whitmore unsuccessfully fought the Manchester Gorton constituency for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, a seat held by Labour’s

Gerald Kaufman Sir Gerald Bernard Kaufman (21 June 1930 – 26 February 2017) was a British politician and author who served as a minister throughout the Labour government of 1974 to 1979. Elected as a member of parliament (MP) at the 1970 general election, ...

. From 1988 to 1997 he was leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Manchester City Council. From 1992 to 1998 Whitmore was a director of

Manchester Airport Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2019, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger numbers and the busiest of those n ...

, and for some years he was Deputy Chairman of the

Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority The Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority (GMITA) was a local government institution responsible for the strategic direction of passenger transport in Greater Manchester. It existed from 1969 to 1974 as the SELNEC Passenger Transport ...

(GMITA) and a Director of Greater Manchester Accessible Transport and the

Manchester Museum of Transport The Museum of Transport, Greater Manchester aims to preserve and promote the public transport heritage of Greater Manchester in North West England. It is located in the Cheetham Hill area of Manchester. Background The museum was established in ...

. In 2009 he became Chairman of the GMITA and was the first Manchester councillor to hold that position. The Authority was merged into the

Greater Manchester Combined Authority The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is a combined authority for Greater Manchester, England. It was established on 1 April 2011 and consists of 11 members; 10 indirectly elected members, each a directly elected councillor from one ...

in 2011. In December 2011 Whitmore was reported to be disillusioned with the Liberal Democrats, and he did not stand for re-election at the

2012 Manchester City Council election Elections to Manchester City Council took place on 3 May 2012, on the same day as other 2012 United Kingdom local elections. One third of the council was up for election, with those councillors elected in the 2008 Manchester Council election h ...

, at which his party lost all the seats it was defending.

Council of Europe

In 1996, Whitmore was appointed as a member of the

Congress of Local and Regional Authorities The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities is the pan-European political assembly representing local and regional authorities from the forty-six member states of the Council of Europe. Its role is to promote local and regional democracy, im ...

of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...

, based in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

. His party affiliation there was with the Independent and Liberal Democrat Group (ILDG), of which he became chairman in 2000. Positions he held included Chairman of the Congress's Sustainable Development Committee, Chairman of the Institutional Committee, Vice-President of the Congress, and Head of the UK delegation to the Congress. On 26 October 2010 he was elected as President of the Congress and served in that capacity until his mandate ended in 2012. Whitmore was also a member of the

and of the Political Committee of the

Council of European Municipalities and Regions The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) is the largest organisation of local and regional governments in Europe. Its members are 60 national associations of towns, municipalities and regions from 41 countries that are part of th ...

(CEMR). In 2011–2012 he was acting chairman of the CEMR Governance Committee.''Kaiser-Maximilian-Preis Europapreis für Regional- und Kommunalpolitik des Landes Tirol und der Stadt Innsbruck 2012''
innsbruck.gv.at, pp. 4, 25–28 2719 - Innsbruck - Hofburg

In 2012, Whitmore was awarded the Emperor-Maximilian-Prize for European Service, which he received at the

Hofburg The Hofburg is the former principal imperial palace of the Habsburg dynasty. Located in the centre of Vienna, it was built in the 13th century and expanded several times afterwards. It also served as the imperial winter residence, as Schönbrunn ...

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

, Austria, on 2 June 2012. A speech to explain the award was made by

Herwig van Staa Herwig van Staa (born 10 June 1942) was the governor of Tyrol from 2002 to 2008. Van Staa was born in Linz, Upper Austria. His father, who came from the Rhine area, worked as a technician in the steelworks in Linz and died in a sick bay in 1943 ...

Later life

In 2013 Whitmore was reported to be an honorary

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

of Manchester and chairman of the Heaton Park Tramway Trust. He remained in this position in 2015. Since 2012, he has chaired the Greater Manchester Transport Heritage Partnership. 45596 Bahamas (46988770322)

Whitmore has also been a director of the Manchester Tramway Company Ltd since 1990, of the Royal Exchange Theatre Company Ltd since 1995, of the

People's History Museum The People's History Museum (the National Museum of Labour History until 2001) in Manchester, England, is the UK's national centre for the collection, conservation, interpretation and study of material relating to the history of working people ...

(formerly the National Museum of Labour History, Manchester), since 2002, and of the Bahamas Locomotive Society of

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

since 2012.Keith Arthur Whitmore
profile at endole.co.uk, accessed 25 April 2015 In 2018, he became chairman of the Bahamas Locomotive Society. In 2020, he was vice-president of the

East Lancashire Railway East Lancashire Railway is a heritage railway line in North West England which runs between Heywood, Greater Manchester and Rawtenstall in Lancashire. There are intermediate stations at Bury Bolton Street railway station, Bury Bolton Street, ...

.Brad Marshall,
'No threat' to ELR posed by study into reopening Bury railway line
''Bury Times'', 30 June 2020, accessed 2 July 2021

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitmore, Keith 1955 births Living people Congress of the Council of Europe Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors Councillors in Manchester

Early life

Manchester political career

Council of Europe

Later life

See also

References