Richard Andrew Balfe, Baron Balfe (born 14 May 1944) is a British politician and

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

. He was a Labour Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1979 but joined the Conservative Party in 2002.

Early life and career

Born in Barton Mills, Mildenhall,

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, Balfe spent time in a children's home in Sheffield. He began working in a bakery in 1960 and joined USDAW. The following year, he moved to London and worked first for the Crown Agents for Overseas Governments, then at the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

, before studying at the London School of Economics. In the 1970 general election, while a student, Balfe stood as the Labour Party candidate in

Paddington South Paddington South was a Parliamentary constituency in London which returned one Member of Parliament. It was a compact urban area, but predominantly wealthy, and was most famously represented by Lord Randolph Churchill during the latter part o ...

. He was unsuccessful, and instead became the Research Officer for the Finer Committee on One-Parent Families.Christine Buckley,
Why some unions still see red when wooed by Richard Balfe
, '' The Times'', 13 April 2009

Political career

At the

1973 Greater London Council election The fourth election to the Greater London Council was held on 12 April 1973. Labour won a large majority of 58 seats to 32 for the Conservatives; the Liberals also won their first two seats on the council. Electoral arrangements As there had b ...

, Balfe was elected in Dulwich, serving until 1977. During this period, he was also political secretary of the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society. He also served as Chair of Tottenham Conservative Association for five years, which he described as a "hopeless cause".

European Parliament

At the first direct elections to the European Parliament in 1979, Balfe was elected as the Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for London South Inner. He held his seat until its abolition in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, then won a seat from fourth place on the party list for London. He supported a single European currency and was a member of the European Movement.George Jones and Ambrose Evans-Pritchard,
Labour rebel joins Tories in disgust
, ''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'', 6 March 2002 In late 2001, Balfe stood for election to the post of

quaestor A ( , , ; "investigator") was a public official in Ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times. In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officials who ...

in the European Parliament, against instructions from his party group. As a result, he was expelled in January 2002. In March, he joined the Conservative Party, the first elected Labour politician to do so since Reg Prentice in 1977. Balfe stood down as an MEP in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. In 2008, he was appointed by

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

as the Conservatives' trade union envoy.

House of Lords

On 19 September 2013 he was created a

taking the title Baron Balfe, ''of Dulwich in the London Borough of Southwark''. Balfe served as President of the Cambridge Conservative Association, the Honorary President of the British Dietetic Association and a member of the Advisory Board at the UK-based 'Polar Regions' think-tank Polar Research and Policy Initiative. Currently, he is President of the TUC affiliated Union BALPA (the British Airline Pilots Association). On 4 June 2015, Balfe proposed "a bill to make provision to allow European Union citizens who are resident in the United Kingdom to vote in parliamentary elections and to become members of Parliament; and for connected purposes". In line with his pro-EU views, Balfe took an active role in "Cambridge For Europe", a local campaign which cites as its purpose ensuring "that people in Cambridge and its wider region fully understand the arguments for continued membership of the European Union". In addition to being a member of the group's steering committee, he is also a patron.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balfe, Richard 1944 births Living people Conservative Party (UK) life peers Conservative Party (UK) MEPs Labour Party (UK) MEPs Labour Party (UK) councillors Members of the Greater London Council People from Forest Heath (district) MEPs for England 1979–1984 MEPs for England 1984–1989 MEPs for England 1989–1994 MEPs for England 1994–1999 MEPs for England 1999–2004 Life peers created by Elizabeth II