Richard Parker (born c. May 1963) is a British businessman and

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

politician serving as the Mayor of the West Midlands since May 2024. He is a member of the Labour and Co-operative Party. He defeated Conservative incumbent Andy Street in the 2024 West Midlands mayoral election.

Early life

Parker was born and raised in Bristol. He is the son of a docker father and a school secretary mother. He left school aged 16 to work at a local port authority. Parker returned to formal education a few years later, and earned a degree in economics.

Business career

He is a qualified public finance accountant. In 1989 he joined Price Waterhouse (later PricewaterhouseCoopers) "PwC", rising to become a partner in 2006 and acting as the company's lead for housing and communities. He managed their relationship with the Labour Party for five years, from 2010 to 2015. Whilst at PwC, he led a team to advise on the establishment of the West Midlands Combined Authority, and the devolution settlement that this involved. He left PwC in 2016, setting up his own management consultancy, RP Strategy, working with

SMEs Superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) systems store energy in the magnetic field created by the flow of direct current in a Superconductivity, superconducting coil which has been Cryogenics, cryogenically cooled to a temperature below ...

and initiatives including housing, green investment and the

Birmingham Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

. In April 2024, The Times reported that in the year before he was selected as Labour mayoral candidate, Parker donated £12,000 to Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves and a week at his holiday home in Cornwall in July 2023, valued at £1,400. Parker also donated £5,000 to Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

Political career

Parker was elected Mayor of the West Midlands in the 2024 election after a tight race, defeating Andy Street by 1,508 votes. During the campaign, West Midlands Police confirmed that it was assessing allegations by Gary Sambrook, a Conservative MP, that Parker may have breached electoral law as his home address was outside the West Midlands Combined Authority boundary. Parker commented that he had "a base in Birmingham that I’ve been using to fulfil my campaign." It was then confirmed by West Midlands Police that the allegations were unfounded, and that there was “no criminal offence to investigate”.

Personal life

Parker has a home in

Barnt Green Barnt Green is a village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove District of Worcestershire, England, situated south of Birmingham city centre, with a population at the 2011 census of 1,794. History Originating from the development of the railway ...

Bromsgrove Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about northeast of Worcester and southwest of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 29,237 in 2001 (39,644 in the wider Bromsgrove/Catshill urban area). Bromsgrove is the main town in the ...

, Worcestershire, a holiday home in Cornwall, and rents a flat in the city centre of Birmingham. He is married to a solicitor, and has a son who attended a school in Birmingham and works in manufacturing in the

Black Country The Black Country is an area of the West Midlands county, England covering most of the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall. Dudley and Tipton are generally considered to be the centre. It became industrialised during its ro ...

. Parker has lived in the West Midlands region since 1985. He is a supporter of

Bristol City F.C. Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

, and has been a member of the Labour Party for 35 years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Richard Living people Labour Party (UK) mayors PwC people People from Bromsgrove District English accountants Politicians from Bristol 1963 births Labour Co-operative combined authority mayors and deputy mayors