Tom Wootton is a British

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

local politician. He became the directly elected

Mayor of Bedford The Mayor of Bedford is a directly elected mayor responsible for the executive function, and ceremonial duty of Bedford Borough Council in Bedfordshire. The incumbent is Dave Hodgson of the Liberal Democrats who succeeded Frank Branston in 200 ...

in May 2023 local elections and was previously the

Bedford Borough Council Bedford Borough Council is the local authority of the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. The executive of the council is the direct ...

lor for

Wyboston Wyboston is a village in the English county of Bedfordshire,adjacent to the town of St Neots, on the Cambridgeshire border. The eastern part of the village is dominated by the A1 Great North Road. Approaching the Black Cat Roundabout from the B ...

Ward. Wootton defeated incumbent Dave Hodgson, a Liberal Democrat who had held the office of mayor for 13 years, by just 145 votes under the

first-past-the-post system In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

. Als
available
via Telegraph Digital Editions. According to the ''Sunday Telegraph'', Wootton was successful in the election due to his "uncompromising line" on the controversial

East West Rail East West Rail is a major project to establish a strategic railway connecting East Anglia with Central, Southern and Western England. In particular, it plans to build (or rebuild) a line linking Oxford and Cambridge via Bicester, Milton Keyne ...

project, which he branded as an "utter disaster from start to finish". He lives in

Ravensden Ravensden is a village and civil parish located in the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. The parish borders the town of Bedford, with Mowsbury Park, farmland and Freeman's Common acting as a buffer between the two settlements. The vil ...

where he manages the family farm, and is married with four children.

References

External links

Mayors of places in Bedfordshire Conservative Party (UK) mayors Conservative Party (UK) councillors Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{England-mayor-stub