Warren Bradley is a former

firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

and

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

politician. He was an Independent councillor for the Wavertree ward, as well as the former Leader of

Liverpool City Council Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It consists of 90 councillors, three for each of the city's 30 wards. The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party and is led by Mayor ...

. He was suspended from the Liberal Democrats in 2011, and subsequently expelled, in connection with allegations of an electoral offence. He later pleaded guilty to

perjury Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...

Early career

Bradley became a councillor in Liverpool in May 2000. Whilst a councillor, he continued to work as a firefighter. In 2001, he was the only member of the

Merseyside Police Authority Merseyside Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Merseyside in North West England. The service area is 647 square kilometres with a population of around 1.5 million. As of September 2017 the service has 3,484 police of ...

to vote against a pay rise for the Authority's members; when the rise was passed, he donated the extra money he received as a result to the Mersey Regional Kidney Patient Support Group.

Council leadership

Bradley was elected as leader of Liverpool City Council on 5 December 2005. He took over from

Mike Storey Michael John Storey, Baron Storey, (born 25 May 1949) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He is currently the party's spokesperson on education, families and young people in the House of Lords. He was City Councillor for the Liverpool wa ...

, who resigned after an investigation from the

Standards Board for England The Standards Board for England was a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Communities and Local Government. Established under the Local Government Act 2000, it was responsible for promoting high ethical standards in local g ...

found he had broken the councillors' code of conduct. Bradley maintained his job as a firefighter whilst working as council leader. Following the

2010 United Kingdom local elections The 2010 United Kingdom local elections were held on Thursday 6 May 2010, concurrently with the 2010 general election. Direct elections were held to all 32 London boroughs, all 36 metropolitan boroughs, 76 second-tier district authorities, 20 u ...

, he was replaced as council leader by Joe Anderson, after the Liberal Democrats were defeated by Labour in the election. Two Liverpool councillors called for his resignation as leader of the Liverpool Liberal Democrats, claiming he had "worked hard" but not "hard enough". A leadership challenge was mounted; however, Bradley won, and retained his position. Later in 2010, Warren criticised

Nick Clegg Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British media executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vicepr ...

, the former Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Democrats, for failing to oppose the cancellation of the

Building Schools for the Future Building Schools for the Future (BSF) was the name given to the British government's investment programme in secondary school buildings in England in the 2000s. The programme was ambitious in its costs, timescales and objectives, with politicia ...

programme.

Resignation and perjury

Bradley resigned as leader of the Liverpool Liberal Democrats, and was suspended by the party, in 2011 after reports of irregularities when nominating his son as a candidate for election. He initially denied the claims, but later pleaded guilty to a charge of perjury, and was fined £1000. Bradley subsequently stood as an independent candidate for Wavertree ward in the

2012 Liverpool City Council election Elections to Liverpool City Council were held on 3 May 2012, on the same day as other 2012 United Kingdom local elections, in addition to electing a mayor for the region. Councillors who were elected in the 2008 Liverpool Council election de ...

. This decision caused consternation within the Liberal Democrats, and he was subsequently permanently excluded from the party. He earned 28.8% of the vote, putting him in second place, just under 20% behind the Labour candidate, and just under 20% ahead of the Liberal Democrat candidate. He was replaced as leader of the Liverpool Liberal Democrats by Councillor Paula Keaveney.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradley, Warren Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors Councillors in Liverpool Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Leaders of local authorities of England