Caroline Russell, Lady Keating (born 10 August 1962) is a British politician and activist serving as Leader of the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

in the London Assembly since October 2018, and a Member of the London Assembly (AM) for Londonwide since May 2016.

Early life and education

Caroline Russell was born on 10 August 1962. She studied

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

City, University of London City, University of London, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, and a member institution of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute, and became a university when The City Univ ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Engineering A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an academic undergraduate degree awarded to a student after three to five years of studying engineering at an accredited college or university. In the UK, a Ba ...

(BEng) degree and studied

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwor ...

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wo ...

, graduating with a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

(MA) degree. She first moved to Islington in 1986.

Political career

Russell became engaged in politics after the death of a young child in a traffic incident near where she lived. In 2012, Russell was serving as local transport spokesperson for the Green Party of England and Wales. Russell was elected as a councillor for Highbury East on

Islington council Islington London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Islington in Greater London, England. The council was created by the London Government Act 1963 and replaced two local authorities: Finsbury Metropolitan Borough Co ...

in the May 2014 election by a margin of eight votes. She was the only member of the council not representing the Labour Party and so was the only opposition member. In October 2014, she called for

Holloway Road Holloway Road is a road in London, in length. It is one of the main shopping streets in North London, and carries the A1 road as it passes through Holloway, in the London Borough of Islington. The road starts in Archway, near Archway Under ...

to have a speed limit of 20 mph, a road controlled by Transport for London which had not been affected by Islington council's earlier 20 mph limit on all roads they controlled. In December of the same year, she criticised as "authoritarian" a Labour councillor's comments that

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...

users should not be allowed to live in council housing. Russell stood for election in the 2015 general election for the

Islington North Islington North () is a constituency in Greater London represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1983 by Jeremy Corbyn. He served as Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of Her Majesty's Opposition from 2015 to 2020. Cor ...

constituency. The Labour candidate

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

won, with Russell coming in third place with 5,043 votes and a voteshare of 10.2%. She was elected as a London-wide Member of the London Assembly in 2016, having been the second candidate on the Green Party list. In October 2018, she condemned the Labour

mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current m ...

Sadiq Khan Sadiq Aman Khan (; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting from 2005 until 2016. A member of the Labour Party, Khan is on the party's sof ...

over plans for the

Silvertown Tunnel The Silvertown Tunnel is a road tunnel under construction beneath the River Thames between the Greenwich Peninsula and west Silvertown. It is being promoted by Transport for London and will be delivered through a design, build, finance and mai ...

, a new road tunnel under the Thames that she said would "lead to more pollution and congestion". She again contested the Islington North constituency in the 2017 general election, this time coming fourth with 2,229 votes constituting 4.1% of votes cast. In December 2017, she promoted and participated in a "human barrier" demonstration in favour of safer bike lanes. Russell was re-elected as an Islington councillor in the 2018 election. In July 2018, she called for Khan to reduce speed limits to 20 mph in outer London as well as inner London. In August 2018, she was chair of the environemtnal committee on the London Assembly. In December of the same year, she successfully proposed a motion at the London Assembly that brought forward the city's target to be carbon neutral from 2050 to 2030. In April 2019, a report Russell commissioned into the impact of the climate crisis on London was released. In the following month, Transport for London suspended advertising from a list of countries with poor human rights records after Russell raised the issue. In August 2019, she was arrested at a protest against the prorogation of Parliament. In September of the same year, after flooding in London underground stations, she highlighted findings of her report from earlier in the year that 23 underground stations were vulnerable to flooding. She stood in the 2019 United Kingdom general election, again for Islington North, and came in 4th place with 4,326 votes making up 8.0% of the overall vote. Russell was the second candidate on the Green Party list for the

2021 London Assembly election The 2021 London Assembly election was held on 6 May 2021 to elect the members of the London Assembly, alongside the 2021 London mayoral election. The mayoral and Assembly elections were originally to be held on 7 May 2020, but on 13 March 2020 i ...

, which had been scheduled for 2020 before being delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. She won re-election.

Personal life

In 1989, Russell married Roly Keating. Together they have three children; one son and two daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Caroline 1962 births Living people Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Alumni of City, University of London Green Party of England and Wales parliamentary candidates Green Party Members of the London Assembly Councillors in the London Borough of Islington Green Party of England and Wales councillors Place of birth missing (living people) Wives of knights Women councillors in England