Growing up on a council estate in the Midlands, politics felt like something that happened to other people. My dad drove buses and lorries; my grandad was a coal miner. The path to the London Assembly wasn’t obvious, but the values I picked up — hard work, fair dealing, scepticism of people who dodge scrutiny — turned out to be exactly what the job demands.
I moved to Sutton nearly twenty years ago and built a career in IT, specialising in global data networks and project management. That technical background shapes how I approach City Hall: I follow the data, read the footnotes, and ask the questions that the Mayor’s spin machine hopes nobody will think of.
As Chair of the Budget and Performance Committee, I lead the Assembly’s financial scrutiny of the Mayor, Transport for London, the Metropolitan Police, and the wider GLA family. I believe outer London deserves the same attention, investment, and respect as zones one and two.
The role
The London Assembly exists to hold the Mayor of London to account. As an Assembly Member for Croydon and Sutton, I represent over half a million people in south London. As Chair of the Budget and Performance Committee, I lead the Assembly’s scrutiny of how the Mayor spends London’s money — across TfL, the Metropolitan Police (via MOPAC), the London Fire Brigade, and the wider GLA family.
Background
Before entering politics, I spent my career in IT, working on global data networks and large-scale project management. That background — the instinct to follow the data, check the assumptions, and read the small print — has become central to how I do the job.