Andrew Boff
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Andrew Boff (born 14 April 1958) is a British politician who has been Chair of the
London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds supermajority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject t ...
since 2023, and previously from 2021 to 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, he has served as a London-wide Assembly Member (AM) since the 2008 election. Boff served as Leader of the Conservatives in the London Assembly from June 2012 to October 2015. Andrew Boff was a supporter of the "Yes! To fairer votes" campaign in the 2011 UK Alternative Vote referendum. He was the Conservative representative at a "Yes!" event in London on 3 May 2011. Boff has unsuccessfully sought to become the Conservative candidate for
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 ...
on six occasions, most recently failing to gain the nomination for the 2024 election.


Political career


Early career

Born in
Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon, northwest of Charing Cross. Uxbridge formed part of the parish of Hillingdon in the county of Middlesex. As part ...
in 1958 and active in politics since the 1970s, Boff was a Young Conservative branch founder whilst still at school; in 1976 he proposed the legalisation of cannabis at a Young Conservative national conference. His mother Elsie was already a
councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...
when he was elected a councillor in
Hillingdon Hillingdon is an area of Uxbridge within the London Borough of Hillingdon, centred 14.2 miles (22.8 km) west of Charing Cross. It was an ancient parish in Middlesex that included the market town of Uxbridge. During the 1920s the civil pari ...
in 1982. He later served as Leader of the Council between 1990 and 1992. In 1992, he stepped down to stand for Parliament, defending the marginal Hornsey and Wood Green constituency. He lost the seat to Labour's
Barbara Roche Barbara Maureen Roche (; born 13 April 1954) is a British Labour politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hornsey and Wood Green from 1992 until 2005, when she lost her seat to the Liberal Democrats, despite having enjoyed a maj ...
with 39.2% of the vote. Boff stood in the safe Labour seat of London South Inner in the 1994 election to the
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
. He was placed seventh on the Conservative list in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
in the
1999 European Parliament election The 1999 European Parliament election was a European election for all 626 members of the European Parliament held across the 15 European Union member states on 10, 11 and 13 June 1999. The voter turn-out was generally low, except in Belgium and ...
. He failed to be elected both times.


London Assembly

Boff became known in London politics after he contested the Conservative nomination for the London mayoral elections in
2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
,
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
and
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
. He came second in 2000 behind
Steven Norris Steven John Norris (born 24 May 1945) is a British Conservative Party politician and businessman. Norris served as Member of Parliament for Oxford East from 1983 to 1987. After narrowly losing that marginal seat in 1987 he re-entered the Ho ...
. He came second again in 2008. In summer 2018, Boff launched another campaign to be the Conservative candidate for
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 ...
in
2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
. He was shortlisted along with
Joy Morrissey Joyce Rebekah "Joy" Morrissey (née Inboden; born 30 January 1981) is an American-born British Conservative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Beaconsfield since 2019. She was a Lord Commissioner of the Treasur ...
and fellow London Assembly Member Shaun Bailey. Boff finished once again in second place with 35% of first round votes, an increase of 31 percentage points on his run for the nomination in 2015 for the 2016 election. Boff was placed first on the Conservative top-up list for the
London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds supermajority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject t ...
in
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
, comfortably winning a seat. He was re-elected in
2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
,
2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
and
2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
. He ran for the chairmanship of the assembly in 2010, with the backing of the eleven Conservative members, but lost to Liberal Democrat Dee Doocey, who received the backing of the fourteen other members, including Richard Barnbrook. After his first re-election to the London Assembly, Boff was elected as the GLA Conservative Group Leader. He was succeeded by
Gareth Bacon Gareth Andrew Bacon (born 7 April 1972) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Orpington (UK Parliament constituency), Orpington since 2019 United Kingdom general electi ...
in October 2015. In September 2015, Boff called for a managed street prostitution zone to be set up in East London in order to protect sex workers from harm. In 2019, Boff became Chairman of the Confirmation Hearings Committee and the Planning Committee. In May 2021, he was elected Chairman of the London Assembly. In May 2022, he became Deputy Chairman of the London Assembly.


Hackney politics

He has stood for office numerous times in Hackney, where he lived. He received the Conservative nomination for the elections in 2002 and
2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...
to elect the Mayor of Hackney, but came second both times. He was the Conservatives' London Assembly candidate for the North East constituency in 2004, but came third, behind the candidates from both Labour and the Liberal Democrats. He achieved success in Hackney in 2005, when he won the supposedly
safe A safe (also called a strongbox or coffer) is a secure lockable enclosure used for securing valuable objects against theft or fire. A safe is usually a hollow cuboid or cylinder, with one face being removable or hinged to form a door. The body ...
Labour seat of Queensbridge in a council
by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...
, before losing it at the 2006 Hackney Council election, albeit with a vote tripled from the previous borough election. Boff stood for Mayor of Hackney for a third time in
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
. A booklet containing election statements from every candidate except him was distributed to every voter in the borough. It excluded Boff owing to the council's confusion over whether the statements he made about the cost of the mayoralty were legally admissible. By the time they decided that they were, it was too late to print, and the council compounded the problem by telling voters who enquired that Boff was not running. In the contest, Boff fell to third place, behind the Labour incumbent and the Liberal Democrats.


Barking and Dagenham politics

Boff unsuccessfully stood for the ward of Thames at the 2014 Barking and Dagenham elections and for the ward of
Longbridge Longbridge is an area in the south-west of Birmingham, England, located near the border with Worcestershire, historically being within this place. Public transport Longbridge is described as a hub for public transport with a number of bus ...
at the
2018 elections The following elections occurred in 2018. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. Africa *2018 Djiboutian parliamentary election 23 February 2018 *2018 Sierra Leonean general election 7 and 31 ...
. He unsuccessfully stood again for the
Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...
ward at a by-election in May 2021. He stood unsuccessfully for the ward of Thames View at the 2022 elections.


2023 Conservative Party Conference

On 3 October 2023, Boff was swiftly marched out of the Conservative Party Conference by police after vocally expressing his disapproval of a speech by
Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...
Suella Braverman Sue-Ellen Cassiana "Suella" Braverman (; ''née'' Fernandes; born 3 April 1980) is a British politician and barrister who served as Home Secretary from 6 September 2022 to 19 October 2022, and again from 25 October 2022 to 13 November 2023. A ...
, which he reportedly referred to as a "
homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...
rant" and "tripe".


Personal life

He is an
information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...
consultant. Boff is openly gay. He has stated that his 2005 same-sex civil partnership was "register number 000001", although it was not the first finalised because the 15-day waiting period was waived for a terminally ill man in
Worthing Worthing ( ) is a seaside town and borough in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 113,094 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Br ...
. Boff is a
libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...
, and an outspoken proponent of
direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate directly decides on policy initiatives, without legislator, elected representatives as proxies, as opposed to the representative democracy m ...
, having prominently publicised the issue at London mayoral hustings and on
ConservativeHome ConservativeHome is a politically conservative news website and events company. It was first established by Tim Montgomerie in 2005 with the aim of arguing for a broad conservative spectrum, which is serious about both social justice and a fair ...
. An
atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
and a
humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...
, Boff is a member of
Humanists UK Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent Irreligion in the United Kingdom, non-religious people in the UK throug ...
. He helped to launch the Conservative Humanist Association, a Conservative Party
ginger group The Ginger Group was not a formal political party in Canada, but a faction of radical Progressive and Labour Members of Parliament who advocated socialism. The term ginger group also refers to a small group with new, radical ideas trying to ...
, at an event in London in 2008. He was involved with the successful reinvigoration of Hackney's Broadway Market in the early 2000s. He also produced a free monthly local magazine for the E8 postcode area. On 10 June 2019, Boff ran into a burning tower block in
Barking Riverside Barking Riverside is a mixed-use development in the area of Barking, east London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It is being built on land formerly occupied by Barking Power Station, adjacent to the River Thames, a ...
to help people escape a fire that had broken out.


References


External links


Andrew Boff
at the London Assembly {{DEFAULTSORT:Boff, Andrew 1958 births 21st-century English politicians Conservative Members of the London Assembly Conservative Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Councillors in the London Borough of Hackney Councillors in the London Borough of Hillingdon English atheists English humanists English libertarians English gay politicians Living people People from Uxbridge 21st-century English LGBTQ people London AMs 2008–2012 London AMs 2012–2016 London AMs 2016–2021 London AMs 2021–2024 London AMs 2024–2028