Michael John Storey, Baron Storey, (born 25 May 1949) is a British

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 *Li ...

politician. He is currently the party's spokesperson on education, families and young people in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster ...

. He was City Councillor for the Liverpool ward of

Wavertree Wavertree is a district of Liverpool, England. It is a ward of Liverpool City Council, and its population at the 2011 census was 14,772. Located to the south and east of the city centre, it is bordered by various districts and suburbs such a ...

from 2004 to 2011 and 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 J ...

from 1998 to 2005. He was first elected to the Council in 1973, and became the youngest Chair of Education in the history of Liverpool from 1980 to 1983, during which time he was also Deputy Leader of the Council under Sir Trevor Jones.

Leader of the Council

In 1998 the Liberal Democrats gained control of Liverpool City Council and Storey became Council Leader. He aimed to set about rebuilding the city's reputation, cutting the council tax, improving services and attracting jobs and investment, while reducing the number of council employees by 5,000. He was a central part of Liverpool's successful bid to become European Capital of Culture in 2008 and was widely credited with transforming the city and Council's reputation by cutting council tax (until then the highest in the country), improving council services (previously the worst in England) and attracting jobs and investment. He resigned as Council Leader on 25 November 2005 after being found to have breached the members' code of conduct, following the disclosure of correspondence with former Council media chief, Matt Finnegan, which appeared to show the two men seeking to pressure the departure of then Chief Executive, Sir David Henshaw. In 2009 he was present, as Lord Mayor, at a ceremony organised by

Sons of Confederate Veterans The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is an American neo-Confederate nonprofit organization of male descendants of Confederate soldiers that commemorates these ancestors, funds and dedicates monuments to them, and promotes the pseudohistor ...

, allegedly a

Neo-Confederate Neo-Confederates are groups and individuals who portray the Confederate States of America and its actions during the American Civil War in a positive light. The League of the South, the Sons of Confederate Veterans and other neo-Confederate orga ...

organisation at

Toxteth Park Cemetery Toxteth Park Cemetery is a graveyard on Smithdown Road, Liverpool, United Kingdom. It was opened on Monday 9 June 1856. It was the responsibility of the Toxteth Park Burial Board, which had been established by at least 1855. The opening ceremony ...

rededicating the grave of

Irvine Bulloch Irvine Stephens Bulloch (June 25, 1842 – July 14, 1898) was an officer in the Confederate Navy and the youngest officer on the famed warship CSS ''Alabama''. He fired its last shot before it was sunk off the coast of France at the end of the A ...

He lost his seat to 18-year-old Jake Morrison in 2011.

Lord Mayor

Storey served as

Lord Mayor of Liverpool The office of Lord Mayor of Liverpool has existed in one form or another since the foundation of Liverpool as a borough by the Royal Charter of King John in 1207, simply being referred to as the Mayor of Liverpool. The position is now a mostl ...

for the Council session 2009–2010. He was preceded by Cllr

Steve Rotheram Steven Philip Rotheram (born 4 November 1961) is a British Labour Party politician who is the Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region. He previously served as the MP for Liverpool Walton from 2010 to 2017. Rotheram was born in Liverpool a ...

and succeeded by Cllr Hazel Williams.

House of Lords

On 19 November 2010, it was announced that Storey would be created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

and will sit as a Liberal Democrat in the

. He was created Baron Storey, of Childwall in the City of Liverpool on 2 February 2011. Storey is currently the Liberal Democrat education spokesman in the House of Lords and co-chair of the party parliamentary education, families and young people committee. He was a party whip between 2010–14 and a member of the Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Committee in 2012–13. He speaks on education, regeneration and the arts. Storey is also a member of the Regional Growth Fund independent advisory panel and a trustee of Mersyside think-tank ExUrbe.

Awards

Storey was appointed an OBE for political services in 1994 and a CBE for services to regeneration in 2002. He is a retired primary school teacher and long-serving headteacher of Plantation Primary School,

Halewood Halewood is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England. It lies near the city of Liverpool's southeastern boundary, bordered by the suburbs of Netherley, Hunt's Cross and Woolton. Historically a part of Lancashire ...

References

External links

Liverpool City CouncilLiverpool Liberal DemocratsPlantation Primary School
{{DEFAULTSORT:Storey, Mike 1949 births Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors Councillors in Liverpool Living people Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of Liverpool Hope University Schoolteachers from Merseyside Liberal Democrats (UK) life peers Mayors of Liverpool Leaders of local authorities of England People from Childwall Life peers created by Elizabeth II