Rodney Simon Berman OBE is a Liberal Democrat politician, currently a councillor for the

Penylan Penylan is a district and Community (Wales), community in the east of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, known for its Edwardian era period houses and spacious tree lined roads and avenue (landscape), avenues. Situated to both the north and ...

ward of

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

. He was formerly a councillor for Plasnewydd ward, and was also leader of

Cardiff Council Cardiff Council, formally the County Council of the City and County of Cardiff () is the governing body for Cardiff, one of the Administrative divisions of Wales, principal areas of Wales. The principal area and its council were established ...

between 2004 and 2012.

Early life

Born and raised in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Berman studied at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

where he helped run Glasgow University Liberal Democrats, before moving to

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

to study towards a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

Political career

Berman stood for election to

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

as Welsh Liberal Democrat candidate for

Rhondda Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley ( ), is a former coalmining area in South Wales, historically in the county of Glamorgan. It takes its name from the River Rhondda, and embraces two valleys – the larger Rhondda Fawr valley (, 'large') and t ...

and Cardiff South and Penarth in 1997 and 2001, respectively, coming third on each occasion. His agent for the Rhondda seat was Professor Russell Deacon. In 2004 Berman became leader of a minority administration on

. In 2006, Berman was the first winner of the Local Politician of the Year award. The local elections of 2008 saw the Liberal Democrats increase their representation, winning new seats in the east (

Trowbridge Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England; situated on the River Biss in the west of the county, close to the border with Somerset. The town lies south-east of Bath, Somerset, Bath, south-west of Swindon and south-east of Brist ...

), west (

Llandaff Llandaff (; ; from 'church' and ''River Taff, Taf'') is a district, Community (Wales), community and coterminous electoral ward in the north of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It was incorporated into the city in 1922. It is the seat of the Bisho ...

) and south of the city (

Butetown Butetown (or ''The Docks'', ) is a district and community (Wales), community in the south of the city of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. It was originally a model housing estate built in the early 19th century by John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marqu ...

). They were still in a minority on the council so they made a deal to run the Cardiff Council jointly with

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...

, under Berman's leadership. In the 2012 council elections, the Liberal Democrats lost control of Cardiff Council to

Welsh Labour Welsh Labour (), formerly known as the Labour Party in Wales (), is an autonomous section of the United Kingdom Labour Party (UK), Labour Party in Wales and the largest party in modern Welsh politics. Welsh Labour and its forebears have won a p ...

, and Berman also lost his seat after two recounts. Berman was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in the

2013 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2013 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to local government and the community in Cardiff. After spending several years working as a policy executive for BMA Cymru Wales, he returned to local politics to fight the 2017 Cardiff Council election. He returned as a councillor in May 2017 for the

Ward. At the

2021 Senedd election The 2021 Senedd election took place on Thursday 6 May 2021 to elect 60 members to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). It was the sixth Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved general election since the Senedd (formerly the National Assembly for ...

, he was the Lib Dem candidate for Cardiff Central, coming second to Jenny Rathbone. He also stood on the list vote for the South Wales Central region. He stood for election in the Cardiff East constituency for the 2024 UK general election, coming second with 17.2% of the vote.

Personal life

In August 2006, Berman entered into a

civil partnership A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, primarily created to provide legal recognition for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage, with ch ...

with his partner, former

ITV News ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British news television channel of ITV (TV network), ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. ITN, Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the netwo ...

journalist Nick Speed.

References

* Balsom, Denis. The Wales Yearbook 2007. Francis Balsom Associates Limited. 2006

External links

"It's just not cricket" - The Western Mail

"‘Cardiff residents should get to vote for a mayor’" - Wales Online

"Directly-elected mayor would have too much power, says Rodney Berman" - Wales Online

"Cardiff council hits back at rubbish collection complaints" - Wales Online

"Concern over city school shake-up" - BBC News

"Cardiff 'behind' in culture city race" - BBC News

"Council to reveal school closures" - BBC News
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berman, Rodney 1969 births Living people Alumni of the University of Glasgow Councillors in Cardiff Scottish gay politicians Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors Liberal Democrats (UK) parliamentary candidates Officers of the Order of the British Empire Politicians from Glasgow Welsh LGBTQ politicians Leaders of local authorities of Wales 21st-century Welsh LGBTQ people