Simon William Bisson Pitkeathley, Baron Pitkeathley of Camden Town (born 9 May 1964), is a British businessman and

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

. He has been a member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

since 2025.

Early life and family

Simon William Bisson Pitkeathley was born on 9 May 1964 to Thomas Pitkeathley and Jill Pitkeathley (). After his parents' divorce in 1978, Pitkeathley was raised with his younger sister Rachel Wilson by their mother.

Career

Pitkeathley became the chief executive of Camden Town Unlimited, a

business improvement district A business improvement district (BID) is a defined area within whichever businesses elect to pay an additional fee (or assessment) in order to fund projects within the district's boundaries. A BID is not a tax, as taxes fund the government. BID f ...

(BID) in

Camden Town Camden Town () is an area in the London Borough of Camden, around north-northwest of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is identified in the London Plan as one of 34 major centres in Greater London. Laid out as a residential distri ...

, London, in 2007. He has also been the chief executive of Euston Town, a partner BID of Camden Town Unlimited, as well as Camden Collective, a project supporting start-ups and young entrepreneurs. Pitkeathley was the mayor of London's champion for small business prior to his appointment to the House of Lords. In 2014, Pitkeathley unsuccessfully sought to be the Labour Party candidate for the constituency of

Holborn and St Pancras Holborn and St Pancras () is a parliamentary constituency in Greater London that was created in 1983. It has been represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom since 2015 by Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister sinc ...

, a safe Labour seat.

Keir Starmer Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and lawyer who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He previously ...

was ultimately selected as the Labour candidate for the seat, succeeding

Frank Dobson Frank Gordon Dobson (15 March 1940 – 11 November 2019) was a British Labour Party politician. As Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St. Pancras from 1979 to 2015, he served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Health from 1997 ...

, who stood down at the 2015 general election. In late 2024, Pitkeathley was nominated for a Labour Party life peerage by Prime Minister Keir Starmer. He was created ''Baron Pitkeathley of Camden Town, of Tufnell Park in the London Borough of Islington'', on 24 January 2025, and was introduced to the House of Lords on 6 February.

Personal life

Pitkeathley married Miranda Pitcher in 1996, and they have two sons together. He and his wife later provided

respite care __NOTOC__ In the field of healthcare, respite care is either planned care or temporary emergency healthcare that is provided to the caregiver(s) of a child patient or of an adult patient. In order to support and maintain the social health of the pr ...

to three fostered children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pitkeathley of Camden Town, Simon Pitkeathley, Baron Living people 1964 births 20th-century British businesspeople 21st-century British businesspeople 21st-century British politicians British chief executives British people of Channel Islands descent Children of peers and peeresses created life peers Labour Party (UK) life peers Life peers created by Charles III Politicians from the London Borough of Camden Sons of life peers