Sir Steve Bullock (born 1953) is a British politician who served as the first
directly elected mayor of the
London Borough of Lewisham
Lewisham ( ) is a London boroughs, London borough in south-east London, England. It forms part of Inner London. The principal settlement of the borough is Lewisham. The local authority is Lewisham London Borough Council, based in Catford. The ...
from 2002 to 2018.
Early life
Born in
Redcar
Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority. It is in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England, and is located east of Middlesbrough.
The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdiv ...
,
North Riding of Yorkshire
The North Riding of Yorkshire was a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point was at Mickle Fell at .
From the Restoration it was used as a lieutenancy area, having b ...
,
Bullock began his career as a van driver for
Saltburn and Marske-by-the-Sea
Saltburn, Marske and New Marske is a civil parish in the Redcar and Cleveland district, in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. As its name suggests, the parish includes Saltburn, Marske-by-the-Sea and New Marske. It borders the p ...
Urban District Council
In England and Wales, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected urban district council (UDC), which shared local government responsibilities with a county council. ...
in 1972. He later worked as a policy adviser for
Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English former politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was Local Government Act 1985, abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of Londo ...
at the
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...
, as Chief Executive of Greenwich Community Health Council and as Head of the Labour Group Office at the
Local Government Association
The Local Government Association (LGA) is the national membership body for local government in England, local authorities in England and Wales. Its core membership is made up of 317 English councils and the 22 Welsh councils through the ...
. Having served on the independent Commission for Local Democracy, Bullock was a founder member of the
New Local Government Network
New Local, formerly known as the New Local Government Network, is an independent British think tank and local government network. Founded in 1996, it is based in London, and brings together over 60 councils and other organisations aiming to transf ...
.
Political career
Elected to the London Borough of Lewisham council in 1982,
Bullock then went on to serve as Chair of Finance, Chair of Leisure, Deputy Leader, and was Leader of the Council 1988-1993,
prior to standing down from the council in 1998. Following this, he served as Chair of
University Hospital Lewisham
University Hospital Lewisham (formerly known as Lewisham Hospital) is a teaching hospital run by Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust and serving the London Borough of Lewisham. It is now affiliated with King's College London and forms part of the ...
NHS Trust
An NHS trust is an organisational unit within the National Health Services of England and Wales, generally serving either a geographical area or a specialised function (such as an ambulance service). In any particular location there may be several ...
.
Bullock's partner is Kris Hibbert, a former fellow councillor.
In 2001, Bullock was elected back to Lewisham council in a by-election before seeking the Labour nomination for the new post of elected mayor, having publicly supported the proposal (as chair of the hospital trust) in the October referendum campaign. He was subsequently elected in the first mayoral election.
Bullock was re-elected in the May 2006 Lewisham mayoral poll and became the Labour vice-chair of the
Association of London Government
London Councils is the collective of local government in Greater London, England. It is a cross-party organisation that represents London's 32 borough councils and the City of London. It was formed in 1995 as a merger of the London Boroughs A ...
later that year. He also served as Deputy Leader of the Local Government Association Labour Group.
Bullock was re-elected as mayor of Lewisham in the
May 2010 election and again in
2014
The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
.
[Millwall
Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...]
. In 2016 the company asked Lewisham for a CPO (
) for Lewisham to buy up land leased by the football club. There was a suggestion that the club would have to leave the area. The plan was eventually scrapped, and Lord Dyson, a former Master of the Rolls, convened an Enquiry to look into the matter.
Lord Dyson's report in late 2017 ruled that there had been “no impropriety, lack of due diligence, or breach of a code of practice on the part of any Council officer or member."
for services to local government.
Following his retirement as mayor, he was commissioned by the Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London, Sir
OBE to serve as the Representative Deputy Lieutenant for Lewisham.