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Susan Mary Hall (''née'' Cole; born March 1955) is a British politician who has served as a Member of the London Assembly since 2017 and 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 ...
on Harrow London Borough Council since 2006. She was
leader Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...
of the
London Conservatives The London Conservatives are the regional party of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party that operates in Greater London. Party strength The party's main competition is with the larger London Labour Party for office. The Conservat ...
in 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 ...
from December 2019 until May 2023. Hall was the Conservative Party candidate for the 2024 London mayoral election, finishing in second place behind incumbent
mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
Sadiq Khan Sir Sadiq Aman Khan (, ; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting (UK Parliament constituency), Tooting ...
.


Early life and business career

Susan Mary Cole was born in March 1955 at
Willesden Willesden () is an area of north-west London, situated 5 miles (8 km) north-west of Charing Cross. It is historically a parish in the county of Middlesex that was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Willesden in 1933; it has formed ...
,
Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...
(since 1965 in
Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...
). She is the elder daughter of Benjamin Cole (1912–72) and Mary ''née'' Palmer (1926–99). In her late teens she gained practical work experience as a car mechanic in a garage owned by her
father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. A biological fat ...
, where she learnt how to 'strip down an
engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...
'.


Political career


Harrow London Borough Council

Hall was elected as 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 ...
for Hatch End ward on Harrow London Borough Council in the 2006 election, after previously standing unsuccessfully for Headstone South in
2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...
. She has been re-elected as a councillor at subsequent elections 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 ...
,
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 ...
,
2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
and
2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...
. In 2007, she was appointed to Harrow Council's cabinet, responsible for the environment and community safety. Hall became deputy leader of the Conservative group on Harrow Council in 2008. She was then elected in 2010 as Leader of the group, becoming
Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...
. She was appointed to the
London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority The London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) was a functional body of the Greater London Authority (GLA) from 2000 to 2018. It was established with the Greater London Authority by the Greater London Authority Act 1999. It replaced the ...
as a Borough nominee in June 2010. Hall took over as the leader of Harrow's hung council in September 2013. As council leader, Hall commissioned thermal imaging cameras to stop illegal 'beds in sheds' developments and identify five cannabis farms. Hall returned to Opposition leader after the May 2014 election. Also in 2014, she tweeted that '' TOWIE'' star Gemma Collins, in a short appearance on ITV's '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here'', was fat and ghastly and a "stupid fat blonde woman". Hall subsequently told
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 ...
"I meant it and would say it to her face" and said she was a victim of a campaign by the Fire Brigades Union.


London Assembly

Hall became a Member of the London Assembly in June 2017, replacing Kemi Badenoch who stood down upon being elected as MP for
Saffron Walden Saffron Walden is a market town and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and north of London. It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. Th ...
. Hall was the fourth London-wide candidate on the Conservative Party
list A list is a Set (mathematics), set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of t ...
at the 2016 London Assembly election. Hall was elected deputy leader of the
London Conservatives The London Conservatives are the regional party of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party that operates in Greater London. Party strength The party's main competition is with the larger London Labour Party for office. The Conservat ...
in 2018, before succeeding Gareth Bacon as
Leader Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...
of the Conservatives on the London Assembly, after he was elected as MP for
Orpington Orpington is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south east of Charing Cross. On the south-eastern edge of the Greater London Built-up Area, it is south of St Mary Cray, sou ...
in the December 2019 general election. In March 2020, regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in London, Hall wrote to
Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
Sadiq Khan Sir Sadiq Aman Khan (, ; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting (UK Parliament constituency), Tooting ...
, asking him to "call in the police" to "enforce the coronavirus lockdown" in order to protect
National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...
workers. Ahead of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Hall tweeted "Come on Donald Trump - make sure you win and wipe the smile off this man's face", referring to Sadiq Khan, who is a vocal critic of Trump. Following the storming of the United States Capitol by Trump's supporters in January 2021, Hall compared the cause of the riot with remaining opposition to Brexit in the UK. Re-elected in the 2021 London Assembly election, Hall stood down as leader of the London Conservatives in May 2023. Hall was re-elected to the London Assembly as a London-wide member at the 2024 election.


London mayoral candidacy

Hall was selected, on 19 July 2023, as the Conservative Party candidate for the 2024 London mayoral election. Her campaign slogan was "Safer with Susan". To tackle crime, Hall said she would invest £200 million in the Metropolitan Police, funded by reducing staff costs at
Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...
. She would establish police units specialising in attending to burglaries, robberies and thefts. Hall pledged to reverse the 2023 ULEZ outer expansion and in its place set up a £50 million fund to "tackle air pollution hotspots." She supported Londoners having the choice to send non-compliant ULEZ cars and particularly 4x4s to Ukraine in support of the war effort. On 19 July 2023, the Conservative Party deputy chairman Nickie Aiken MP wrote to the ''Evening Standards
editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...
Dylan Jones accusing the paper of "misogyny" with their choice of photo of Hall for their front page, describing it as "a clear mockery". In August 2023, Dawn Butler and nine other Labour MPs wrote to Conservative Party chairman Greg Hands criticising Hall's comments that the
Notting Hill Carnival The Notting Hill Carnival is an annual Caribbean Carnival event that has taken place in London since 1966
was "dangerous" and put local residents through "hell." The letter accused Hall of implying that the Black community "has a propensity towards violence and disorder." Hall's team said that the allegations were "desperate smears and a complete mischaracterisation" of her comments. In September 2023, Hall was reported to have liked tweets that praised Enoch Powell and described London's Mayor
Sadiq Khan Sir Sadiq Aman Khan (, ; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting (UK Parliament constituency), Tooting ...
as "our nipple height mayor of Londonistan". Hall's spokesman said "Susan engages with many people on Twitter without endorsing their views". In October 2023, Hall received criticism from political opponents and Jewish groups for saying "I know how frightened some of the ewishcommunity is because of the divisive attitude of Sadiq Khan". Nusrat Ghani, Minister of State for Industry, criticised Hall for using the "language of fear and demeaning our political opponents", to which Hall replied her comments were "misinterpreted". Hall’s campaign drew controversy in March 2024 for using images of panicking people in New York. Hall advocated for tourist tax-free shopping in London working. Writing to
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...
in September 2023 she pointed to research by the Centre for Economics and Business Research which found that were refunds restored then for every £1 refunded in sales tax to foreign tourists the Exchequer would gain £1.56 in other taxes due to the "dynamic economic effects" of tourist expenditure. She said that this would amount "to an increase in GDP of £10.7bn in 2023" and help support more than 200,000 jobs. Hall finished in second place, behind incumbent mayor Sadiq Khan. After the election, Conservative Party figures blamed the "negative" campaign run by Hall as being partly behind the loss. Greg Hands, then a Conservative MP, said there was not a "knockout candidate" selected, with one campaigner telling the Evening Standard that Hall "was the worst candidate ever, worse than Shaun Bailey.”


Political positions

Harry Phibbs, writing in ''
The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, first published on 5 February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Tele ...
'' in September 2023, described Hall as an "authentic, unapologetic Conservative". Hall advocates for community safety and campaigns for
crime prevention Crime prevention refers to strategies and measures that seek to reduce the risk of crime occurring by intervening before a crime has been committed. It encompasses many approaches, including developmental, situational, community-based and crimin ...
, calling for an increase in police funding in 2019 to tackle knife crime. As a candidate for London Mayor, Hall pledged to invest £200 million into the Metropolitan Police. Claiming in November 2023 her wallet was pickpocketed on the
London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...
, she asserted crime was "completely out of control" in London, but the wallet was returned by another passenger who suggested that Hall had dropped it rather than it being stolen. Hall opposed the 2023 outer expansion of ULEZ, a
congestion pricing Congestion pricing or congestion charges is a system of surcharging users of public goods that are subject to congestion through excess demand, such as through higher peak charges for use of bus services, electricity, metros, railways, tel ...
program in Greater London, vowing to scrap the expansion if elected mayor. She also calls for the removal of
low traffic neighbourhood In the United Kingdom, a Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) is an area in which filtered permeability and traffic calming are deployed to reduce motorised through-traffic in residential areas. Many LTNs were introduced in spring 2020, although the s ...
s (LTNs), which impose restrictions on cars. Hall has been described as a
populist Populism is a contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the " common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently associated with anti-establis ...
. In her London mayoral campaign, Hall said she would reduce costs at
Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...
by reforming bonuses, pension arrangements and the provision of nominee passes, which enable Londoners who live with TfL staff to travel free.
Sadiq Khan Sir Sadiq Aman Khan (, ; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting (UK Parliament constituency), Tooting ...
has defended these, arguing that no net savings would be made by scrapping them. Hall said that if elected mayor, she would pivot away from building more apartment blocks in London, arguing that
tower block A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdiction. ...
s are "not where you could raise a family". In August 2023, Hall tweeted support for Restore Trust, a political advocacy group which seeks to change policies of the
National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...
.


Personal life

In 1977, she married Gerald Peter Hall, a
hairdresser A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A hairdresser may also be re ...
, with whom she has two children; the couple are now divorced. They established a
beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, and Day spa#Medical spa, medical spas. Beauty treatme ...
in Harrow, which grew to employ over 20 people before closing. Her daughter, Louise Staite, stood as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Oxford East at the 2019 general election, but failed to gain the Labour-held seat.


See also

* List of female members of the London Assembly


References


External links


Susan Hall
at 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 ...

Susan Hall
at ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
''
Susan Hall
at ''
The Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is print ...
'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Susan Living people 1955 births People from Harrow, London Politicians from the London Borough of Harrow British Anglicans 21st-century British women politicians Conservative Members of the London Assembly Conservative Party (UK) councillors Councillors in the London Borough of Harrow Anti-crime activists UK councillors 2006–2010 UK councillors 2010–2014 UK councillors 2014–2018 UK councillors 2018–2022 UK councillors 2022–2026 Women councillors in England Leaders of local authorities of England London AMs 2016–2021 London AMs 2021–2024 London AMs 2024–2028