Tom Wootton is a British Conservative Party local politician. He became the directly elected

Mayor of Bedford The Mayor of Bedford is a directly elected mayor responsible for the executive function, and ceremonial duty of Bedford Borough Council in Bedfordshire. The incumbent is Tom Wootton of the Conservative Party, elected in May 2023. History T ...

in May 2023 local elections and was previously the

Bedford Borough Council Bedford Borough Council is the local authority of the Borough of Bedford, a local government district in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. The town of Bedford was a borough from at least the 12th century until 1974, when the moder ...

lor for

Wyboston Wyboston is a village in the English county of Bedfordshire, close to the town of St Neots and the Cambridgeshire border. The eastern part of the village is dominated by the A1 Great North Road. Approaching the Black Cat roundabout from the ...

Ward. Wootton defeated incumbent Dave Hodgson, a Liberal Democrat who had held the office of mayor for 13 years, by just 145 votes under the

first-past-the-post system First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...

. Als
available
via Telegraph Digital Editions. According to the ''Sunday Telegraph'', Wootton was successful in the election due to his "uncompromising line" on the controversial

East West Rail East West Rail (or the East West Main Line, EWML) is a strategic aim to establish a new main line railway between East Anglia and Oxfordshire. The immediate plan is to build (or rebuild) a line linking Oxford and Cambridge via Bicester, Mi ...

project, which he branded as an "utter disaster from start to finish". He lives in

Ravensden Ravensden is a village and civil parish located in the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. The parish borders the town of Bedford, with Mowsbury Park, farmland and Freeman's Common acting as a buffer between the two settlements. The vi ...

where he manages the family farm, and is married with four children.

References

External links

Mayors of places in Bedfordshire Conservative Party (UK) mayors Conservative Party (UK) councillors Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{England-mayor-stub