{"id":43136,"date":"2024-05-04T21:11:56","date_gmt":"2024-05-04T21:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/04\/who-is-the-new-west-midlands-mayor-richard-parker\/"},"modified":"2024-05-04T21:11:56","modified_gmt":"2024-05-04T21:11:56","slug":"who-is-the-new-west-midlands-mayor-richard-parker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/04\/who-is-the-new-west-midlands-mayor-richard-parker\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is the new West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Who<\/div>


\n<\/p>\n

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Richard Parker has pulled off a surprise victory in the West Midlands mayoral election. <\/p>\n

The Labour candidate unseated Andy Street, winning by just 1,508 votes, to end the Tory’s seven-year term.<\/p>\n

Here’s what you need to know about the relatively unknown politician.<\/p>\n

Originally from Bristol<\/strong><\/a>, Mr Parker’s father was a dock worker and his mother a school secretary.<\/p>\n

He left school aged 16 and went straight to work at a local port authority before getting an economics degree.<\/p>\n

Mr Parker went to work for PwC in 1989, where he gained his accountancy qualifications and went on to become a partner, managing the accountancy firm’s relationship with the Labour<\/strong><\/a> Party.<\/p>\n

Mr Parker also worked with council leaders to set up the West Midlands<\/strong><\/a> Combined Authority in 2016 before leaving to set up his own company RP Strategy.<\/p>\n

The firm works with small and medium-sized companies and social enterprises on initiatives such as green investment, housing and the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.<\/p>\n

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<\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n Liam Bryne with Richard Parker. Pic: Liam Byrne\/X
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Read more:
Conservative Andy Street suffers shock loss<\/a>
Tories suffer worst election results in years<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

He has been a Labour Party member for 35 years and was selected as the candidate for West Midlands mayor over Birmingham City councillor Nicky Brennan In April 2023.<\/p>\n

In his manifesto, Mr Parker, 60, tells of his “ordinary working-class background” and writes: “I’ve never been a politician before, but I’m not prepared to sit on the sidelines any more. I’ll do politics differently. Things must change.”<\/p>\n

His election promises include a plan to create 150,000 jobs and training opportunities across the West Midlands, revitalise high streets and tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

He has lived in the West Midlands since 1985 and spent his working life there. His wife works as a lawyer and his son works in manufacturing in the Black Country.<\/p>\n

A Birmingham Mail profile of the new mayor says Mr Parker is a Bristol City fan who calls trip-hop band Massive Attack “friends”.<\/p>\n

He also told the paper he likes cooking, watching live bands, going to the theatre and meeting friends for a pint or a coffee.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Richard Parker has pulled off a surprise victory in the West Midlands mayoral election. The Labour candidate unseated Andy Street, winning by just 1,508 votes, to end the Tory’s seven-year term. Here’s what you need to know about the relatively unknown politician. Originally from Bristol, Mr Parker’s father was a dock worker and his mother […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/05\/768x432\/skynews-west-midlands-richard-parker_6543637.jpg?20240504202723","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[8270,40399,44468,20166,6501],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43136"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43136"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43138,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43136\/revisions\/43138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}