Mike Storey Explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Right Honourable
The Lord Storey
Office1:Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Term Start1:2 February 2011
Life Peerage
Office3:Lord Mayor of Liverpool
Predecessor3:Steve Rotheram
Successor3:Hazel Williams
Term Start3:7 May 2009
Term End3:25 May 2010
Office4:Leader of Liverpool City Council
Term Start4:7 May 1998
Term End4:25 November 2005
Predecessor4:Frank Prendergast OBE
Successor4:Warren Bradley
Office5:Liberal Democrat Group Leader
on Liverpool City Council
Predecessor5:Sir Trevor Jones
Successor5:Warren Bradley
Term Start5:2 May 1991
Term End5:25 November 2005
Office6 Liverpool City Councillor For Childwall 2023 May 2023 Liverpool City Councillor For Childwall:Liverpool City Councillor
for Wavertree
Term Start6:10 June 2004
Term End6:5 May 2011
Predecessor6:Ward Created
Successor6:Jake Morrison
Majority6:1,791 (53.4%)
Office7:Liverpool City Councillor
for Church
Term Start7:3 May 1984
Term End7:10 June 2004
Predecessor7:Sally Atherton
Successor7:Erica Kemp
Majority7:2,560 (64.2%)
Office8:Liverpool City Councillor
for Clubmoor
Term Start8:12 April 1973
Term End8:3 May 1984
Predecessor8:J. F. Jones
Successor8:W. Lafferty
Majority8:995 (19.6%)
Birth Date:25 May 1949
Party:Liberal Democrats

Michael John Storey, Baron Storey, (born 25 May 1949) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He is currently the party's spokesperson on education, families and young people in the House of Lords.

He was City Councillor for the Liverpool ward of Wavertree from 2004 to 2011 and Leader of Liverpool City Council from 1998 to 2005.

He was first elected to the Council in 1973, and became the youngest Chair of Education in the history of Liverpool from 1980 to 1983, during which time he was also Deputy Leader of the Council under Sir Trevor Jones.

Leader of the Council

In 1998 the Liberal Democrats gained control of Liverpool City Council and Storey became Council Leader. He aimed to set about rebuilding the city's reputation, cutting the council tax, improving services and attracting jobs and investment, while reducing the number of council employees by 5,000.

He was a central part of Liverpool's successful bid to become European Capital of Culture in 2008 and was widely credited with transforming the city and Council's reputation by cutting council tax (until then the highest in the country), improving council services (previously the worst in England) and attracting jobs and investment.

He resigned as Council Leader on 25 November 2005 after being found to have breached the members' code of conduct, following the disclosure of correspondence with former Council media chief, Matt Finnegan, which appeared to show the two men seeking to pressure the departure of then Chief Executive, Sir David Henshaw.[1] In 2009 he was present, as Lord Mayor, at a ceremony organised by Sons of Confederate Veterans, allegedly a Neo-Confederate organisation at Toxteth Park Cemetery rededicating the grave of Irvine Bulloch[2]

He lost his seat to 18-year-old Jake Morrison in 2011.[3]

Lord Mayor

Storey served as Lord Mayor of Liverpool[4] for the Council session 2009–2010. He was preceded by Cllr Steve Rotheram and succeeded by Cllr Hazel Williams.

House of Lords

On 19 November 2010, it was announced that Storey would be created a life peer and will sit as a Liberal Democrat in the House of Lords.[5] He was created Baron Storey, of Childwall in the City of Liverpool on 2 February 2011.

Storey is currently the Liberal Democrat education spokesman in the House of Lords and co-chair of the party parliamentary education, families and young people committee. He was a party whip between 2010 and 2014 and a member of the Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Committee in 2012–13. He speaks on education, regeneration and the arts.

Storey is also a member of the Regional Growth Fund independent advisory panel and a trustee of Mersyside think-tank ExUrbe.

Awards

Storey was appointed an OBE for political services in 1994 and a CBE for services to regeneration in 2002. He is a retired primary school teacher and long-serving headteacher of Plantation Primary School, Halewood.

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Leader quits after 'plot' probe.. . 2005-11-25.
  2. Web site: Liverpool deals with strong US-based Neo-Confederate links - CNN Video. edition.cnn.com.
  3. News: 2011-05-06. Teenage Labour candidate beats ex-Lib Dem leader. BBC News. 2011-05-06.
  4. Web site: The Lord Mayor. www.civichalls.liverpool.gov.uk. 2010-04-15. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20071211003805/http://www.civichalls.liverpool.gov.uk/lordmayor/index.asp. 2007-12-11.
  5. Web site: Latest peerages announced. GOV.UK.