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Sir Peter Soulsby

Sir Peter Soulsby
Peter Soulsby.JPG
Mayor of Leicester
Assumed office
6 May 2011
Preceded by Office created
Leader of Leicester City Council
In office
January 1996 – May 1999
Preceded by Stuart Foster
Succeeded by Ross Willmott
In office
May 1981 – May 1994
Preceded by Ken Middleton
Succeeded by Stuart Foster
Member of Parliament
for Leicester South
In office
5 May 2005 – 1 April 2011
Preceded by Parmjit Singh Gill
Succeeded by Jon Ashworth
Majority 8,808 (18.7%)
Personal details
Born (1948-12-27) 27 December 1948 (age 68)
Bishop Auckland, County Durham, England
Nationality British
Political party Labour
Spouse(s) Lady (Alison) Soulsby (died Dec 2011)
Children 3
Alma mater De Montfort University
Website Leicester Mayor website

Sir Peter Alfred Soulsby (born 27 December 1948) is a British Labour Party politician and the current Mayor of Leicester. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester South from 2005 until he resigned his seat in April 2011, in order to contest the new post of mayor.

Soulsby was born in Bishop Auckland and attended the Minchenden School, a grammar school in Southgate, London. He studied at the City of Leicester College of Education in Scraptoft, where he gained a BEd. He worked as a teacher at Crown Hills Secondary Modern School and in special needs schools.

He was first elected to Leicester City Council in 1974, and remained a Labour councillor until he was defeated in Spinney Hills ward in May 2003. Despite his own opposition to the Iraq War and his participation in rallies and marches, his defeat (and that of other sitting Labour councillors) reflected the widespread local opposition to the war.

He contested the Harborough parliamentary constituency at the 1979 general election. In 1984, he stood for election for the Leicester European Parliamentary constituency, losing to the Conservative incumbent Fred Tuckman by 1.6%.


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