Oliver Cooper | |
---|---|
Leader of the Opposition on Three Rivers Council | |
In office 2022 – Present day | |
Preceded by | Ciarán Reed |
Leader of the Opposition on Camden Council | |
In office 2018–2022 | |
Preceded by | Gio Spinella |
Succeeded by | Tom Simon |
Camden councillor for Hampstead Town | |
In office 2015–2022 | |
Preceded by | Simon Marcus |
Succeeded by | Adrian Cohen |
Personal details | |
Born | 1987 (age 36–37) |
Political party | Conservative |
Alma mater | University College London |
Oliver Cooper (born 1987) [1] is an English Conservative politician and a prominent party activist. [2] He was the leader of the party on Camden London Borough Council representing Hampstead Town and is now a Tory councillor and leader of the Tories in Three Rivers District in Hertfordshire. [3]
Cooper attended Dr Challoner's Grammar School and University College London. He is a lawyer and a former journalist. [4]
He was elected to represent Hampstead Town ward on Camden Council in 2015. Despite Hampstead voting 80% for "Remain" in the Brexit referendum in 2016, [5] he voted for "Leave". [6] [7] [8]
He became the Leader of the Opposition after the 2018 elections. Ahead of the 2022 Camden Borough elections, Cooper chose to move from his ' safe' Conservative ward to the Tory- Liberal Democrat split ward of Belsize to try to increase his party's number of seats. [9] He increased his party's share of the vote and came first among the Conservative candidates, but lost to the Lib Dems, ending his career in local government. [10] Local newspapers said that he "almost certainly" would have held his Hampstead seat if he had not chosen to move to Belsize. [11]
After his defeat, he became the chairman of the Watford Conservatives. [12] He was previously the deputy chairperson of the Hampstead and Kilburn Conservatives. [13] He was elected as a councillor in Hertfordshire in 2023 despite significant Tory losses nationally. [14] He was immediately elected the group leader on the council. [15]
He was "long-listed" for the Tory Parliamentary selection in Cities of London and Westminster [16] and "short-listed" in Hemel Hempstead, [17] coming second. [18]
He has appeared in the national news for campaigning to hire more police, [19] highlighting some Labour members disrupting a minute's silence for Tessa Jowell, [20] securing an official rebuke of Sadiq Khan for allegedly misusing crime statistics in 2018, [21] attacking the Revolutionary Communist Group speaking in Camden Council, [22] intervening and stopping Islamophobic violence on the London Underground in September 2019 [23] and helping get rid of anti-Semitic graffiti in his area in December 2019. [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] In 2022, The Times and The Daily Telegraph reported his criticism of censoring or removing statues in Camden of Mahatma Gandhi, Virginia Woolf, and other figures. [29] [30] He wrote in The Telegraph in 2015, unsuccessfully asking Tories not to vote for Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader, [31] which left-wing commentator Owen Jones later called a 'prophetic warning'. [32]
Cooper was the national chairman of the Conservative youth organisation Conservative Future from 2013 to 2014. The Times reported that the organisation was "working really really well" [33] until he was a victim of Mark Clarke in the nationally reported " Tatler Tory" bullying scandal. [34] Cooper stood down after Clarke threatened to spread false rumours about him if he stood for re-election leading to Clarke replacing him with Clarke's lover. [35] [36] He had previously relaunched the European Young Conservatives. [37]
As leader of the Conservative Group of Camden Council, Cooper supported the development of the Belsize Village Streatery in the summer of 2020 as a measure to mitigate the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the local economy [38] and help continue the revitalisation of the community started by the Belsize Village Business Association in October 2018. [39] [40] Cooper coordinated the release of £55,911 in community infrastructure levy (CIL) funds (£18,637 from each ward of Belsize, Frognal and Fitzjohns and Hampstead Town) to fund the Belsize Village Streatery. [41] As the first scheme of its kind after the end of Lockdown 1 of COVID-19 restrictions in the UK, the Belsize Village Streatery received a ministerial visit on July 30, 2020 by then-Secretary of State Robert Jenrick, whose visit was hosted by Cooper. [42]
According to the Belsize Village Business Association, the Belsize Village Streatery "helped save several businesses and over 100 local jobs." [39] Data from Camden Council showed that amidst the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, spending in Belsize Village rose 111.6% [43] year-on-year to August-Oct 2020 against an overall difficult economic backdrop. A 14-day consultation held by Camden Council in the summer of 2021 found that 91.5% of residents and businesses supported extending the Belsize Village Streatery. [44] On 10 February 2022, Cooper spoke in favour of making the Belsize Village Streatery permanent at the Camden Council Licensing Committee; the permanence of the scheme was approved at the meeting. At the licensing committee, Cooper said, "The revitalisation of Belsize Village has been nothing short of a miracle in the last two years." [45]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Oliver Cooper | 2,693 | 50.9 | 8.0 | |
Labour | Maddy Raman | 1,381 | 26.1 | 4.8 | |
Green | Sophie Dix | 597 | 11.3 | 0.9 | |
Liberal Democrats | Yannick Bultingaire | 543 | 10.3 | 13.3 | |
Independent | Nigel Rumble | 73 | 1.4 | N/A | |
Majority | 1,312 | 24.8 | |||
Turnout | 5,287 | 67 | |||
Conservative hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Stephen Stark* | 1,522 | 14.6% | 0.7% | |
Conservative | Oliver Cooper* | 1,455 | 14.0% | 0.4% | |
Conservative | Maria Higson | 1,400 | 13.6% | 0.3% | |
Liberal Democrats | Linda Chung | 1,247 | 12.0% | ||
Labour | Sue Cullinan | 898 | 8.6% | 1.0% | |
Liberal Democrats | Andrew Haslam Jones | 879 | 8.5% | 2.5% | |
Liberal Democrats | Will Coles | 826 | 7.9% | 2.3% | |
Labour | Sunny Mandich | 811 | 7.8% | 0.4% | |
Labour | James Slater | 799 | 7.7% | 1.4% | |
Green | Richard Dunham Bourne | 243 | 2.3% | 3.0% | |
Green | Michael Wulff Pawlyn | 175 | 1.7% | 2.1% | |
Green | Ramsay Short | 135 | 1.3% | 1.7% | |
Majority | 153 | 1.5% | 0.2% | ||
Turnout | 10,390 | 46.5% | 2.8% | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal Democrats | Tom Simon* | 1,494 | 47.4% | 12.3% | |
Liberal Democrats | Judy Dixey | 1,445 | 45.7% | 12.7% | |
Liberal Democrats | Matthew Kirk | 1,317 | 41.7% | 10.1% | |
Conservative | Oliver Cooper† | 1,124 | 35.6% | 2.8% | |
Conservative | Steve Adams* | 1,106 | 35.0% | 1.3% | |
Conservative | Aarti Joshi | 953 | 30.2% | 2.4% | |
Labour | Issy Waite | 705 | 22.3% | 7.6% | |
Labour | Shaheen Ahmed Chowdhury | 692 | 21.9% | 6.0% | |
Labour | Peter Ptashko | 644 | 20.4% | 6.8% | |
Turnout | 38.4 | ||||
Liberal Democrats win (new seat) | |||||
Liberal Democrats win (new seat) | |||||
Liberal Democrats win (new seat) |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Oliver Cooper | 1,081 | 58.8 | 3.3 | |
Liberal Democrats | Frank Mahon-Daly | 517 | 28.1 | 4.3 | |
Green | Peter Loader | 130 | 7.1 | 0.6 | |
Labour | Margaret Gallagher | 111 | 6.0 | 0.5 | |
Majority | 564 | 30.7 | +7.6 | ||
Turnout | 1,479 | 26.0 | –2.9 | ||
Registered electors | 5,681 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing | 3.8 |
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Oliver Cooper | |
---|---|
Leader of the Opposition on Three Rivers Council | |
In office 2022 – Present day | |
Preceded by | Ciarán Reed |
Leader of the Opposition on Camden Council | |
In office 2018–2022 | |
Preceded by | Gio Spinella |
Succeeded by | Tom Simon |
Camden councillor for Hampstead Town | |
In office 2015–2022 | |
Preceded by | Simon Marcus |
Succeeded by | Adrian Cohen |
Personal details | |
Born | 1987 (age 36–37) |
Political party | Conservative |
Alma mater | University College London |
Oliver Cooper (born 1987) [1] is an English Conservative politician and a prominent party activist. [2] He was the leader of the party on Camden London Borough Council representing Hampstead Town and is now a Tory councillor and leader of the Tories in Three Rivers District in Hertfordshire. [3]
Cooper attended Dr Challoner's Grammar School and University College London. He is a lawyer and a former journalist. [4]
He was elected to represent Hampstead Town ward on Camden Council in 2015. Despite Hampstead voting 80% for "Remain" in the Brexit referendum in 2016, [5] he voted for "Leave". [6] [7] [8]
He became the Leader of the Opposition after the 2018 elections. Ahead of the 2022 Camden Borough elections, Cooper chose to move from his ' safe' Conservative ward to the Tory- Liberal Democrat split ward of Belsize to try to increase his party's number of seats. [9] He increased his party's share of the vote and came first among the Conservative candidates, but lost to the Lib Dems, ending his career in local government. [10] Local newspapers said that he "almost certainly" would have held his Hampstead seat if he had not chosen to move to Belsize. [11]
After his defeat, he became the chairman of the Watford Conservatives. [12] He was previously the deputy chairperson of the Hampstead and Kilburn Conservatives. [13] He was elected as a councillor in Hertfordshire in 2023 despite significant Tory losses nationally. [14] He was immediately elected the group leader on the council. [15]
He was "long-listed" for the Tory Parliamentary selection in Cities of London and Westminster [16] and "short-listed" in Hemel Hempstead, [17] coming second. [18]
He has appeared in the national news for campaigning to hire more police, [19] highlighting some Labour members disrupting a minute's silence for Tessa Jowell, [20] securing an official rebuke of Sadiq Khan for allegedly misusing crime statistics in 2018, [21] attacking the Revolutionary Communist Group speaking in Camden Council, [22] intervening and stopping Islamophobic violence on the London Underground in September 2019 [23] and helping get rid of anti-Semitic graffiti in his area in December 2019. [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] In 2022, The Times and The Daily Telegraph reported his criticism of censoring or removing statues in Camden of Mahatma Gandhi, Virginia Woolf, and other figures. [29] [30] He wrote in The Telegraph in 2015, unsuccessfully asking Tories not to vote for Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader, [31] which left-wing commentator Owen Jones later called a 'prophetic warning'. [32]
Cooper was the national chairman of the Conservative youth organisation Conservative Future from 2013 to 2014. The Times reported that the organisation was "working really really well" [33] until he was a victim of Mark Clarke in the nationally reported " Tatler Tory" bullying scandal. [34] Cooper stood down after Clarke threatened to spread false rumours about him if he stood for re-election leading to Clarke replacing him with Clarke's lover. [35] [36] He had previously relaunched the European Young Conservatives. [37]
As leader of the Conservative Group of Camden Council, Cooper supported the development of the Belsize Village Streatery in the summer of 2020 as a measure to mitigate the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the local economy [38] and help continue the revitalisation of the community started by the Belsize Village Business Association in October 2018. [39] [40] Cooper coordinated the release of £55,911 in community infrastructure levy (CIL) funds (£18,637 from each ward of Belsize, Frognal and Fitzjohns and Hampstead Town) to fund the Belsize Village Streatery. [41] As the first scheme of its kind after the end of Lockdown 1 of COVID-19 restrictions in the UK, the Belsize Village Streatery received a ministerial visit on July 30, 2020 by then-Secretary of State Robert Jenrick, whose visit was hosted by Cooper. [42]
According to the Belsize Village Business Association, the Belsize Village Streatery "helped save several businesses and over 100 local jobs." [39] Data from Camden Council showed that amidst the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, spending in Belsize Village rose 111.6% [43] year-on-year to August-Oct 2020 against an overall difficult economic backdrop. A 14-day consultation held by Camden Council in the summer of 2021 found that 91.5% of residents and businesses supported extending the Belsize Village Streatery. [44] On 10 February 2022, Cooper spoke in favour of making the Belsize Village Streatery permanent at the Camden Council Licensing Committee; the permanence of the scheme was approved at the meeting. At the licensing committee, Cooper said, "The revitalisation of Belsize Village has been nothing short of a miracle in the last two years." [45]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Oliver Cooper | 2,693 | 50.9 | 8.0 | |
Labour | Maddy Raman | 1,381 | 26.1 | 4.8 | |
Green | Sophie Dix | 597 | 11.3 | 0.9 | |
Liberal Democrats | Yannick Bultingaire | 543 | 10.3 | 13.3 | |
Independent | Nigel Rumble | 73 | 1.4 | N/A | |
Majority | 1,312 | 24.8 | |||
Turnout | 5,287 | 67 | |||
Conservative hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Stephen Stark* | 1,522 | 14.6% | 0.7% | |
Conservative | Oliver Cooper* | 1,455 | 14.0% | 0.4% | |
Conservative | Maria Higson | 1,400 | 13.6% | 0.3% | |
Liberal Democrats | Linda Chung | 1,247 | 12.0% | ||
Labour | Sue Cullinan | 898 | 8.6% | 1.0% | |
Liberal Democrats | Andrew Haslam Jones | 879 | 8.5% | 2.5% | |
Liberal Democrats | Will Coles | 826 | 7.9% | 2.3% | |
Labour | Sunny Mandich | 811 | 7.8% | 0.4% | |
Labour | James Slater | 799 | 7.7% | 1.4% | |
Green | Richard Dunham Bourne | 243 | 2.3% | 3.0% | |
Green | Michael Wulff Pawlyn | 175 | 1.7% | 2.1% | |
Green | Ramsay Short | 135 | 1.3% | 1.7% | |
Majority | 153 | 1.5% | 0.2% | ||
Turnout | 10,390 | 46.5% | 2.8% | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal Democrats | Tom Simon* | 1,494 | 47.4% | 12.3% | |
Liberal Democrats | Judy Dixey | 1,445 | 45.7% | 12.7% | |
Liberal Democrats | Matthew Kirk | 1,317 | 41.7% | 10.1% | |
Conservative | Oliver Cooper† | 1,124 | 35.6% | 2.8% | |
Conservative | Steve Adams* | 1,106 | 35.0% | 1.3% | |
Conservative | Aarti Joshi | 953 | 30.2% | 2.4% | |
Labour | Issy Waite | 705 | 22.3% | 7.6% | |
Labour | Shaheen Ahmed Chowdhury | 692 | 21.9% | 6.0% | |
Labour | Peter Ptashko | 644 | 20.4% | 6.8% | |
Turnout | 38.4 | ||||
Liberal Democrats win (new seat) | |||||
Liberal Democrats win (new seat) | |||||
Liberal Democrats win (new seat) |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Oliver Cooper | 1,081 | 58.8 | 3.3 | |
Liberal Democrats | Frank Mahon-Daly | 517 | 28.1 | 4.3 | |
Green | Peter Loader | 130 | 7.1 | 0.6 | |
Labour | Margaret Gallagher | 111 | 6.0 | 0.5 | |
Majority | 564 | 30.7 | +7.6 | ||
Turnout | 1,479 | 26.0 | –2.9 | ||
Registered electors | 5,681 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing | 3.8 |
{{
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
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{{
cite news}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)