Siân Berry

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Siân Berry
Green Party candidate for Mayor of London
Election date 1 May 2008
Opponent(s)	Ken Livingstone (Lab) Boris Johnson (Con) Brian Paddick (Lib Dem) and others
Incumbent	Ken Livingstone
Born	9 July 1974 (1974-07-09) (age 33) Cheltenham, England, UK
Nationality	British
Political party	Green Party
Residence	London
Website	Mayoral election campaign

Siân Berry (born 9 July 1974 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire) is an English politician and member of the Green Party of England and Wales. She was previously one of the Green Party's Principal Speakers (2006-07).^[1] She was the party's candidate in the 2008 London mayoral election.^[2]

Contents 1 Early life and career 2 Green Party politician 3 Non-party activism 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Early life and career

Born and raised in Cheltenham, Berry attended the selective Pate's Grammar School (where her father, John Berry, is a teacher). She attended Trinity College, Oxford, where she studied Metallurgy and the Science of Materials until graduating in 1997, when she moved to London.^[1]

[edit] Green Party politician

Berry joined the Green Party aged 28 whilst working as a medical copywriter for large pharmaceutical companies, which she then decided "conflicted" with her principles. She resigned, becoming increasingly politically active and beginning a new career in an ethical temping agency that dealt with a wide range of charitable organisations. She was, until recently, a Website Manager at Imperial College London but quit this job in order to focus on her mayoral campaign. [1]

In her first major party political role as the Green Party Campaigns Co-ordinator, Berry spearheaded the Green Energy Works Campaign, calling for low carbon, non-nuclear energy to tackle climate change. She also led a campaign against the renewal of Britain's nuclear weapon, the Trident submarine, which saw her travel to the nuclear submarine base in Faslane, Scotland, to protest.^[1]

Berry has narrowly missed being elected to Camden Council three times in local elections: once during 2002 and twice in 2006. In the 2002 Local Elections, she came fifth in the Highgate ward with 811 votes, just two votes behind a Conservative candidate in fourth place and 38 votes behind the third place required to gain a seat.^[3] The 2006 Local Elections would see her contest the Kentish Town ward, in which she gained 1,057 votes and came sixth, 156 votes short of third place.^[4] A December 7th 2006 by-election in the Kentish Town ward saw her come second with 812 votes, behind the Liberal Democrat winner who polled 1093 votes.^[5]

In 2005, Berry was the Green Party's parliamentary candidate for the Hampstead and Highgate constituency in the General Election. She polled 5.3% of the vote, coming fourth.

Berry was elected as the Green Party's Female Principal Speaker unopposed in Autumn 2006, succeeding Dr. Caroline Lucas MEP and, working alongside Male Principal Speaker Dr. Derek Wall, served until Autumn 2007 when Dr. Lucas resumed the post following an election. She currently writes a regularly featured blog for the New Statesman current affairs magazine.^[6]

On March 12 2007, the Green Party announced that Berry would be the party's candidate in the 2008 London mayoral election, after she received 45% of the votes in the London Green Party's internal election.^[2] Berry recommended that her voters back Labour Party candidate Ken Livingstone as their second preference^[7] and Livingstone did likewise.^[8] Berry was endorsed by The Independent and The Observer newspapers, with Ken Livingstone as second preference.^{[9] [10]}. Berry came fourth, with 3.15% of first preferences and 13.50% of second preferences.^[11] This is the highest the Green Party has ever come in an election, with her predessor Darren Johnson coming 7th in both the 2000 and 2004 mayoral elections.

She is a supporter of the Green Left group (an eco-socialist group within the party).^[12]

[edit] Non-party activism

Berry was a founder of the Alliance against Urban 4×4s, which started in Camden in 2003 and became a national campaign demanding measures to stop '4x4s' (otherwise known as "sport utility vehicles") "taking over our cities".^[1] The campaign is notorious for its "theatrical demonstrations" and spoof parking tickets, credited to Berry^[1] (although now adapted by numerous local groups),^[13] some 150,000 of which have been placed on 4x4 vehicles by campaigners. The group was successful in getting the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, to adopt one of its founding principles when he introduced a higher congestion charge for vehicles with high emissions. The Alliance campaigns further for greater taxes and stricter controls on advertisements for 4x4s. An international '4x4 Network' has now been founded.^[1]

In her local borough of Camden, Berry has also campaigned against the Iraq war, genetically modified foods and air quality problems, and supported local services threatened by redevelopment projects. She has advocated "green development" in Kings Cross Railwaylands (the largest brownfield site in the UK) to provide more family-housing.^[1]

She has recently initiated the Census Alert campaign to stop Lockheed Martin from running the UK census, and is a Patron of the Fair Pay Network ^[14].

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Siân Berry's Website
• Siân Berry's Green Party Website Biography
• Sian Berry's New Statesman Blog
• Alliance Against Urban 4x4s Website

Political offices
Preceded by Caroline Lucas	Principal Speaker of the Green Party of England and Wales 2006–2007	Succeeded by Caroline Lucas

v • d • e Candidates in the 2008 London mayoral election Richard Barnbrook • Gerard Batten • Siân Berry • Alan Craig • Lindsey German • Boris Johnson • Ken Livingstone • Winston McKenzie • Matt O'Connor • Brian Paddick