Brian Paddick, Baron Paddick

Paddick was born on 24 April 1958 in Balham in London, England, and spent his early years in Mitcham and Tooting Bec.[9] He was educated at Bec Grammar School in Tooting Bec, and at Sutton Manor High School (now Sutton Grammar School), in Sutton.[10] He went on to take a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics[11] at The Queen's College, Oxford and a Master of Business Administration at Warwick Business School, University of Warwick (1989–1990)[10] on police scholarships;[9] and also studied for a postgraduate Diploma in Policing and Applied Criminology at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.[9] When he was at Oxford, he was Captain of the University Swimming Team and Vice-Captain of his college's rugby team.[11]

He is the twin brother of J. H. Paddick and the grandson of a policeman[11] and the son of Anthony Henry J. Paddick and Evelyn Perkin. He is the second cousin once removed of actor and comedian Hugh Paddick.

Paddick joined the Metropolitan Police Service in 1976, living in Highbury and Limehouse while he worked for four years as a Constable in Holloway. Rising through the ranks, he served as a response team officer, community officer, detective, and as a member of the Territorial Support Group (commonly referred to as the TSG or riot squad). Paddick was a sergeant on the front line during the 1981 Brixton riot,[12] an experience that shaped his attitudes about confrontational police action and strengthened his belief in community policing.[13] He was appointed Inspector in Fulham in 1983, Chief Inspector of the Personnel Department of New Scotland Yard in 1986, a staff officer in 1991, and Chief Inspector in Brixton in 1993.[10] During this period, he also worked in Deptford, Lewisham, Thornton Heath (where his brother was the local vicar) and Notting Hill while living in Sutton, Pimlico and Westminster, and for a while outside London.[9] In 1995, Paddick became the officer in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Notting Hill and was responsible for policing the Notting Hill Carnival.[10]

New Scotland Yard, London

Paddick returned to New Scotland Yard, first as Superintendent of the Personnel Department in 1996 and then as Chief Superintendent in 1997.[10] He then served as Borough Commander for Merton for two and a half years (1997–1999), responsible for policing Wimbledon, Mitcham and Merton. After attending the Police Staff College in 2000, in December 2000 he was appointed Police Commander for the London Borough of Lambeth where he worked until 2002,[10] fulfilling his ambition of becoming head of policing in Brixton. At Lambeth he had direct responsibility for 940 police officers and 230 support staff, and an annual budget of £37 million.[9]

After a stint in the Specialist Crime Directorate, which deals with serious cases such as murder, kidnap and fraud, Paddick returned to borough-based policing, overseeing the northwest London boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Camden, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon, and Islington between 2002 and 2003. He was also responsible for youth and community issues including Police Community Support Officers and police volunteers across the whole of London.[9]

In November 2003 Paddick was promoted to Deputy Assistant Commissioner, and in April 2005 he took over management of Territorial Policing across all 32 London boroughs, with responsibility for 20,000 police officers and support staff. He was accountable for reducing "volume crime" in London (all offences up to and including rape in terms of seriousness) and increasing the number of offenders brought to justice. He was the national lead for the police service on disability and mental health issues for a year and a half. He was also in the media spotlight as the senior Metropolitan Police Service spokesman for the Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales and after the 7 July 2005 London bombings.[9]

Following a widely publicised disagreement with Sir Ian Blair, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, over the wrongful shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station on 22 July 2005, Paddick was assigned the position of group director of information management, which he considered a "non-job". Claiming that the Home Office had intervened for political reasons to ensure that Blair would not have to resign over the incident as it had occurred in the aftermath of 21 July 2005 London bombings, Paddick says he came to accept that his police career was over and that he would never achieve his goal of becoming a chief constable.[14]

Paddick retired from the police force on 31 May 2007. He is currently a Visiting Fellow of Ashridge Business School near Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire, where he lectures on leadership, change management and diversity.[9]

Paddick speaking in City Hall after the results of the London mayoral election had been announced, 3 May 2008

In August 2006, it was reported by The Observer's "Pendennis" column that Paddick was considering seeking selection as the Liberal Democrats' candidate for Mayor of London in the mayoral elections to be held in 2008.[26] This was confirmed a year later by the BBC.[27] He received an endorsement from Lynne Featherstone MP, a former member of the London Assembly, on her blog.[28]

On 2 September 2007, Paddick informed Pink News of some of his priorities if elected mayor. On illegal drugs, he reiterated that they are "dangerous and harmful and it is better if people live without them", but that he had a "realistic approach" to enforcement and would not be afraid of adopting a "radical solution if it's fully thought through, if it's workable, affordable and gets the right result". He promised to regulate the timings of London's buses and to apply the London congestion charge in a more sophisticated manner that differentiated wealthy chauffeur-driven chief executives from delivery drivers. As regards the 2012 Summer Olympics to be held in London, he pledged to ensure that "the best possible show" would be staged with "value for money for every single pound spent".[29] In addition, in a leaflet released on his campaign website on 10 September, he pledged to "put more police officers, fully trained, equipped and with the necessary powers out on the street, dealing with violent gun and knife crime", to take the lead in tackling climate change and minimising the impact on the environment by powering the London Underground with renewable energy, and to provide the right environment for business without interfering in businesses.[30]

On 13 November 2007, it was announced that Paddick had been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London.[31] He won 73% of the first preference votes during the selection contest.[32] Paddick joined, among others, Ken Livingstone as the Labour candidate and Conservative Party candidate Boris Johnson. However, a poll conducted by The Guardian and ICM published on 3 April 2008 found that Paddick was the first choice of only 10% of voters. He therefore had little chance of winning, as 42% supported Johnson and 41% Livingstone.[33] The poll was borne out by the results of the elections on 1 May 2008. On 3 May it was announced that Boris Johnson had been elected. Paddick was in third place behind Ken Livingstone, with 9.8% (236,685 out of 2,415,958) of the first preference votes.[34]

Paddick on a float at the London Gay Pride parade on 30 June 2007 with, from his right, actor John Barrowman and Barrowman's partner Scott Gill

On Thursday 16 June 2011, it was reported that Paddick had entered nomination papers to stand once again for the Liberal Democrats in the 2012 London mayoral elections. On Friday 2 September he was selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate.[35]

On election day itself, Paddick won 91,774 or 4.16% of the first preference votes, behind eventual winner Boris Johnson for the Conservatives, former mayor Ken Livingstone for Labour, and Greens candidate Jenny Jones. He lost almost half of his support compared to 2008, mainly attributed to the performance of the coalition government in Westminster and the popularity levels of the Liberal Democrats on a national scale.

Having been elevated to the House of Lords on 16 September 2013, he led a debate on the public trust of police, on 28 November 2013.[36]

In the 2016 Autumn Party Convention, Lord Paddick saw the Liberty and Security Policy Paper produced by the working party he chaired accepted by the convention. This paper, while recognising the danger of terrorism, took issue with the Investigatory Powers Bill and the Counter-Extremism and Safeguarding Bill, rejecting "the idea that indiscriminate monitoring or limiting of legal free speech enhances security."[37]

In October 2023, Lord Paddick withdrew from Liberal Democrat whip following his appointment as a non-executive advisor with the Metropolitan Police. He will sit as a non-affiliated member for the duration of the appointment.[38]

Since childhood, Paddick has known he was homosexual, but between 1983 and 1988 he was married to Mary Stone in what he called "a genuine attempt to live as a straight man" – "It's what my faith as a Christian expected of me. It's what my parents expected of me. It's what the police service expected of me. Mary was a very beautiful and charming woman. It was a genuine attempt to try and deny my sexuality and to 'do the right thing'."[1] According to Paddick, it was "a fairly conventional marriage" and his former wife said it was "a wonderful marriage". She did not know he was gay. He struggled with his sexuality until towards the end of his marriage in 1988: "I learned the lesson about being yourself before that, and being open about my sexuality was the last piece in the jigsaw. I wasn't open about my sexuality until I was a commander."[14] A November 2003 profile in The Guardian noted: "Mr Paddick is relaxed enough to laugh at himself and told a gay magazine: 'My last staff officer got promoted and went to royalty protection. In his leaving card I wrote, "Same job, different Queen".'"[10] Paddick currently lives in Vauxhall, London. He lived there previously with Petter Belsvik (prior to his death[39]), a civil engineer from Oslo, Norway; they met in a bar while on holiday in Ibiza.[9][1] They married in Oslo, same-sex marriage in Norway being legalised 8 days before, on 9 January 2009.[40] Belsvik died at the end of February 2023.[41]

Paddick was a contestant on the eighth series of the ITV1 reality television show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, which began its broadcast on 16 November 2008.[42] On 1 December 2008, he became the sixth celebrity to be voted off the show. Interviewed by the show's hosts Ant & Dec after leaving the jungle, he explained his reasons for participating: "For a long time I've been doing serious stuff. Thirty years in the police and running for mayor. It's all bad news that they want me to comment on. So I thought why not come and do something trivial. ... It's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, anything after this is a breeze."[43]

In 2008, Paddick was ranked number 101 in the annual Pink List of influential gay and lesbian people in Britain published by The Independent on Sunday,[44] down from number 83 in 2007.[45]

In 2010, he appeared on Channel 4's alternative election night special of Come Dine with Me alongside Edwina Currie, Rod Liddle and Derek Hatton.

Speaking about his marriage in Norway as part of the 2010 Liberal Democrat debate about equal marriage for gay people, Paddick said: "The real impact of [marriage rather than a civil partnership], the symbolism of it, the importance of it, didn't really strike me until we stood in front of the judge in the courthouse in Oslo, and she said ... we're here today to witness the marriage of Brian and Petter. And that was an intensely moving experience. We really feel, my husband and I, that we are really equal because we are married."[46]

In July 2018, Paddick revealed that he was a participant in the PrEP[47] (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) medication trials being carried out at the time by the NHS in England. The medication is used to prevent HIV negative people acquiring HIV.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brian Paddick.

• Official website
• Coverage at the Guardian