About Mike Tuffrey

Mike was born and grew up in Bromley, moving to Lambeth on getting his first job. He has an economics degree from Durham University and qualified as a chartered accountant with KPMG in 1984.

He then worked in the House of Lords as a researcher for the Liberal and SDP Peers, at the height of the battles with the then Tory government over rate capping, GLC abolition and transport privatisation. After the 1987 general election, he moved to become a director of a national charity, placing staff from major companies on secondment to charities and community groups.

That lead him in 1990 to become a consultant working with companies on social and environmental responsibility. He co-founded a successful consultancy firm - where he retains a part-time directorship - advising companies on how to be more socially responsible and environmentally sustainable. 

Mike's public service career started 25 years ago, with his election to the GLC in 1985, followed by 12 years on Lambeth Council where he led the Liberal Democrat group including 4 years as de facto council leader. See here for more on Mike's public service record.

Mike was elected to the London Assembly in February 2002, and re-elected in June 2004 and May 2008. He led the Liberal Democrat group on the Greater London Authority from 2006 to 2010 and today speaks for the Lib Dems on finance, environment, planning and housing. Mike is also a member of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, having previously been a member for six years until 2008, including two as group leader. 

In 2004 Mike was appointed by Mayor Ken Livingstone to represent the Assembly as a member of the London Sustainable Development Commission and reappointed in 2010 by Boris Johnson.

See Mike's official biography here.

Aged 50, Mike is married with three young children and lives in Clapham, south London. His partner is a nurse specialist in palliative care, undertaking research at St George’s, University of London on the needs of people with a learning disability.

Mike has a long term voluntary involvement in several charities and pressure groups, including membership of Friends of the Earth, WWF and Amnesty International. He was national treasurer of Gingerbread, the charity for lone parents, and was treasuer and then chair of a care-in-the-community charity for people with a learning disability. He also led the team of volunteers which saved a historic church in Vauxhall and converted it into a heritage and community centre. Mike is an active parish member of St Mary’s, Clapham.