Shaun Bailey

For the English cricketer, see Shaun Bailey (cricketer).
Shaun Bailey
AM
Member of the London Assembly
for Conservative (London-wide)
Assumed office
6 May 2016
Personal details
Born 1971
London, England
Political party Conservative
Children Two
Alma mater South Bank University

Shaun Bailey (born 1971 in North Kensington, London) is a British Afro-Caribbean youth worker and Conservative politician. He stood for the London constituency of Hammersmith as a Conservative at the 2010 general election, and served as the Prime Minister's Special Adviser on Youth and Crime from 2010-2013. In 2016, he was elected as a list candidate for the Conservative Party for the London Assembly.[1]

Early life

Bailey was born in North Kensington, London in 1971, where he and his younger brother were raised by his mother and extended family in the absence of his father, a lorry driver.[2] The family are of Jamaican origin.[3] From about 13 years of age he started to get to know his father, along with a second family his father had started, and became close to his stepsisters and stepbrother.[4]

Bailey attended Henry Compton School in Fulham and left with five CSEs.[2] When Bailey was 12 years old, his mother sent him to join the Army Cadet Force in White City.[5] When Bailey was about 19, he became a Sergeant-Instructor and stayed in the Cadets for another 10 years in Askew.[5] His time spent in the Cadets gave him an understanding of 'Britishness', and he felt much less separated from the world around him.

At about the age of 12 or 13, he started going to the Jubilee Sports Centre to take up gymnastics, which occupied much of his remaining spare time.[4] After this, he became a devoted member of Childs Hill Gymnastics Display team, a well known and respected gymnastics club in London who travel all around the world. They went on to win many gymnastic competitions, both national and international. Shaun still visits the gymnasts when he can to offer his support. After leaving secondary school, Bailey attended Paddington College, where he achieved two A-levels and a BTEC.[2]

Career before Politics

Bailey graduated with a 2.2 in computer-aided engineering from London South Bank University. Previously, he worked as a security guard at Wembley Stadium and the Trocadero to put himself through university. After witnessing the route to crime taken by many of his peers, Bailey became a drug-worker for The Blenheim Project, and later co-founded "My Generation", a charity devoted to addressing the social problems that affect struggling young people and their families, such as anti-social behaviour, drug abuse, crime, pregnancy, educational underachievement, and unemployment.[6] The charity received attention shortly before the general election in 2010 over accounting irregularities.[7][8] The charity closed down in 2012 due to a lack of funding.[9][10]

Bailey was drafted in as Chairman of the Trustees at the Pepper Pot Day Centre (2007–2009), an organisation in West London that provided for the African and Caribbean elders and adults with special needs.

Shaun is currently the Chairman of the Panel of Judges of the Spirit of London Awards.

Political career

Bailey is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Policy Studies,[11] writing for the Centre and for various newspapers, including the Evening Standard,[12] the Times,[13] and the Independent.[14] His main area of specialisation is youth crime, welfare and charity and he is a member of the Police Community Consultation Group and has worked closely with the Independent Police Complaints Authority.

On 29 March 2007 he was selected at an open primary to be the Conservative candidate for the new parliamentary seat of Hammersmith, a key marginal seat in West London.[15] His campaign has focused on issues surrounding families and social responsibility.[16] He failed to win the seat, losing by 3,549 votes, achieving only a 0.5% swing[17] (against an average swing to the Conservatives in London of 2.5%).[18]

Since the 2010 Election, Bailey has gone on to take up a post in Downing Street, as Special Adviser to the Prime Minister on Youth and Crime,[19] keeping him at the forefront of the Conservative Party despite failing to win Hammersmith. He focussed on issues surrounding Government youth, crime, welfare and community policy, and has been influential in shaping the agenda on these issues, particularly in the aftermath of the 2011 England Riots. But early in 2013, Bailey lost his job as a special adviser, alleging that he was pushed out of Downing Street by the Prime Minister’s "clique" of Old Etonians.[20]

Bailey has been very critical of many of the Coalition's policy in particular police cuts, cuts to youth services and housing benefit cuts under the Coalition. In addition, Bailey was interviewed on the BBC's Newsnight programme in March 2011, where he was introduced as 'Ambassador for the Big Society'.[21]

In the run-up to the May 2015 General Election, Bailey was unsuccessful in attempts to be named the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Kensington,[22][23] South Croydon (where he didn't make the final round[24][25]) as well as Uxbridge and South Ruislip.[26][27]

In October 2015, Bailey was selected as a Conservative candidate on the London Assembly top-up list. He is placed third on the list, a position previously held by Victoria Borwick, former Assembly Member, now MP for Kensington.[1]

Politics

Bailey has expressed concerns about liberalism, saying "The more liberal we have been, the more our communities have suffered".[2] and "The key wickedness that the Government has perpetrated is the idea that government can pay for everything. If you continually give people things and ask for nothing back you rob them of their will. People have to be involved in their own redemption. There are people sitting at home now who don't work because it's not worth their while to do it under the benefits system. That's wrong."[28]

Publications

References

  1. 1 2 "Conservative candidates chosen for London Assembly top up list | Conservative Home". Conservative Home. Retrieved 2016-03-20.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Muir, Hugh (2 May 2007). "Black and blue". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
  3. ↑ Barnicoat, Becky (20 March 2010). "Meet the David Cameron generation". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
  4. 1 2 "The House I Grew up In featuring Shaun Bailey". The House I Grew Up In. 2008-09-03. BBC. BBC Radio 4.
  5. 1 2 Geoghegan, Tom (8 April 2008). "'Army Cadets saved my life'". BBC.
  6. ↑ "MyGeneration | Home". MyGeneration. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
  7. ↑ Shameful accounts of Tory candidate's charity | Political Scrapbook
  8. ↑ Conservative candidate charity money missing - Westminster
  9. ↑ Former big society ambassador's charity closes because of funding problems
  10. ↑ Flagship 'Big Society' charity closes... due to lack of funds - Mirror Online
  11. ↑ Centre for Policy Studies Website
  12. ↑ Bailey, Shaun (19 May 2009). "The Government's given up the war on drugs". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
  13. ↑ Bailey, Shaun (3 February 2008). "Stop and search saves lives". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2 May 2010. (Archived by Webcite)
  14. ↑ "Shaun Bailey: An entire generation left out of the economy". London: The Independent. 21 Jan 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
  15. ↑ CPS Press Release Archived 30 April 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  16. ↑ Watson, Samantha (14 May 2007). "OBV Profile: Shaun Bailey". Operation Black Vote. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
  17. ↑ BBC News | Election 2010 | Constituency | Hammersmith
  18. ↑ BBC NEWS | Election 2010 | Results | London
  19. ↑ https://update.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/LIST-APRIL.pdf
  20. ↑ Shaun Bailey, the Prime Minister's only black aide, was 'frozen out by David Cameron's clique', Daily Telegraph, 10 May 2013.Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  21. ↑ BBC Newsnight 31 March 2011
  22. ↑ Victoria Borwick selected as Conservative candidate for Kensington | Politics | The Guardian
  23. ↑ Victoria Borwick selected for Kensington | Conservative Home
  24. ↑ Exclusive: We reveal the names of the longlisted candidates in Croydon South | Conservative Home
  25. ↑ Final four announced for Croydon South | Conservative Home
  26. ↑ Hope, Christopher (1 September 2014). "James Cracknell to stand as a Tory MP". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  27. ↑ Former Cameron special adviser in the running for Uxbridge seat - Get West London
  28. ↑ Tweedie, Neil (30 September 2008). "Interview: Shaun Bailey - he's black, he's tough, and he's a Tory". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/14/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.