London: Gay former Tory mayor loses council seat
The controversial political career of the self-described “King of Bling” came to an end on Friday.
Gay former councillor Brian Coleman failed to be re-elected in the north London borough of Barnet, receiving just 265 votes and losing to Conservative candidate Caroline Stock.
It marked the end of a long fall from power.
At one stage Mr Coleman had been one of the most influential gay politicians in London politics – and one of the highest-paid Tory councillors in the country.
Mr Coleman was a Conservative Party member of the London Assembly for Barnet and Camden between 2000 and 2012, and served as the Mayor of Barnet from 2009–2010.
He was also Chairman and Leader of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, receiving £130,000 per year until May 2012 when he lost his seat on the London Assembly in the capital’s local elections, along with Mr Johnson’s gay statutory deputy mayor Richard Barnes.
Mr Coleman was expelled from the Conservative Party last year after he admitted attacking a woman as she filmed him parking illegally.
The outspoken politician admitted a charge of common assault by beating and was ordered to pay £1,385.
He continued to sit as an independent councillor for his ward of Totteridge.
Mr Coleman also hit the headlines when he claimed that former Conservative Prime Minister Ted Heath was reprimanded as a junior MP for “cottaging” for gay sex.
