John Charles Fuller, Baron Fuller, OBE (born 6 June 1968) is a British Conservative Party politician. He was Leader of South Norfolk District Council between May 2007 and May 2024. He was appointed a member of the House of Lords in February 2024.
The Right Honourable Councillor The Lord Fuller | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2024 | |
| Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| Assumed office 8 March 2024 Life peerage | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Charles Fuller 6 June 1968 Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | Philippa Claire Speight |
| Children | Susan Mary, Laura Elizabeth |
Early life and family
editFuller was born on 6 June 1968 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, to Michael John Fuller and June Renee Fuller.[citation needed] His grandfather Stanley Fuller represented Great Britain in the men's 100m, 200m and 4 × 100 m relay at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.[1]
On 1 April 1995, John Fuller married Philippa Claire Speight of Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire. They have two daughters.[citation needed]
Education
editFuller attended Cliff Park Junior School (1973–1978) in Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk and later Brandeston Hall Preparatory School (1978–1981] and Framlingham College [1981–1986) in Suffolk.[2] At the University of Reading (1987–1990) he studied BSc Agriculture, graduating with First Class Honours in 1990.
Commercial career
editFuller joined J & H Bunn Ltd,[3] a private fertiliser manufacturing company in Great Yarmouth in May 1991. In 1995 he was awarded a Nuffield Scholarship to study precision farming concepts, investigating emerging technologies in GPS, satellite imagery and the Internet and their application to agriculture.[4] From 1998 to 2011, he was a director of Bunn until it was sold to US-based Koch Industries in March 2011.[5]
Fuller became a founding director and chairman of liquid fertiliser manufacturer Brineflow Ltd in 2011.[6] In the same year, he became a non-executive director of Sentry Ltd,[7] a UK farm management company.
Between 2007 and 2017 he served as a governor of Langley School, near Loddon in Norfolk.[8]
Political career
editIn May 2003 Fuller was elected to South Norfolk District Council as the Conservative Party member for Brooke Ward,[9] encompassing the villages of Brooke, Howe, Norfolk, Seething, Kirstead, Mundham, Bergh Apton and from 2019 boundary changes with Alpington and Yelverton. In 2004 he became Leader of the Opposition Conservative Group on South Norfolk Council.
At the 2007 United Kingdom local elections,[10] he became leader of South Norfolk Council. That election saw the largest swing from the Liberal Democrats to the Conservatives in that district council electoral cycle with 20 seats falling from the Liberal Democrats to the Conservative Party,[11][12]
In the local government elections held successively in May 2011,[13] 2015,[14][15] 2019,[16] and in 2023,[17] he led local Conservatives to elected majorities, and retained leadership of the council.[18]
On 22 February 2024, he announced he would be relinquishing his Leadership position at the forthcoming Annual Council Meeting having been awarded a Life Peerage.[19] He stepped down as Leader of the council on 20 May 2024 after 17 years in post and was succeeded by Cllr Daniel Elmer.[20]
As council leader, he chaired the Greater Norwich Local Plan (2010–2011), the Greater Norwich Growth Board, and Norfolk Public Sector Leaders Board (2009–2010, 2015–2016 and 2023–2024).
He was a member of the East of England Regional Assembly (2009–2010), and the Norfolk Pension Fund. He has served as a Director on the Local Government Association's as deputy Leader of the Conservative Group of Councillors 2019–2023.[21] In 2013 he was appointed to the Local Government Pension Scheme Advisory Board[22] and chaired the Local Government Pension Committee from 2019 to 2023.[23] He served on the Fire Services Pensions Scheme Advisory Board (2014–2018).[24] In 2015, he was appointed by Brandon Lewis, Housing Minister, as a member of the CIL Review[25] to advise on housing infrastructure finance.[26]
In 2017, Fuller became the chairman of the District Councils' Network, the special interest group for District Councils in England.[27] He served in that position for four years until October 2021, a period which included helping coordinate the local COVID-19 pandemic response amongst English District Councils.[28] In 2019, he was elected by fellow Conservative council leaders to be the deputy leader of the Conservative Party in Local Government and became a director and deputy vice-chairman of the Local Government Association.[29] His term of office expired in July 2023.
Fuller was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for Public and Political service.[30] He was nominated by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for a life peerage and was created Baron Fuller, of Gorleston-on-Sea in the County of Norfolk, on 8 March 2024.[31][32][33] He took his seat in the House of Lords on 12 March 2024 [34]
References
edit- ^ Stanley Fuller. Archived from original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
- ^ "Lord John Charles Fuller OBE – Old Framlinghamians". Old Framlinghamians. 11 February 2024. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ http://www.bunnfertiliser.com[bare URL]
- ^ "By Date". nuffieldscholar.org.uk. 7 March 2001. Archived from the original on 7 March 2001. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ Williams, Sam (16 March 2011). "Koch completes acquisition of J&H Bunn". Eastern Daily Press. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ "Brineflow's Team". Brineflow. 7 February 2024. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ "Find and update company information". GOV.UK. 30 April 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ "LANGLEY SCHOOL (1960) LIMITED people". GOV.UK. 6 December 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ "John Fuller". South Norfolk Council. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
- ^ http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/politics/south_norfolk_1_696378[permanent dead link]
- ^ Lowthorpe, Shaun (4 May 2007). "'Cameron effect' credited with Tory surge". Eastern Daily Press. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ South Norfolk Council Election Results 1973–2011 (PDF), p. 10, retrieved 12 February 2024
- ^ Grimmer, Dan (4 May 2011). "Council elections: Spotlight on South Norfolk". Eastern Daily Press. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ "John Fuller re-elected leader of South Norfolk Council". Diss Express. 2 June 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ "John Fuller re-elected leader of South Norfolk Council". Diss Express. 2 June 2015. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
- ^ "Local elections: Results in maps and charts". BBC News. 2 May 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ "Local elections 2023: Conservatives lose Norfolk councils and seats". BBC News. 4 May 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ Thompson, George (25 May 2023). "Norfolk's longest serving council leader reselected but majority severely diminished". Eastern Daily Press. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ Storey, Eleanor (22 February 2024). "South Norfolk Council leader stepping down after life peerage". BBC News. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ Storey, Eleanor (22 May 2024). "Daniel Elmer elected as new leader of South Norfolk Council". Eastern Daily Press.
- ^ "LGA Conservative Group report and review 2020/2021". Local Government Association. 3 June 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ "Local government pension scheme funds for England: 2011 to 2012 - Publications". GOV.UK. 2 January 2013. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
- ^ "Board Membership". LGPS Scheme Advisory Board. 5 September 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ Hey, Claire (3 September 2018). "Board membership". Welcome. Archived from the original on 3 September 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ "CIL Review". gov.uk. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
- ^ Dunton, Jim (19 November 2015). "Clark reveals membership of levy review panel". Planning Resource. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ "New Chairman of the District Councils' Network announced". District Councils' Network. 4 July 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ Ford, Martin (20 October 2021). "The power of quiet diplomacy". The MJ Home. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ "LOCAL GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION people". GOV.UK. 7 March 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ "No. 62666". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 8 June 2019. p. B11.
- ^ "No. 64344". The London Gazette. 14 March 2024. p. 5190.
- ^ Walker, Peter (9 February 2024). "Major Tory donor among 13 new peers named in honours list". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
- ^ "Political Peerages 2024". Gov.uk. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
- ^ "Introduction: Lord Fuller". Hansard. 12 March 2024. Retrieved 21 March 2024.