Claire-Louise Leyland

Claire-Louise Leyland (born 1974),[1] now called Claire-Louise Vaculik,[2] is an English Conservative politician. She was the leader of the Conservatives on Camden London Borough Council from 2014 to 2018, and represented Belsize on the council from 2010 to 2018. She has stood unsuccessfully for Parliament twice: in West Tyrone in 2015 and her home seat of Hampstead and Kilburn in 2017.

Leyland was born in South Africa and attended Wynberg Girls' High School in Cape Town, followed by Stellenbosch University and Rhodes University.[1] She moved to London in 1998 to study further at Goldsmiths and Middlesex University.[1] Leyland is an art therapist by profession,[3] and is the chair of the British Association of Art Therapists, the British professional body for art therapists.[2]

Leyland was elected to Camden London Borough Council in 2010 to represent Belsize, and won the seat back off the Liberals. She became the leader of the Tories in 2013 (when they were the third largest party) and became the leader of the opposition in 2014, when the Liberals lost all but one seat. As leader of the opposition, she made national news by advocating more CCTV in Belsize Park,[4] and criticising Camden Council for spending money on publicising the fact it had no money.[5]

Leyland voted to remain in the 2016 EU referendum,[6] and her candidacy in strongly anti-Brexit Hampstead and Kilburn was dubbed 'Clash of the Remainers'.[3] She was criticised for downplaying being a Conservative and playing up being "Theresa May's candidate".[7][8] She came a distant second, with a large swing towards Tulip Siddiq. She stood down from Camden Council in 2018.