Geoff Gollop

Gollop was born at Bristol Maternity Hospital and has lived his entire life in Bristol, having been brought up in Henbury, where he attended Blaise Primary School.[3] He then attended Clifton College, and after that went up to Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. Thereafter he trained in accounting, became a Chartered Accountant and worked in accounting firms, before being made redundant and setting up his own business.[5] Geoff Gollop & Co merged with accounting firm Milsted Langdon in 2013, with Gollop joining the latter as a director.[6]

Gollop is married to Bernice and has two children, Mark and Hermione. He is a Methodist and supports Bristol Rovers F.C. and Bristol City F.C.[5] His other interests include musical theatre and travel.[3] He joined the Conservative Party in 1973. He is a former school governor of Henbury School and Henleaze Junior School, and a former church warden of St Mary's Church, Henbury.[3]

In November 2011, Gollop was the victim of an arson attack on his car, for which the Informal Anarchist Federation claimed responsibility.[7]

Gollop was inspired to enter local politics by the issue of secondary education[8] and by his father Philip, a former Councillor for the Henbury ward,[9] and he has been a Conservative Councillor on Bristol City Council since June 2001, representing the Westbury-on-Trym ward.[10]

In 2011, Gollop was appointed the lord mayor of Bristol,[11] and in 2012 he was appointed the deputy lord mayor of Bristol. On 7 August 2012, he was selected to be the Conservative candidate for the first directly elected mayor of Bristol, having defeated former three-time lord mayor and Bristol City Council's Conservative group leader, Peter Abrahams, and former councillor, Barbara Lewis. Receiving support from the mayor of London, Boris Johnson,[12] Gollop campaigned on transport, education, inequality and Council culture.[13] His specific policies included a freeze or reduction in Council Tax, lower fares on public transport, and business rates relief for independent shops.[14] In the election on 15 November, Gollop lost to independent candidate George Ferguson, coming third, with 9.13% of the first-preference votes, behind Ferguson and the Labour Party candidate Marvin Rees. Gollop attributed the result to "a real disillusionment with party politics".[15] After the election, Mayor Ferguson appointed Gollop as the deputy mayor of Bristol, and as the cabinet member with responsibility for finance and corporate services.[16]