15 Facts About Richard Balfe

Richard Andrew Balfe, Baron Balfe was born on 14 May 1944 and is a British politician and life peer.

Richard Balfe was a Labour Party Member of the European Parliament from 1979 but joined the Conservative Party in 2002.

Richard Balfe began working in a bakery in 1960 and joined USDAW.

Richard Balfe was unsuccessful, and instead became the Research Officer for the Finer Committee on One-Parent Families.

At the 1973 Greater London Council election, Richard Balfe was elected in Dulwich, serving until 1977.

Richard Balfe served as Chair of Tottenham Conservative Association for five years, which he described as a "hopeless cause".

At the first direct elections to the European Parliament in 1979, Richard Balfe was elected as the Member of the European Parliament for London South Inner.

Richard Balfe held his seat until its abolition in 1999, then won a seat from fourth place on the party list for London.

Richard Balfe supported a single European currency and was a member of the European Movement.

In late 2001, Richard Balfe stood for election to the post of quaestor in the European Parliament, against instructions from his party group.

Richard Balfe served as President of the Cambridge Conservative Association, the Honorary President of the British Dietetic Association and a member of the Advisory Board at the UK-based 'Polar Regions' think-tank Polar Research and Policy Initiative.

On 4 June 2015, Richard Balfe proposed "a bill to make provision to allow European Union citizens who are resident in the United Kingdom to vote in parliamentary elections and to become members of Parliament; and for connected purposes".

In line with his pro-EU views, in the run-up to the 2016 referendum Richard Balfe took an active role in "Cambridge For Europe", a local campaign which cites as its purpose ensuring "that people in Cambridge and its wider region fully understand the arguments for continued membership of the European Union".

Richard Balfe is not associated with the Cambridge for Europe campaign that was relaunched in 2020, and which strongly advocates support for Ukraine's resistance to Russia's invasion.

On 22 June 2023, Richard Balfe attended a party in London organised by Andrei Kelin, the Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom on the occasion of Russia Day.