Robert Blackman

Infobox AM
honorific-prefix =
name = Robert Blackman
honorific-suffix =


caption =
constituency_AM = Brent and Harrow
assembly = London
term_start = 10 June 2004
term_end = 1 May 2008
majority =
predecessor = Toby Harris
successor = Navin Shah
birth_date = Birth year and age|1956
birth_place =
death_date =
death_place =
nationality = British
spouse = Nicola Blackman
party = Conservative Party
relations =
children =
residence =
alma_mater = University of Liverpool
occupation =
profession =
religion =


website =
footnotes =

Robert John Blackman, better known as Bob Blackman (born circa 1956) is a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom. He is a former member of the London Assembly and the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Harrow East at the next general election.

He attended the University of Liverpool.

Political career

He has been a council member in the London Borough of Brent since 1986, representing Preston Ward [http://www.brent.gov.uk/Democracy.nsf/0/f06a9ad95e81514280256a960056bc6a?OpenDocument] . Cllr Blackman is the leader of the Conservative group on the council, having been council leader between 1991 and 1996. He became Council Leader after a number of Labour councillors defected to the Conservative Group. Some of these subsequently attracted controversy for their extreme views. He stood as a parliamentary candidate for Brent South at the 1992 election, for Bedford at the 1997 election, and for Brent North at the 2005 election. He will fight Harrow East at the next general election.

He was elected as a member of the London Assembly at the 2004 assembly elections, taking the constituency seat of Brent and Harrow, beating Toby Harris who had beaten him for the seat at the 2000 elections. He was elected Conservative Group Whip on the London Assembly.

In the 2008 elections, Blackman lost his seat back to the Labour candidate, Navin Shah. Following the result, members of the local Conservative party unsuccessfully attempted to de-select him as Parliamentary candidate for Harrow East, and two members (Cllr Atiq Malik and Cllr Robert Dunwell Queensbury Ward) of Conservative Group in Brent has formed Democratic Conservative Group.

Since June 2006, he has also been Deputy Leader of Brent Council, the Conservatives having formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

Miscellany

In addition to his political duties, Robert Blackman works for BT. He is married to Nicola Blackman, formerly also a Brent Council Member.

External links

* [http://www.london.gov.uk/assembly/members/blackmanb.jsp Biography from the London Assembly]
* [http://www.brentbrain.org.uk/cllrbobblackman Cllr Robert Blackman's BRAIN blog]