Education and Local Government
Pelling and his family have lived in Croydon for six generations. He was educated at the Trinity School, Croydon and then New College, Oxford where he led the Oxford University Conservative Association He was elected to the position of Librarian of the Oxford Union, a senior position, and ran for President several times without being elected, on one occasion losing to William Hague.
Before become a full-time politician, he was an international investment banker.
He was elected to Croydon Council in 1982 in Broad Green ward and later represented the ward of Heathfield. He served as Chair first of the Education Committee in the early 1990s and subsequently became Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group when they lost control of the Council in 1994. From 2002 until 2005, he was the leader of the Conservative group in Croydon and stepped down from the Council in 2006 after 24 years.
Pelling was first elected to the London Assembly in 2000, and retained his seat in 2004. He was a member of the London Development Agency and chaired the GLA budget committee.
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