London Assembly
He was elected to the Assembly at the 2000 election, and retained the seat in both 2004 and 2008, losing it dramatically in 2012 with a swing from a majority of 20,000 to a deficit of 20,000. He served as the first Conservative Chairman of the London Assembly in 2004/05 and again in 2006/07, and was Deputy Chair(man) in 2005/06 and for the 2007/08 session.
As Chairman of the London Assembly, Coleman introduced the old Greater London Council Chairman's badge and has made the role considerably more civic-based than previous holders of the post. This has led some critics to label Coleman as "pompous" and "self-important", not least because of the high number of honorary and civic positions he has held in the past and continues to hold at present.
Coleman's politics and style led him to be one of Mayor of London Ken Livingstone's principal critics, publicly falling out with the Mayor over the London Borough of Barnet's resurfacing policy, congestion charging and Livingstone's comments in 2005 likening a Jewish reporter to a concentration camp guard.
On his re-election to the Assembly in May 2008, Coleman made an angry acceptance speech at the count in which he announced that "the king of bling is back" before storming out, accompanied by his mother.
In the 2012 London Assembly election Coleman was defeated by the former Member of Parliament for Hendon, Andrew Dismore, who contested Coleman's Barnet and Camden seat for Labour. Coleman was defeated by Dismore, by 74,677 to 53,378 votes, a swing of some 40,000 votes. One of the largest nationwide swings to any Labour candidate in over a decade.
Read more about this topic: Brian Coleman
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