Shirley Porter

Shirley Porter

Dame Shirley Porter, Lady Porter, DBE, (born 29 November 1930) is a former Conservative leader of Westminster City Council in London. She is the daughter and heir of Sir Jack Cohen, the founder of Tesco supermarkets. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1991 by John Major after delivering "a spectacular victory" in Westminster for the Conservatives in the 1990 elections. In July 2003 John Prescott instructed his Permanent Secretary to set in motion the procedure to have her stripped of the title. By 2004 the action appeared to have been halted. This has led to some detractors erroneously claiming the title had been removed.

While leader of Westminster City Council she oversaw the "Building Stable Communities" policy, later described as the "homes for votes" scandal and was consequently accused of gerrymandering. The policy was judged illegal by the district auditor, and a surcharge of £27m levied on her in 1996. This was later raised to £42 million with interest and costs. She eventually settled in 2004, paying a full payment of £12.3 million. Kit Malthouse, Deputy Mayor of London, described it as one of the greatest post-war political scandals and said: "The highest court in the land found her guilty of gerrymandering. There isn't a much worse offence than that in politics. It is definitely up there in the hall of infamy." Writing in The Spectator in 2006, author and journalist Leo McKinstry described her as "the high priestess of Tory sleaze," whose actions helped to "undermine the reputation of the Conservative party in the 1990s and pave the way for the arrival of Tony Blair."

She moved to Israel in 1994 during the inquiry, and lived there until 2006.