Deputy leader of Camden Council

Andrew Marshall became Deputy Leader of the Council following the local elections in May 2006. A Conservative Councillor for Swiss Cottage, he was first elected to the council in 1990 and is highly attuned to the needs of the borough and the issues it faces. Andrew first became involved in local politics in Camden in the late 1980s.

He wished to improve the effectiveness and value for money of local services. In 1990 he was elected as a Camden councillor and served for four years until standing down in 1994. Four years later, in 1998 he stood again and was elected as a member first for the old Adelaide ward, and, since 2002, for the (partly overlapping) Swiss Cottage ward.

Since then, Andrew has chaired two scrutiny panels (Looked After Children, Parks and Open Spaces) and has served on the Standards Committee and Pensions Sub-Committee. In 2000, he was appointed Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group and the party's spokesman on resources, before becoming their leader after the local elections in May 2006.

Following the establishment of a Partnership Administration between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives shortly after these elections, Andrew was appointed the Council's Deputy Leader, serving alongside the Leader of the Councillor, Keith Moffitt.

Although he was born in the Orkney Islands, Andrew has very much made Camden his home. He has lived in the borough since 1986, met his wife, Rita, here when she was also a councillor in the early 1990s, and even got married in the Council's Registry Office.

With a history degree from Cambridge University, and a background in banking, Andrew is now a Director of a Fishburn Hedges, a corporate communications consultancy, based within walking distance of the Town Hall.

He believes one of the biggest challenges facing the borough is how to make Camden as 'liveable' as possible for those on middle incomes, so that the borough retains a true diversity in its long-term residents, thus supporting social cohesion.

Andrew sees the main priorities for the first year of the administration as identifying and successfully implementing major policy changes in street parking, anti-social behaviour and housing. He is also keen to ensure that the council is able to keep to its promise to deliver services better and cheaper, and that the Kings Cross development delivers as much as possible for the borough and its communities