Tributes paid to former Westminster Lord Mayor Alan Bradley: ‘Best leader the council never had’
Tributes have been paid by politicians to a “devoted” former Lord Mayor and Westminster councillor.
Life-long Pimlico resident Alan Bradley died aged 76 on August 25, after years of suffering with Parkinson’s disease.
Mr Bradley’s political career spanned 36 years.
It began in 1978 when he was elected to represent Churchill ward for the Conservatives in 1978. And between 2002 and 2014 he represented Tatchbrook ward.
He served as Lord Mayor from 1995-96 and held nearly every cabinet post. He was deputy leader of the council, and served on almost every council committee.
Leader of the council, Nickie Aiken, paid tribute at Westminster town hall on Wednesday, September 18.
She said: “In an era in which politicians are under fire like never before, we remember Alan Bradley as that rare animal, a person of principle truly devoted to public service.
“Yes, he was an astute politician, yes, but he was utterly committed to the people he served.
“As a newly-elected member, I learned so much from him – the craft of the councillor, the art of
negotiation and the ability to navigate authorities to get things done for local people.
“I visited Alan in his last weeks, and while his body was failing, the mind remained forensically sharp. He is a great loss to Westminster and local Government.”
Labour councillor Paul Dimoldenberg called Mr Bradley “the best leader of the council we never had”.
“He had a wide hinterland [of interests]. Music at the Wigmore Hall, the works of William Shakespeare, a librarian at the West London synagogue and, as we heard from his brother at his funeral, a train spotter on the West Coast Main Line.
“He was also, we were all very surprised to learn, a child radio star in the 1950s.”
Ms Aiken said one of Mr Bradley’s biggest victories was getting free-newspapers publishers to collect spare copies, in order to deal with the huge amounts of litter they created in the West End.
He was also conferred with the title of Honorary Alderman in November 2014, a reward given for services as a councillor.
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