Richard Balfe

Richard Andrew Balfe, Baron Balfe (born 14 May 1944) is a British politician and life peer. He was a Labour Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1979 but joined the Conservative Party in 2002, before standing down in 2004.

Early life and career

Born in Barton Mills, Mildenhall, Suffolk, Balfe spent time in a children's home in Sheffield, and was educated at Brook Secondary School in the city. He began working in a bakery in 1960 and joined USDAW. The following year, he moved to London and worked first for the Crown Agents for Overseas Governments, then at the Foreign Office, before studying as a mature student at the London School of Economics, graduating BSc Hons. in 1971.

Political career In the 1970 general election, while a student, Balfe stood as the Labour Party candidate in Paddington South. He was unsuccessful, and instead became the Research Officer for the Finer Committee on One-Parent Families.

At the 1973 Greater London Council election, Balfe was elected as the member for Dulwich, serving until 1977. From 1975 until 1977 he was a member of the GLC Housing Committee. During this period, he was also political secretary (later director) of the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society and chairman of the Thamesmead New Town Committee.

In late 2001, Balfe stood for election to the post of quaestor in the European Parliament, against instructions from his party group. As a result, he was expelled in January 2002. In March, he joined the Conservative Party, the first elected Labour politician to do so since Reg Prentice in 1977. In 2008, he was appointed by David Cameron as the Conservatives' trade union envoy. Balfe served as President of the Cambridge Conservative Association, the Honorary President of the British Dietetic Association and a member of the Advisory Board at the UK-based 'Polar Regions' think-tank Polar Research and Policy Initiative. Currently, he is President of the TUC affiliated Union BALPA (the British Airline Pilots Association).

On 4 June 2015, Balfe proposed "a bill to make provision to allow European Union citizens who are resident in the United Kingdom to vote in parliamentary elections and to become members of Parliament; and for connected purposes".

In line with his pro-EU views, in the run-up to the 2016 referendum Balfe took an active role in "Cambridge For Europe", a local campaign which cites as its purpose ensuring "that people in Cambridge and its wider region fully understand the arguments for continued membership of the European Union". In addition to being a member of the group's steering committee, he was also a patron. He is not associated with the Cambridge for Europe campaign that was relaunched in 2020, and which strongly advocates support for Ukraine's resistance to Russia's invasion.

On 22 June 2023, Balfe attended a party in London organised by Andrei Kelin, the Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom on the occasion of Russia Day. Kelin gave a speech at the event in which he tried to justify his country's invasion of Ukraine.

He is the only Conservative member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Elections, which campaigns to replace First Past the Post with a proportional system that makes seats match votes.