Print

Consultant, Qualified 1983

Robert was a partner in Freeman Box between 1983 and 2015 and is now a consultant.

Robert has served a variety of public offices with pride and distinction. He was a Councillor on Westminster City Council between May 1982 and October 2018 (the longest serving Councillor in Westminster’s history) and served for ten years as the Council’s Deputy Leader of the Council (2008-2018). Between 2001 and 2017 he also served as Cabinet Member for the Built Environment that included Planning, the Mayoralty and Special Events. Between 2017 and 2018 he served as Cabinet Member for Business Culture & Heritage. Additionally, he chaired the principal Planning Applications Committee between 2000 and 2017.  He also served as Chief Whip between 2000 and 2008.

robert-blue

In 1996-1997, Robert served as Lord Mayor of Westminster and between 2001 and 2018 as a rota Deputy Lord Mayor (Lord Mayor Locum Tenens).  He also  Chaired the London Mayors’ Association, representing mayors, past and present of all 33 London boroughs between 1998 and 2015.

Robert’s proudest moments were being appointed one of Her Majesty The Queen’s Deputy Lieutenants for Greater London and the award of an MBE in recognition for his exemplary and long-term commitment to public service.

Robert currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park, is a trustee of the Savoy Educational Trust and a trustee of "Mousetrap Theatre Projects".

He is also a founding trustee of the Sir Simon Milton Foundation, a charity set up in the name of Robert's late civil partner Sir Simon Milton who had served as Leader of Westminster City Council and Deputy Mayor of London (under Boris Johnson) before his untimely death in 2011.  The Foundation addresses loneliness and isolation amongst older people and the training of young people to assist them getting full time employment.

He is a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Fanmakers and a Freeman of the Company of Watermen and Lightermen.

In 2014 he was voted "Conservative Councillor of the Year" in a national newspaper.

He was educated at Gonville & Caius College Cambridge and at Wolfson College Cambridge before training as a Solicitor at the College of Law in Lancaster Gate.

Email Robert