James Giles | |
|---|---|
| Leader of the Opposition on Kingston upon Thames Council | |
| Assumed office 20 November 2023 | |
| Councillor for Green Lane and St James Ward | |
| Assumed office 5 May 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Seat created |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 2000 (age 25) |
| Political party | Kingston Independent Residents Group Workers Party of Britain |
| Website | jamesgiles |
James Giles (born April 2000 [1] ) is a British local councillor and political advisor.
Giles was born and grew up in the London suburb of New Malden. [2] In 2008,when attending Burlington Junior School,he founded the student newsletter Burlington Weekly,subsequently expanded to cover extramural news as Weekly Express. [3]
On enrolling at Coombe Boys' School he launched the Coombe Monthly ,which grew into a newspaper with its own website. Its Twitter audience included the Kingston and Surbiton MP Ed Davey and a number of the borough councillors. In 2014,he edited an issue on fracking,and interviewed the Kingston Council leader Kevin Davis (Conservative) for another issue. He also led a campaign against plans to cut staff at the New Malden post office around the same time. [3] The Coombe Monthly was later renamed as the Kingston Enquirer.
Giles was a guest and a host of George Galloway's programme The Mother of All Talk Shows on Radio Sputnik in 2020. For 6 weeks in 2021,he co-hosted Galloway's Sputnik:Orbiting the World show on RT UK. [4]
Giles co-founded the Kingston Independent Residents Group (KIRG) political party in 2017 with Cllr Mary Clark,and served as its deputy leader in 2022. [2] He has been a councillor for Green Lane &St James' since 5 May 2022 and leads The Opposition Group / Kingston Independent Residents Group (KIRG) in the Borough Council. [4]
In November 2023,he was suspended from his position as a Community Wellbeing Local Government Association (LGA) Board Member after circulating a petition for a ceasefire in the Gaza war,which stated that the names of councillors who did not sign would be published "in the interest of accountability". [5] This was criticized by some as threatening or intimidating. [6] [7] Giles was cleared of 'threatening behaviour','bullying' or 'harassment' in an independent investigation report commissioned by Kingston Council,and has taken up new roles with the LGA since.[ citation needed ]
Giles worked as a public relations consultant for a number of private companies. [1] He has been a director of New Malden Markets Ltd since 2024. [8]
In June 2021,he was the campaign manager for the Workers Party candidate George Galloway during an unsuccessful run in the Batley and Spen by-election. [2]
In February 2024,he managed Galloway's successful campaign in the Rochdale by-election,which had been vacated following the death of Labour's Tony Lloyd. [4] [9] At that time,he claimed that his political consultancy work was separate from his personal politics, [4] and was not a member of the Workers Party. [10]
In the 2024 general election that July,Giles ran as the Workers Party candidate for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North,coming in second with 27% of the vote and losing to Liam Byrne of the Labour Party. [11]
Following the election,Giles became chief of staff to Ayoub Khan,the independent MP for Birmingham Perry Barr and was hired as adviser by the other elected independent MPs supporting the Palestinian cause:Shockat Adam,Adnan Hussain and Iqbal Mohamed, [9] all of whom subsequently formed the Independent Alliance with Jeremy Corbyn.
Giles described his political beliefs as "localist" in early 2024. [4]