Phil Turner | |
|---|---|
| Leader of Camden Council | |
| In office 1982–1986 | |
| Preceded by | Roy Shaw |
| Succeeded by | Tony Dykes |
| Personal details | |
| Political party | Labour |
Philip J. Turner is a former English Labour Party politician,who led Camden Council from 1982 to 1986. [1] [2] He held many other positions on the council until 2006,when he lost his Kilburn seat to the Liberal Democrats. [3]
Turner was elected to the Camden Council as a Labour councillor for St. Pancras in the 1982 election, [4] and became leader of the council. [1] According to columnist John Gulliver,during Turner's tenure as council leader in the 1980s,members of the public began to attend Town Hall committee meetings more regularly. [5]
As council leader,Turner participated in the 1985 rate-capping rebellion against the Conservative government,which sought to restrict spending by local councils. [6] In April 1985,he sent a letter to Camden ratepayers that the council found it impossible to set a rate,but two months later,he sent a second letter announcing that Camden had finally set a rate after all. [6] Later that year,Turner hired John McDonnell as his policy advisor,after McDonnell was sacked by Ken Livingstone as deputy leader of the Greater London Council for his part in the rate-capping rebellion. [7]
In 1994,as chairman of the Camden leisure committee,Turner promoted a scheme to improve,publicise,and encourage visits to Hampstead Cemetery as a historical site. [8]
As head of the council's leisure and community services committee in 1999,Turner proposed closing three libraries in Camden,and replacing them with high-tech "super libraries". [9] Thirteen Labour councillors including Aileen Hammond voted against the party whip,and the libraries were saved. [10] Turner later acknowledged that the rebels had been right,and that he had been wrong. [11] [10]
Turner was the Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Hampstead and Highgate in 1987. [12]