Author: markblackburn

Mark was born in 1958 and grew up in Berkshire. He went to school at Bradfield College, near Reading, and then studied for a degree in Economics at the London School of Economics. Mark’s career was in retail, working for small and large companies, before he opened his own chain of shoe shops, which he sold in 2007. Aside from politics, Mark likes to keep fit with running, cycling and trekking. He has run several marathons, completed the Coast to Coast Walk and the Two Moors Way in Devon for charity, and cycled from Bangkok to Angkor Wat for the Cambodian Red Cross. He is a member and supporter of the National Trust. He also has an addiction to older Lancia cars, but is trying to keep the miles down! Mark is married and lives in the Westminster North constituency, in St John’s Wood. He is an active member of the Friends of Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill and a patron of London Zoo. He is also a member of the St John’s Wood Society, and regularly attends Westminster council's St John’s Wood Forum. Mark supports a north London football team - he is a Tottenham Hotspur supporter, but gave up his season ticket last year as it was becoming too painful! Before moving to St John’s Wood four years ago, Mark lived in Camden, where he rejoined the Liberal Democrats after a long gap since his LSE days. While in Camden, Mark was instrumental in the campaign to save the area around Camden Town Tube station from the developers, helping to stop the destruction of Trinity Church in Buck Street, the Electric Ballroom and part of the market. These would have been replaced by a 16-storey office block. Since moving to Westminster he has been Treasurer and is now Chair of the local Liberal Democrats. He fought the Abbey Road council by-election as the LibDem candidate in May 2007. He was very involved in the campaign to stop sixty mature trees being cut down and meadowland being concreted over in Regent’s Park to provide Astroturf football pitches. He was selected as the Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate in January 2009.