Gareth Bacon was elected in December 2019 as the Member of Parliament for Orpington. Prior to that, he was elected to the London Assembly as a Londonwide Assembly Member in 2008, and in May 2016 was elected as the Assembly Member for Bexley and Bromley. He stepped down in January 2020 as Leader of the GLA Conservative Group and Chairman of the Assembly’s Budget and Performance Committee following his election to Parliament.

In the final 18 months of Boris Johnson’s mayoralty Gareth served as Chairman of the London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority, the body which oversaw the London Fire Brigade, and as Chairman of the London Local Resilience Forum which co-ordinates the emergency planning work of London’s blue light services, armed forces, local government and key utility providers.

Gareth was also an elected councillor in the London Borough of Bexley from 1998 until 2020 and served as a Cabinet Member for a total of nine years in a variety of portfolio positions including Deputy Leader of the Council, Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services and Cabinet Member for Environment and Public Realm.

He comes from a background in the financial recruitment industry and has Bachelors and Masters’ degrees in politics and government from Kent University.