Brian Paddick, Baron Paddick

Brian Leonard Paddick, Baron Paddick (born 24 April 1958), is a British

In the latter capacity, Paddick attracted controversy by instructing his police officers not to arrest or charge people found with cannabis so that they could focus on crimes that were affecting the quality of life in the borough to a greater extent.

In late 2002, the

However, following the disagreement, Paddick was assigned the position of group director of information management at New Scotland Yard, which he considered a "non-job". He came to accept that his police career was over, and retired from the police force on 31 May 2007. In November 2007, it was announced that Paddick had been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London in the mayoral elections to be held on 1 May 2008. He came third, behind Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone, winning 9.8 per cent of first preference votes.

Paddick was created a life peer in 2013, taking the title Baron Paddick, of Brixton in the London Borough of Lambeth,^[7][8] sitting in the House of Lords for the Liberal Democrats. He became a non-affiliated member of the Lords upon his appointment as a non-executive advisor for the Metropolitan Police in 2023.

Early life

Paddick was born on 24 April 1958 in

He is the twin brother of J. H. Paddick and the grandson of a policeman[11] and the son of Anthony Henry J. Paddick and Evelyn Perkin. He is the second cousin once removed of actor and comedian Hugh Paddick.^{[citation needed]}

Police career

Paddick joined the

Paddick returned to New Scotland Yard, first as

At around this time, the national press also began coverage of the pilot cannabis programme in Brixton where officers were instructed not to arrest or charge people who were found to be in possession of cannabis. They were instead to issue on-the-spot warnings and confiscate the drugs. Although Paddick is credited with the idea, the pilot programme was sanctioned by the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, Sir John Stevens.

Paddick argued that the policy allowed his officers to deal with cannabis quickly and informally, freeing them to concentrate on heroin and crack cocaine offences, as well as other offences such as street robbery and burglary, which he and others felt were affecting the quality of life in Lambeth to a greater extent. "[P]olice officers said they weren't prepared any longer to drop cannabis down the drain because one of their colleagues had been arrested by internal investigators apparently for doing just that. They were going to arrest everybody they found even with the smallest amount of cannabis. I couldn't have allowed that to happen. They would have been doing nothing else."^[14]

Critics accused him of being soft on drugs, and the policy became a source of public controversy and debate. The situation worsened when The Mail on Sunday published a false story by his former partner, James Renolleau, that Commander Paddick had used cannabis himself. They also highlighted his homosexuality as a matter of concern, and claimed he was an anarchist based on a comment he had made on Urban75 in January 2002.^[17] In fact, he had written that "the concept of anarchy has always appealed to me", but that he was "not sure everyone would behave well if there were no laws and no system."^{[18] [19]}

Following the controversy, Paddick was transferred to an intelligence position and the allegations were investigated by the

In September 2007 Paddick commented: "I always felt like a fish out of water in the police, not just on gay issues but generally. I was a very counter-cultural senior officer. I'm very non-hierarchical and got into trouble for insisting on people calling me by my first name. I was trying to effect the most difficult change there is in an organisation, which is a change of culture – to try to make it more liberal, more understanding of difference."[14]

Jean Charles de Menezes

After the

Paddick was quoted by the BBC as stating, "It was a very calm meeting. People were very understanding of the circumstances that these officers found themselves in. We expressed our sympathy to the family of the person who was tragically killed. It was a very measured meeting, but a very positive meeting." He would not promise that a similar tragedy would never happen again, but he stated it was not likely.^[22]

In March 2006 it was revealed that Paddick had consulted libel lawyers in connection with statements issued by

When this allegation became public following an unauthorised disclosure, Scotland Yard issued a statement claiming that the officer alleged to have believed this [Paddick] "has categorically denied this in his interview with, and statement to, the IPCC investigators". The statement continued that they "were satisfied that whatever the reasons for this suggestion being made, it is simply not true". Paddick's interpretation of this statement was that it accused him of lying.^[23]

On 28 March 2006, Paddick accepted a statement from the Metropolitan Police that it "did not intend to imply" a senior officer had misled the probe into the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said "any misunderstanding is regretted" and that Paddick had accepted its "clarification" and considered the matter closed.^[6]

In a lengthy interview with Paddick published in The Daily Telegraph on 17 November 2007 detailing his thinking on becoming London Mayor, he made a revealing comment possibly connected with difficulties that have arisen because of the de Menezes killing: "Policing is a dangerous job, we should trust the professional judgement of officers on the front line. We shouldn't prosecute them or their bosses if they decide to put their lives on the line for the public."^[24] In addition, on 26 November 2007 in The Independent Paddick was asked if Commissioner Ian Blair should have resigned over the de Menezes case. His response was: "Yes. The public allows the police to use force on the understanding that someone will be held to account if something goes wrong. An innocent man was killed by the police and in the absence of any individual officer being held to account, the person at the top should take responsibility."^[25]

Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London election 2008

In August 2006, it was reported by The Observer's "Pendennis" column that Paddick was considering seeking selection as the Liberal Democrats' candidate for Mayor of London in the mayoral elections to be held in 2008.^[26] This was confirmed a year later by the BBC.^[27] He received an endorsement from Lynne Featherstone MP, a former member of the London Assembly, on her blog.^[28]

On 2 September 2007, Paddick informed

On 13 November 2007, it was announced that Paddick had been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London.

On Thursday 16 June 2011, it was reported that Paddick had entered nomination papers to stand once again for the Liberal Democrats in the 2012 London mayoral elections. On Friday 2 September he was selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate.^[35]

On election day itself, Paddick won 91,774 or 4.16% of the first preference votes, behind eventual winner Boris Johnson for the Conservatives, former mayor Ken Livingstone for Labour, and

House of Lords activities

Having been elevated to the House of Lords on 16 September 2013, he led a debate on the public trust of police, on 28 November 2013.^[36]

In the 2016 Autumn Party Convention, Lord Paddick saw the Liberty and Security Policy Paper produced by the working party he chaired accepted by the convention. This paper, while recognising the danger of terrorism, took issue with the

In October 2023, Lord Paddick withdrew from Liberal Democrat whip following his appointment as a non-executive advisor with the Metropolitan Police. He will sit as a non-affiliated member for the duration of the appointment.^[38]

Personal life

Since childhood, Paddick has known he was homosexual, but between 1983 and 1988 he was married to Mary Stone in what he called "a genuine attempt to live as a straight man" – "It's what my faith as a Christian expected of me. It's what my parents expected of me. It's what the police service expected of me. Mary was a very beautiful and charming woman. It was a genuine attempt to try and deny my sexuality and to 'do the right thing'."^[1] According to Paddick, it was "a fairly conventional marriage" and his former wife said it was "a wonderful marriage". She did not know he was gay. He struggled with his sexuality until towards the end of his marriage in 1988: "I learned the lesson about being yourself before that, and being open about my sexuality was the last piece in the jigsaw. I wasn't open about my sexuality until I was a commander."^[14] A November 2003 profile in The Guardian noted: "Mr Paddick is relaxed enough to laugh at himself and told a gay magazine: 'My last staff officer got promoted and went to royalty protection. In his leaving card I wrote, "Same job, different Queen".'"^[10] Paddick currently lives in Vauxhall, London. He lived there previously with Petter Belsvik (prior to his death^[39]), a civil engineer from Oslo, Norway; they met in a bar while on holiday in Ibiza.^[9][1] They married in Oslo, same-sex marriage in Norway being legalised 8 days before, on 9 January 2009.^[40] Belsvik died at the end of February 2023.^[41]

Paddick was a contestant on the eighth series of the

In 2008, Paddick was ranked number 101 in the annual Pink List of influential gay and lesbian people in Britain published by The Independent on Sunday,^[44] down from number 83 in 2007.^[45]

In 2010, Paddick appeared on Channel 4's alternative election night special of Come Dine with Me alongside Edwina Currie, Rod Liddle and Derek Hatton.

Speaking about his marriage in Norway as part of the 2010 Liberal Democrat debate about equal marriage for gay people, Paddick said: "The real impact of [marriage rather than a civil partnership], the symbolism of it, the importance of it, didn't really strike me until we stood in front of the judge in the courthouse in Oslo, and she said ... we're here today to witness the marriage of Brian and Petter. And that was an intensely moving experience. We really feel, my husband and I, that we are really equal because we are married."^[46]

In July 2018, Paddick revealed that he was a participant in the PrEP^[47] (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) medication trials being carried out at the time by the NHS in England. The medication is used to prevent HIV negative people acquiring HIV.

References

Notes

Sources

• Dodd, Vikram (28 November 2003). "The Guardian Profile: Brian Paddick". The Guardian. London.
• "Brian Paddick's CV". The Guardian. London. 27 April 2006. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
• "About Brian". BrianPaddick4London. 9 September 2007. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2007.

Further reading

News reports

• "Urban cool: We need more police officers like Paddick [leader]". The Guardian. London. 21 February 2002. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
• Hopkins, Nick (12 March 2002). "Rebuke for 'anarchy' police chief". The Guardian. London.
• "A decent troublemaker: Paddick's views will stand the test of time [leader]". The Guardian. London. 19 March 2002. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
• "Respect for Paddick [letter]". The Guardian. London. 19 March 2002. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
• Slocombe, Mike (20 March 2002). "He's a fair copper – and it was an unfair cop". The Guardian. London.
• "Puff for cannabis cop". The Guardian. London. 21 March 2002. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
• Gillan, Andrew (22 March 2002). "He was one of us, say dismayed Brixtonians". The Guardian. London.
• Day, Julia (19 December 2003). "Mail on Sunday rounds on Paddick". The Guardian. London.
• Wells, Matt (20 December 2003). "Paper pays damages to police chief". The Guardian. London.

Books

• Paddick, Brian (2008). Line of Fire. London:
  ISBN 978-1-84737-174-4
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brian Paddick.

• Official website
• Coverage at the Guardian

Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by The Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury	Gentlemen Baron Paddick	Followed by The Lord Purvis of Tweed