John Letford
Letford in 2011
Lord Provost of Dundee
In office
2001–2012
Preceded byHelen Wright
Succeeded byBob Duncan
Personal details
Born (1935-03-05) 5 March 1935 (age 88)
Aberdeen, Scotland
Residence(s)Dundee, Scotland

John Ross Letford MBE (born 5 March 1935)[1][2] is a Scottish politician who served as the Lord Provost of Dundee, as well as a councillor in his local ward of Lochee, until May 2012. His eleven years as Lord Provost made him the longest serving civic head in the United Kingdom since the nineteenth century.[3] He currently resides in the Charleston area of the city.

Born in Aberdeen, he moved to Dundee in 1943 and later served an apprenticeship in the Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company shipyard as a marine coppersmith. He also served in the Royal Air Force from 1956 until 1958.

In 1989 he began working as a training manager with Community Industry Rathbone, where he remained for 15 years before becoming a councillor in the Tayside Regional Council and Labour Party Chairman for Camperdown.

He has served on several committees with matters concerning sports, theatre, education, local services and disabled associations and has been involved with Dundee City Council since 1994 where before being elected as Lord Provost in June 2001, in succession to Helen Wright, who was voted out of office because of a dispute over her expenses.[4][5] He was elected by a vote of 15–11 over Scottish National Party candidate David Bowes, winning backing from three Conservative councillors.[5] Previously he had held the post of Deputy Lord Provost.[4] Letford was re-elected as Lord Provost after the 2007 Scottish local elections and again after the 2007 Scottish local elections.

On 24 March 2009, Letford resigned from the Labour Group on Dundee City Council, and became an independent councillor.[6]

Letford was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to local government.[7] He launched his autobiography in 2016.[3]

References

  1. ^ ltd, comdevelopment. "Find companies, search people". Companies In The UK.
  2. ^ "John Letford (b.1935), Lord Provost of Dundee (2001–2012) | Art UK". artuk.org.
  3. ^ a b Ross, David (24 May 2016). "Life story of a Dundee provost". The Herald. Glasgow: Herald & Times Group. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  4. ^ a b "Provost removed over expenses row". BBC News Website. BBC. 18 June 2001. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  5. ^ a b "New lord provost urges city to move on". The Herald. Glasgow. 27 June 2001. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  6. ^ Brian Allison (24 March 2009). "Provost pulls plug on Labour". The Courier. Archived from the original on 3 May 2009.
  7. ^ "No. 60173". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 June 2012. p. 18.


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