Sir Peter Soulsby

Sir Peter Soulsby was elected to Leicester City Council in 1973. Eight years later, he became Leader of the Council – a position held almost continuously for the next 17 years. During this time, he oversaw the council’s transition from district council to a unitary authority, taking on responsibility for all local government services in Leicester. He also spearheaded Leicester’s City Challenge programme, bringing over £400m of jobs and regeneration to Leicester – including the land for the King Power Stadium and the development of the National Space Centre.

In 1999, he was knighted by the Queen for services to the City of Leicester.

In 2005, he contested, and won, the parliamentary seat of Leicester Southand remained as a Member of Parliament for that constituency until April 2011, when he resigned the seat in order to stand for election as Leicester’s first directly elected City Mayor. On May 5th 2011, he won that election, and was re-elected in 2015.  He was again to re-elected in May 2019 to serve as Leicester’s City Mayor for a third term.