Brian Coleman

Writing on the website of the New Statesman on the issue of outing, he said: "The late Ted Heath managed to obtain the highest office of state after he was supposedly advised to cease his cottaging activities in the 1950s when he became a privy councillor."

Brian Coleman FRSA (born 25 June 1961) is a former Independent Conservative politician and a former councillor in the London Borough of Barnet.

Coleman was elected as councillor for the London Borough of Barnet Council's Totteridge ward in 1998.

He was a Conservative Party member of the London Assembly for Barnet and Camden between 2000 and 2012, and in Barnet was Mayor for 2009–2010.

In 2002, Coleman announced his intention to seek the Conservative Party nomination to be candidate for Mayor of London, but he was rejected at a very early stage.

In April 2004 Coleman was against Middlesex University's plans to expand its Trent Park campus because it was "a crap university" that could "only attract foreign" students.

Following the 7 July 2005 bombings in London, Coleman questioned on radio how safe it was for Londoners to travel by public transport.

He is against the proposal for the North and West London Light Railway.

During the 2005 Conservative Party leadership election, Coleman publicly supported David Davis.

In June 2006 he criticised the planned refurbishment of Potter's Fields Park (between City Hall and Tower Bridge), saying that it should be replaced by a multi-storey car park

In August 2006 Coleman criticised protesters against a provision of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 as "sad, mad and bad".

On the restrictions on the right to demonstrate, he stated "It's not a matter of free speech – it's a matter of a proper way of running a world city".

Immediately following the local government election in May 2006, Coleman successfully proposed a vote of no confidence in the leader of the borough council, Councillor Brian Salinger, triggering an election in which Salinger was replaced as Leader by Councillor Mike Freer.

Coleman is a former chairman of the Finchley Friends of Israel and remains a member of Conservative Friends of Israel.

A governor at two local Secondary Schools, he is also active in the Rotary Club and is a vocal supporter of the rights of Falun Gong practitioners and the Greek Cypriot community.

In August 2007, residents of New Barnet campaigning on the environmental and transport details connected with the redevelopment of the East Barnet School site (Metropolitan Open Land adjoining the Metropolitan Green Belt), were criticised by Coleman as "idiots" and "the usual Nimby brigade".

The previous month Coleman was the only objector to the erection of a wind turbine at Frith Manor Primary School (opposite Partingdale Lane), as he believed it was "out of character in the green belt".

In April 2007, Coleman gained some publicity when he claimed that the former prime minister Edward Heath was homosexual and that it was "common knowledge" in the Conservative party that he had been told to keep it secret for the sake of his career.

An article by Coleman, "Politics and alcohol" for the New Statesman in August 2007 alleged that Sir Ian Blair the Metropolitan Police Commissioner was "somewhat the worse for wear at a number of official functions" and "needed assistance from his protection officers to manage the stairs".

Then-Mayor Ken Livingstone reportedly responded that "The London Assembly should stop giving a platform to a person who in addition to putting out all sorts of smears and gossip is also a dyed-in-the-wool Thatcherite who in no way represents the views of most Londoners".

It was announced in June 2008 that he was to receive an honorary doctorate from Middlesex University for his "outstanding commitment to the community".

In late August 2008, an article by Coleman in the Barnet Press caused another minor media storm.

He wrote that the British athletes were "tainted with the blood of Tibetans", and that London mayor Boris Johnson was "forced to go to Beijing to collect the Olympic flag".

Coleman's comments received cross-party criticism and the Mayor distanced himself from the remarks made by his fellow Conservative.

Coleman was reprimanded in 2009 and 2011 for sending abusive emails to local residents who criticised him, breaching the council's code of conduct.

In 2009 he said "It's not feasible, it won't happen. Ideas like this are thought up by men who probably still have a train set in the attic."

Coleman was Mayor of Barnet from May 2009 to May 2010.

In September 2009 Coleman was found to have broken Barnet Council's code of conduct.

The standards sub-committee upheld an independent report that he had failed to treat others with respect.

The complaint was made by a local blogger who had received an email from Coleman calling him an "obsessive, poisonous individual".

Council leader Mike Freer granted Coleman £10,000 of taxpayers' money to pay for legal representation during the Standards Committee investigation, as Coleman had rejected the solicitors provided by the council's insurance scheme.

When the local paper approached Coleman before they published this information, he told them that "This has absolutely nothing to do with me, nothing whatsoever, and if you say otherwise you will be hearing from my solicitor."

Despite finding Coleman in breach of the code, the standards sub-committee decided not impose any sanction on him.

He was also chairman and leader of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) from May 2008 to 5 May 2012.

After being charged with assault in October 2012, Coleman's membership of the Conservative Party was suspended.

He was a critic of Hendon Football Club and the London 2012 Olympic Bid.

Coleman was a consistent opponent of redevelopment plans by Barnet Football Club, including their proposed move to Copthall Stadium and in May 2013 he said he rejoiced and called for the church bells of Barnet to be rung to celebrate the club's demotion from the Football League.

During the subsequent Copthall application by Saracens rugby club, Coleman went on record as saying that his Boris Johnson would never allow Saracens to build a new joint-use community stadium.

Both the Council and Boris Johnson passed the application despite Coleman's opposition.

In May 2014, Coleman stood for re-election at the local elections as an independent candidate in the Totteridge ward, but failed to be elected, gaining only 6% of the vote.