First female Conservative Lord Mayor in 40 years
THE next Lord Mayor of Birmingham will be a female Conservative councillor for the first time in 40 years.
Councillor Anne Underwood, who has represented Sutton Four Oaks for the Tories since 1982, has been appointed Lord Mayor elect by the city council and will take over the ceremonial role in May.
The last female Tory to be Birmingham’s First Citizen was the late Freda Cocks who served in 1977-8.
Cllr Underwood said: “I’m grateful for the huge honour afforded me by council colleagues from all parties. I’m really looking forward to representing Birmingham as its first citizen and raising its profile as a young and exciting place to live, work and play.”
The Lord Mayor is a historic ceremonial role and an honour usually awarded to a long-serving councillor who agrees to step down from front-line politics for their term.
Cllr Underwood was appointed Lord Mayor elect at the council meeting on Tuesday.
As well as serving as a city councillor for the last 35 years Cllr Underwood, who is 72, has been a governor or director in a series of education and health organisations across Sutton Coldfield and north Birmingham.
She has also served as a girl guide leader and president of both Sutton Coldfield Rotary Club and Sutton Coldfield Vesey Rotary Clubs.
She was chairman of Sutton Coldfield College from 1993 to 2008 leading the institution through periods of great change until its merger under the Birmingham Metropolitan banner.
She also fought to raise funds to save and restore the Grade IIlisted Georgian Moat House in the college grounds.
Born in Northfield, Cllr Underwood attended Kings Norton Girls Grammar School
She moved to Erdington as a teenager and joined the Four Oaks Conservatives in 1975, the year Margaret Thatcher was elected party leader. After years behind the scenes, she was rewarded with a council seat in 1982, which she has held ever since.
Cllr Underwood’s year as Lord Mayor will be her last on the city council as she is not standing for re-election in 2018.
Current Lord Mayor, Labour councillor Carl Rice will take over as deputy from May.