Graham Loose is The Mayor of Kentish Town.
He has been the Mayor for under a year but has already come to the attention of Londoners and those outside the capital due to his rather straight-talking stance.
It would be fair to call him a maverick politician; outspoken, unorthodox, passionate and unafraid to talk in the language of the street.
Educated at The University of Warwick (BA Hons in Urban Planning)
Graham joined the urban redevelopment team at the Kentish Town Hall working with a small but very ambitious team of forward thinking planners. With his sights set firmly on the top job he rose quickly through the ranks working with several departments to gain an understanding of as many different aspects of local government, something that Graham Loose knew would make him a better Mayor.
He became Deputy Mayor in 2008, occupying that position for several years. In his own words ‘shit started to fall apart; my marriage, my dreams of becoming Mayor, and to cap it all, someone cock n’ ballsed by brand new BMW. I finally said “ENOUGH!!”’ The following year Graham decided he would stand for Mayor himself. It was fair to say that most had written him off as too maverick, a rank outsider. In a climate where most people are bored of being lied to and palmed off with 'flim-flam' to use Mr Loose's parlance, he swept to victory in the local election.
In the past few months he has hit the headlines, it would be fair to say, more for his antics out of the council chamber. In this way, he is compared to Rob Ford, the former Mayor of Toronto. Loose is open about his drug use, his rather generous use of council expenses and his unorthodox use of council resources. He claims he is being transparent and upfront and honest, doing what every politician does. This is something that his local supporters appreciate. Ss much so he has an approval rating greater than any previous person in the job. More importantly its the youth of the area that feel he is speaking to them in a language they understand and he is galvanising their support and kick starting them into taking an interest in their area.
His policies are simple and direct :
When car parks are empty at night why do we have people sleeping rough? Same too with old lock up garages, make them homeless bays.
With illiteracy still a problem, why not re-introduce town criers outside tube stations?
Drugs - allow better ones in.
End the relentless middle ponsing up of primary schools.
He is passionate about his area. He is passionate about change. He is passionate about his loathing of Camden Town, Boris Johnson, Sidiq Khan, StreetFood, Farmers Markets, and gentrification.
He refutes the talk that he might run for London Mayor, to run on the Talking Sense ticket.