FORA.tv Speaker - Kit Malthouse

After completing his degree in politics and economics at Newcastle, Malthouse qualified as a Chartered Accountant with an international firm in the City of London. Since then Malthouse's life has been split between his family, his business and London politics. In 1998 he was elected to Westminster City Council. Malthouse's first major job on the Council was to head the Social Services department, dealing with the elderly, disabled, children and vulnerable people. During his time in the department he initiated a number of radical policy initiatives, most notably more than halving the number of street homelessness in the City, and steered the Department towards achieving the highest marks in the country from the Social Services Inspectorate. Malthouse was then elected as Deputy Leader of the Council and was appointed Cabinet member for Finance by Sir Simon Milton, the Council Leader. During the five years he remained in this job he increased council reserves by more than 50m, delivered one of the lowest council tax levels in the country, and was part of the team that kept Westminster at the top of the league tables throughout. He was elected to the London Assembly on 1 May 2008, representing the West Central Constituency and was appointed Deputy Mayor - Policing, by Boris Johnson.