Geoff Gollop

Geoff Gollop OBE
Deputy Mayor of Bristol
In office 2012–2016
Leader	George Ferguson
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Craig Cheney (Finance, Governance and Performance)[1] Asher Craig (Communities, Events and Equalities)
Lord Mayor of Bristol
In office 2011–2011[2]
Preceded by	Colin Smith
Succeeded by	Peter Main
Deputy Lord Mayor of Bristol
In office 2012–2012[2]
Leader	Peter Main
Preceded by	Colin Smith
Succeeded by	Peter Main
Councillor for Westbury-on-Trym and Henleaze
Incumbent
Assumed office 2001[3]
Personal details
Born	Geoffrey Richard Gollop (1955-02-23) 23 February 1955 (age 69)
Political party	Conservative (since 1973)
Spouse	Bernice (m. 1990 or 1991)
Children	2
Alma mater	Clifton College Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge
Profession	Accountant politician

Geoffrey Richard Gollop, OBE^[4][5] (born 23 February 1955)^[5] is a British Conservative politician. He was a councillor on Bristol City Council from 2001 to 2024 and deputy mayor of Bristol from 2012-16. He stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative candidate for the first directly elected mayor of Bristol in 2012.^[6]

Gollop was born at Bristol Maternity Hospital and has lived his entire life in Bristol, having been brought up in Henbury, where he attended Blaise Primary School.^[5] He then attended Clifton College, and after that went up to Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. Thereafter he trained in accounting, became a Chartered Accountant and worked in accounting firms, before being made redundant and setting up his own business.^[7] Geoff Gollop & Co merged with accounting firm Milsted Langdon in 2013, with Gollop joining the latter as a director.^[8]

Gollop is married to Bernice and has two children, Mark and Hermione. He is a Methodist and supports Bristol Rovers F.C. and Bristol City F.C.^[7] His other interests include musical theatre and travel.^[5] He joined the Conservative Party in 1973. He is a former school governor of Henbury School and Henleaze Junior School, and a former church warden of St Mary's Church, Henbury.^[5]

Gollop was inspired to enter local politics by the issue of secondary education^[9] and by his father Philip, a former Councillor for the Henbury ward,^[10].

Gollop was first elected as a Conservative Councillor on Bristol City Council in the June 2001 local election, representing the Westbury-on-Trym ward.^[3] He was re-elected several times, representing Westbury-on-Trym and later the Westbury-on-Trym and Henleaze ward, until losing the ward to the Liberal Democrats in the May 2024 local election.^[11]

In 2011-12, Gollop served in the ceremonial role of lord mayor of Bristol,^[12] and in 2012-13 he served as the deputy lord mayor.

In November 2011, Gollop was the victim of an arson attack on his car, for which the Informal Anarchist Federation claimed responsibility.^[13]

On 7 August 2012, he was selected to be the Conservative candidate for the first directly elected mayor of Bristol, having defeated former three-time lord mayor and Bristol City Council's Conservative group leader, Peter Abraham, and former councillor, Barbara Lewis. Receiving support from the mayor of London, Boris Johnson,^[14] Gollop campaigned on transport, education, inequality and Council culture.^[15] His specific policies included a freeze or reduction in Council Tax, lower fares on public transport, and business rates relief for independent shops.^[16] In the election on 15 November, Gollop lost to independent candidate George Ferguson, coming third, with 9.13% of the first-preference votes, behind Ferguson and the Labour Party candidate Marvin Rees. Gollop attributed the result to "a real disillusionment with party politics".^[17]

After the election, Mayor Ferguson assembled a "rainbow cabinet" of councillors from several parties, appointing Gollop as his deputy mayor and cabinet member with responsibility for finance and corporate services.^[18][19]