Biography

Early years - prior to settling in the UK

Gurcharan was born in the village of Nathowal in the district of Ludhiana (Punjab, India) on November 7th, 1948.

He was born into a Sikh family with a Jatt background. He is the second eldest of 5 siblings. Gurcharan comes from a family with a military background with his father, grandfather, father in-law and grandfather in-law having served in the British and Indian armies. His grandfather Bishan Singh Buttar fought in the British Indian Army in World War 1 and his father, Kartar Singh Buttar fought for the British Indian Army in World War 2 both being awarded medals for their bravery.

In 1954, the family moved to the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) where they settled in the village of Ramraj (in Meerut, Muzaffarnagar). The main family income was derived from farming. Growing up Gurcharan proved to be very studious and divided his time between studies and helping his father cultivate land.

At secondary school he received a merit scholarship for coming first in his O Level exams beating over 1,000 other students to the achievement. He continued and graduated with Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics from the Meerut University. He later achieved a Masters in Mathematics.

He is a fluent English speaker and is also fluent in Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu.

In 1971, he married Rajinder Kaur Jawanda, a registered nurse from Jagroan, Ludhiana (Punjab). Rajinder recieved her nursing qualifications from Christian Medical College Ludhiana.

Education

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Arrival in the UK

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In 1972, Gurcharan and Rajinder came to England and eventually settled in the town of Southall in Middlesex. Rajinder began working as a nurse at Hammersmith Hospital in Shephard's Bush, London and Gurcharan began working as a Rail Guard for British Rail and then a Clerical Officer for the Civil Service at Somerset House in Aldwych, London.

Family

Gurcharan and Rajinder have three grown up children. All 3 were born at Perivale Hospital, Middlesex. They also have 5 grandchildren.

Career

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Early career

• British Rail Guard (1972)
• Clerical Officer for the Civil Service (Dept. of Inland Revenue) (1972-75)
• Executive Officer (Tax Officer Higher Grade) for the Civil Service (1975-84)

Business career

• Self employed shop owner (1984-86)
• Hotel and restaurant owner (1986-92)

Post-business career

• Housing and Resettlement Officer for Centrepoint (1992-2002)
• numerous management posts (2002-04)
• Senior Floating Support Officer for London and Quadrant Housing Trust (2004-06)
• Youth Services Manager for London and Quadrant Housing Trust (2006-07)

As a Youth Services Manager, Gurcharan was involved in supporting 16-25 year old young adults with various complex needs i.e. those suffering with drug and alcohol addiction and mental disability. These were typically people from under privileged backgrounds (e.g. whose parents either split up, or families were living in overcrowded conditions or on drugs or all). Gurcharan's role was to take a strategic view of the situation and ensure delivery of service on an equitable basis.

Political career

Gurcharan Singh has been a Councillor within the London Borough of Ealing since 1982 and has been an elected official for over 25 years since. He has held a number of political/non-political positions within this period. These include:

• Councillor for the London Borough of Ealing (1982 to date)
• Chairman of the Housing Committee (1988-90 & 1994-96)
• Chairman of the Planning Committee (1997-98)
• Chairman of Recycling and Waste Committee (1998-2000)
• Cabinet Member for Environmental Improvement (2000-02)
• Deputy Leader of the Council (2000-02)
• Deputy Mayor, London Borough of Ealing (2002-03)
• Mayor, London Borough of Ealing (2003-04)

Political posts held in local government

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Chair of the Housing Committee (1988-90 & 1994-96)

Whilst in this post[3] , Gurcharan managed a budget of £93m. His responsibilities included delivery of social housing, an efficient and responsive repair system and modernisation of stock. His main challenge was to regenerate council estates in the area. During this time, he spearheaded and was successful in attracting extra funding for the Estate Action Programme. This programme was focused on modernising derelict estates such as Golf Links estate in Southall and South Acton estate in Acton. In performing these duties, consultation was required with all stakeholders and these included Government Ministers, trade unions, clients and community as a whole.

During the same time, Gurcharan tackled unfairness in the housing allocation system by establishing and Charing the Race and Housing Working Party and implementing its recommendations. Housing allocation has since been made on needs basis rather than colour.

In addition, his tenure also saw a dramatic decrease in the number of families in bedsits down from 1800 to 653.

Chairman of Recycling & Waste 1998-2000)

Whilst in this post, Gurcharan introduced kerbside recycling to all low-rise dwellings and free collection of scrap vehicles from resident’s front/rear gardens.

Deputy Leader of the Ealing Council and Cabinet Member for Environment Improvement (2000-02)

In these posts he oversaw investment in Southall and Manor House parks, the introduction of traffic calming measures in Southall and the resurfacing of 2 Southall car parks.

Non-political posts held

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Mayor, London Borough of Ealing (2003-04)

Gurcharan's tenure as Mayor was marked by his charity work. He managed to raise a over £35,000 - more than any previous Ealing Mayor. The charities included those related to the Meadow House Hospice, Polish ambulance services, Parkinson's Disease and the Iranian earthquake victims.

Political candidature

Gurcharan has stood and won in local government council elections in 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006. He also stood for the Greater London Assembly in 2000 and 2004 but lost.

In May 2010, Gurcharan stood as the Parliamentary Candidate for the Conservatives in Ealing Southall -a Labour stronghold (for over 50 years). Gurcharan fought a fair and vigerous campaign which was based on the issues. The battle for 2nd place was won and he achieved a significant swing of 8.3% in his favour along with a 10.8% increase in vote share which gave him nearly 30% of the public vote whereas Labour's vote share decreased by 5.8%.

National and international roles

Gurcharan has held the following roles within an international capacity:

• Adviser to Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Commttee
• Adviser to Rt. Hon. David Cameron, MP, Leader of the opposition in the House of Commons, UK.

Voluntary and community posts

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Posts in local organisations:

• Member of Southall Regeneration Board - here he was instrumental in launching and then lobbying for the success of the original bid to regenerate Southall and also led the Community Capacity Building Programme.
• Ealing Housing Advice Service (1981 to 1984)
• Ealing Race Equality Committee (since 1986)
• Board Member in the Ealing Family Housing Association (1988-90 and 1994-96)
• Ealing Borough Law Centre (1998 to date)
• Southall Transport Action Group (Chairman since 1998)
• Indian Workers Association (Executive Committee member since 1998)
• British Indian Councillors Association (1999 to date)
• London Transport Users Committee (2001-02)
• Fabians Society (Member since 1998)

Posts as a school governor:

• Villiers High School, Southall, Middlesex (1998-2002 and 2002-06 - Chairman 2003/04)
• Greenford High School, Greenford, Middlesex (1994 to 2002)

Trade union memberships:

• NUR (1972/73)
• CPSA (1972/75)
• IRSF (1976/84)
• GMB (1986-2009)
• T & G (1992-2002)

Switch from the Labour Party

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In the lead up to the 2007 Ealing Southall by-election (prompted by the death of the incumbent MP Piara Khabra), Gurcharan, along with 4 other Labour councillors (Manjit Singh, Maninder Kaur Keith, Jarnail Singh Jandu and Jagdish Gupta) defected to the Conservative Party.

The reasons given were primarily related to the selection process adopted by the Labour Party in selecting their candidate. The shortlist was criticised for being untypically narrow (only 2 candidates as opposed to the usual 5).

Eventually Virendra Sharma, a little known councillor from Hanwell was chosen and went on to win the bi-election.

Campaigns

Gurcharan has been involved in the following campaigns:

• to redevelop the Jubilee Gardens library and health centre
• to save all key services deemed under threat at Ealing hospital
• to save the Stroke Unit at Ealing Hospital
• to fight against the Southall gasworks re-development plan
• to bring back 6th form schooling to Southall
• for a direct bus service from Northolt to Heathrow's Terminal 4
• marching for human rights and the freedom to express one's religion in France
• to retain flights to Amritsar from Heathrow

Trivia

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• Gurcharan supports both the Southall and Brentford football clubs.
• At secondary school he received a merit scholarship for coming first in his O Level exams beating over 1,000 other students to the achievement.
• Gurcharan was the first turban-wearing Mayor of Ealing.
• Gurcharan discussed the use of the "P-word" with Radio 1 DJ, Nihal [21] as part of the fallout from the related Strictly Come Dancing controversy stating:
"it is a very insulting word regardless of where you're from"