Mike Tuffrey

Tuffrey was born in Orpington and grew up in Bromley. He was educated at Douai School, an independent Catholic school in Woolhampton. He then studied economics at Durham University. (1978–81) He moved to Brixton when he got his first job as a trainee accountant at Peat Marwick, later KPMG.

Tuffrey is a qualified Chartered Accountant, and has worked as a finance director for a major national charity before starting up a consultancy business, Corporate Citizenship. In 2021 the business was acquired by SLR, an environmental consulting firm. He is also a non-executive director, and chairs the boards of the London Film Academy and the Restart Project. He has contributed to the Guardian on business matters.

Tuffrey has lived in Lambeth since 1982 and is married to Irene Tuffrey-Wijne, Professor of Intellectual Disability and Palliative Care.

He started his political life as a member of the Greater London Council for Vauxhall (1985-6) and was a councillor of the London Borough of Lambeth from 1990 to 2002 during the second half of which period the council had no overall political control and the Liberal Democrats were the largest single party. During this time he represented Lambeth at London Councils and served as a board member of London Development Partnership, Business Link London, Brixton City Challenge, Cross River Partnership and Central London Partnership.

He stood for election to parliament for Streatham in 1987, in the 1989 Vauxhall by-election and again in Vauxhall in the 1992 General Election.