Chris Foote Wood
Chris Foote Wood (born Christopher Wood, Prestbury, Cheshire, 15 December 1940) is a Liberal Democrat politician in County Durham, England.
Education and early career
Foote Wood is one of four children of Stanley Wood and Nellie Mape; he has three sisters, the comedienne Victoria, Penny and Rosalind.
Foote Wood went to Bury Grammar School, winning the Senior Mathematics prize. He completed a four-year honours degree course in Civil Engineering at Kings College, Newcastle (then part of the University of Durham) but was not awarded a degree. He worked as a civil engineer for several years before starting Durham Free Press in 1968, pioneering commercial free press newspapers in the North East, but gave it up after three years to work as a freelance journalist and broadcaster. He later set up his own press agency, North Press News & Sport, and ran it for 30 years up to 2004.
Political career
Foote Wood has contested a large number of public elections at all levels. He has stood for Parliament eight times as a Liberal, later Liberal Democrat (Feb 1974 – Newcastle North; Oct 1974 & 2010 – Middlesbrough; 1979 – Durham City; 1983 & 1987 North West Durham; 2001 & 2005 – Bishop Auckland) and the European Parliament six times (1979 & 1984 for Durham; 1999 No. 1 on the North East list; 2004 No. 2 on the North East list; 2009 No. 2 on the North East list; 2014 No. 4 on the Yorkshire and the Humber list). He also stood as Mayor of Middlesbrough in 2011. Foote Wood was a district councillor in Bishop Auckland for 40 years, from 1967 to 2007 and was Leader of Wear Valley District Council for six years. He was also a member of Durham County Council for 12 years, Vice-Chairman of the North East Regional Assembly and a member of the EU Committee of the Regions, one of the three elected councillors representing the North East on this body and the first LibDem to do so.
