Richard Balfe

Richard Balfe, Baron Balfe ( born May 14, 1944 in Barton Mills, Mildenhall, Suffolk ) is a British politician of the Conservative Party.

Life

Balfe was from 1979 to 2004 Member of the European Parliament. He was a member of the Labour Party. In 2002 he resigned after a dispute in the Labour group on the Conservative Party. His defection in 2002, is the first crossing of an elected Labour Party member for the Conservative Party since 1977, when the British politician Reg Prentice, Baron Prentice joined the Conservative Party.

On September 19, 2013 Richard Balfe was raised in the London Borough of Southwark for life peer with the title Baron Balfe, of Dulwich, and thus a member of the House of Lords.