24/06/2024
Here's the background of the Tory candidate standing for election in Newby & Scalby and the Scarborough Borough ..all I can say is another Career Politician off the conveyor belt and he is not a Yorkshirman...but come on are you serious ...please vote Reform
Weeden-Sanz’s father is an accountant. His Spanish mother was a secretary at Santander Bank in London. He is English-Spanish bilingual and as a child spent four months a year with his grandparents in Soria, he told the Spanish media.
Despite the accent and demeanour of a public school boy, Weeden-Sanz was educated at The Latymer School, a state grammar in north London with a reputation for academic excellence. He then studied History at Oxford at St Benet’s, a lesser-known Hall run by the Benedictine monks of Ampleforth Abbey, which closed down last year.
Weeden-Sanz was the first St Benet’s student to be elected as President of the prestigious Oxford Union, but his tenure was short-lived. He was forced to resign after non-attendance at compulsory meetings (a bit harsh, as he said one absence was due to attending his grandmother’s funeral).
But his Oxford Union position was enough to get him his first job. After Oxford he worked for three years as Public Affairs Director at One Young World, a youth leadership charity.
In 2020 he started at Weatherbys, a private bank for High Net Worth individuals and the racing community. According to LinkedIn, he joined the bank as a Private Banking Associate and was promoted to Private Banking Executive last year.
His LinkedIn profile mentions that he’s currently studying for the Investment Advice Diploma (Level 4) of The Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment.
So he’s a banker. But what do we know of Mr Weeden-Sanz’s political career?
He was a councillor at Barnet Council from 2018 until last year.
At the 2019 General Election he stood in Doncaster Central against Labour’s Rosie Winterton, coming second to her. Despite his close connection to mainland Europe, he campaigned on the ‘Get Brexit Done’ ticket.
In May 2021 he stood as GLA Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden and campaigned against Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and Labour London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ (Ultra Low Emissions Zone) policy which aims to create cleaner air in the capital.
He raised hackles when he failed to turn up to two hustings, one held by London Jewish Forum and another by Inclusion London which represents deaf and disabled Londoners.
It is alleged that he chose as his mentor Brian Coleman, the disgraced former Barnet councillor and Assembly Member who was convicted of assaulting a woman in the street – even though Weeden-Sanz declares himself a White Ribbon Ambassador, apparently campaigning against violence against women.
Coleman accused the Labour candidate Anne Clarke of being a “Cricklewood housewife”. He denied that he was an official mentor, yet accompanied Weeden-Sanz to the count to watch him lose to Anne Clarke.
In Barnet, Weeden-Sanz represented Brunswick Park ward, but with boundary changes making the ward more likely to turn Labour, he looked elsewhere for a council seat. He found one at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
In May 2022, he was elected councillor for Queen’s Gate ward in Kensington and Chelsea. The borough is a patchwork of opulence and deprivation. To say that Queen’s Gate is comfortably well-off is a wild understatement.
There was criticism from some quarters that young Roberto was parachuted into this safe as (£1.5m minimum) houses Tory ward, and that Kensington Town Hall was “potty-training territory” for baby politicians aiming to become advisors or MPs.
There were also comments that Mr Weeden-Sanz did not live in the borough, but that the local Tory Party told the press that “he has family in Chelsea” and that “he has just bought a flat here”.
Since his election, Weeden-Sanz has spoken three times at Full Council meetings. His maiden speech on the shortage of police placed the blame on Mayor Khan. He reported on the council’s plans to reach net zero carbon, and praised a ward coronation party.
Not for Mr Weeden-Sanz the deprivation elsewhere in the borough or the continuing fallout from the Grenfell tragedy, with survivors facing higher rents and service charges.
