Growing up in Bermondsey in the 1950s and 60s, Dr Barry Quirk never imagined he would have a career in local government, let alone find himself as the UK’s longest-serving chief executive, having held the post at Lewisham LBC since November 1993.
His first taste of local government came while he was doing his PhD when, in need of a job, he took a housing role at Tower Hamlets LBC, working with the homeless. He still remembers some of the families he helped and the conditions they faced.