Joe Budd

The Right Worshipful Joe Budd
Portrait of Joe Budd in 2020
1st Lord Mayor of Leamouth
Incumbent
Assumed office 8 April 2020
Deputy	Craig Hudson
Preceded by	Office established
Leader of the Co-operative Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 30 March 2020
General Secretary	Charlotte Wright
Preceded by	Office established
City-State Councillor
Incumbent
Assumed office 8 April 2020
Preceded by	Constituency created
Member of Leamouth Provisional Council
In office 26 March 2020 – 8 April 2020
Preceded by	Provisional Council established
Succeeded by	Provisional Council abolished
Personal details
Born	Joseph Kenneth Budd February 22, 1996 (1996-02-22) Bradford, West Yorkshire
Nationality	Free City of Leamouth
Political party	Co-operative Party
Other political affiliations	Labour Party (UK) (until 2020)
Domestic partner	Lewis Whittaker
Alma mater	London Metropolitan University
Occupation	Politician, trade union officer
Signature
Nickname	Mr Leamouth

Joe Budd is a British-Leamothian politician who has served as Lord Mayor of Leamouth and Leader of the Co-operative Party since 2020. As one of the founders of the Free City of Leamouth, Budd is recognised as the city-state's founding father. Budd has been the City-State Councillor since 2020. Ideologically, he identifies himself as a democratic socialist.

Born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, to a British working-class family, Budd joined the UK Labour Party as a teenager and later earned a bachelors degree in politics from London Metropolitan University. Moving to London, he became active in the trade union movement and served as an officer. Having enjoyed life at university in London, he decided to take up residence there to progress his political career. In April 2020, Budd renounced his membership from the UK Labour Party due to Keir Starmer's victory as party leader.

On 26 March 2020, he co-founded the Free City of Leamouth and was elected as its first Lord Mayor on 8 April 2020, following his victory as a City-State Councillor in Leamouth's first general election. Budd is also the first openly gay Lord Mayor of Leamouth, engaged to his domestic partner, Lewis Whittaker.

Budd is a prominent and controversial figure in Leamothian politics and journalism such that he was nicknamed Mr Leamouth. Supporters have praised him as an entertaining, humorous, and popular figure, with an appeal stretching beyond traditional left-wing voters. Conversely, his critics have accused him of vulgarity and using offensive language. Budd is known to be a cat lover, and one of his cats, a female tabby called "Fanny", featured prominently in his election campaign who later appointed Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office.

Personal life and work

Budd was born in at the Royal Infirmary in Bradford, in West Yorkshire, England, on 22 February 1996. He was born to working-class, his father was a factory worker and his mother worked in a local supermarket. He attended to a public school in East Bowling and joined the British Labour Party when he was a teenager. Budd later moved to London to study politics and earned a bachelors degree from London Metropolitan University.