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Thomas James Papworth is a Liberal Democrat Councillor for the Crystal Palace ward of the London Borough of Bromley. He is currently the leader of the opposition and group leader of the Liberal Democrats on Bromley Council and serves on four other council committees. He is also an associate director for economic policy at the CentreForum policy think tank.

Early life and education
Papworth was born in 1972 at Northwick Park Hospital in Brent and spent the first 30 years of his life living in North Harrow. Before attending university, he worked in Harrow and South Ruislip. Papworth attended two schools, St John Fisher school in Pinner and St Joan of Arc School in Rickmansworth prior to attending university. He studied for a history degree at Royal Holloway and subsequently studied for a Master's Degree in International Relations at the University of Kent in Canterbury.

Career
In 1999 Papworth worked at a Centre for asylum seekers in Alsace, France before taking an internship at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, where he worked in the Defence Analysis Team. In 2000 he worked at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in Sweden, investigating armed conflicts. He went to work for the Cabinet Office in 2002 and became Policy and Research Manager at the National Childminding Association in 2005. He is currently an associate director for economy policy at the CentreForum policy think tank.

Papworth is a Senior Fellow of the Adam Smith Institute and in November 2013 wrote a report "The Trading Dead", noting that an economic recovery can be hampered by companies that would not otherwise be viable but are kept afloat by low interest rates and banks reluctant to bring them into administration. Papworth also participated in a debate on drug legalisation broadcast on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme on 8 May 2013, representing CentreForum against Madsen Pirie of the Adam Smith Institute, where he advocated the legalisation or decriminialisation of currently illegal drugs.

Papworth also authored a report for CentreForum suggesting that the government scrap its current target of reducing net migration to the tens of thousands, claiming the target was impossible to meet and making it difficult for businesses to recruit. Papworth said that the Government's immigration policy was "at odds with its ambition to grow the economy, create jobs and shrink the deficit" and that it needed to "focus on quality rather than quantity".

After the G8 summit in Northern Ireland, Papworth claimed that many of the summit's achievements (such as information sharing on terrorist suspects and the creation of an international paedophile database) could have occurred anyway without the summit meeting taking place.

Councillor for Crystal Palace
Papworth was first elected to the Crystal Palace ward on Bromley Council at a by-election held on 6 September 2007 after the death of the previous office holder Chris Gaster, who had served the ward for 25 years. He was re-elected to the ward during a council election held at the same time as the 2010 general election, then appointed leader of the Bromley Liberal Democrats and leader of the opposition on the council in May 2011, taking over from Councillor David McBride. As of January 2014, Papworth serves on four council committees: the Development Control Committee, Executive and Resources Policy Development and Scrutiny Committee, Plans Sub-Committee No. 2 and the Urgency Committee.

Papworth has given interviews indicating his support for the Expansion of London Heathrow Airport, stating that "Gatwick and Stansted are too far away from London and the Thames Estuary hub airport would involve compulsorily closing Heathrow, meaning the moving of over 100,000 jobs" and that such a move would not be "feasible for a free economy".

Parliamentary candidate
Papworth stood as the Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate in the Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner constituency at the 2010 General Election, finishing behind Anita MacDonald (Labour) and Nick Hurd (Conservative) who gained 16.6%, 19.5% and 57.5% of the vote respectively.

London Assembly candidate
Papworth stood as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Bexley and Bromley seat in the London Assembly at the 2008 London Assembly election, finishing in third place behind Alex Heslop (Labour) and James Cleverly (Conservative) who gained 10.62%, 14.97% and 52.6% of the vote respectively.