Bob Blackman  Robert John Blackman (born 26 April 1956) is a Conservative Party politician serving as the Executive Secretary of the 1922 Committee since 2012 (serving jointly with Nigel Evans until 8 January 2020 when Nigel became 2nd Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means), and has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Harrow East since 2010. He was also the Greater London Assembly member for Brent & Harrow between 2004 and 2008. He is the recipient of India's highly prestigious award Padma Shri 2020 for his work in the field of public affairs. He studied at the University of Liverpool, where he was president of the students' union. He joined the sales team of Burroughs Machines (later Unisys) on graduation. He worked in various sales and management positions for BT and worked at their training school in Milton Keynes as a tutor and later as a Regulatory Compliance Manager for BT until his election to Parliament. Blackman unsuccessfully stood as the Conservative candidate in the Tokyngton ward of London Borough of Brent Council in 1986. Four years later, he stood in the Preston ward and was elected; he retained the seat until 2010, when he did not stand. He was the leader of the Conservative group on Brent council from 1990 to 2010, having been council leader between 1991 and 1996, when his party lost control of the Council. From June 2006 to May 2010, he was Deputy Leader of Brent Council, the Conservatives having formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. He unsuccessfully stood as the Conservative Party parliamentary candidate for Brent South at the 1992 election, for Bedford at the 1997 election, and for Brent North at the 2005 election. He unsuccessfully stood as the Conservative Party candidate for the constituency seat of Brent and Harrow of the London Assembly at the 2000 elections, losing to the Labour Party candidate Toby Harris. However, he subsequently defeated Harris at the 2004 assembly elections and was elected as the Conservative's Group Whip on the London Assembly. In the 2008 elections, Blackman lost his seat to the Labour candidate, Navin Shah by a 1,649 votes. In the 2010 general election, Blackman gained the Harrow East constituency from Labour's Tony McNulty. He was subsequently re-elected in 2015 and 2017. In 2010 he was elected a member of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee. and was elected Secretary of the 1922 Committee in 2015. In Parliament, Blackman currently serves on the Procedure Committee, the Backbench Business Committee and the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee. In January 2016, the Labour Party unsuccessfully proposed an amendment in Parliament that would have required private landlords to make their homes "fit for human habitation".