Early career Born in
Uxbridge in 1958 and active in politics since the 1970s, Boff was a Young Conservative branch founder whilst still at school; in 1976 he proposed the legalisation of cannabis at a Young Conservative national conference. His mother Elsie was already a
councillor when he was elected a councillor in
Hillingdon in 1982. He later served as Leader of the Council between 1990 and 1992. In 1992, he stepped down to stand for Parliament,
defending the marginal
Hornsey and Wood Green constituency. He lost the seat to
Labour's
Barbara Roche with 39.2% of the vote. Boff stood in the safe Labour seat of
London South Inner in the
1994 election to the
European Parliament. He was placed seventh on the Conservative list in
London in the
1999 European Parliament election. He failed to be elected both times.
London Assembly Boff became known in London politics after he contested the Conservative nomination for the London mayoral elections in
2000,
2004 and
2008. He came second in 2000 behind
Steven Norris. After his first re-election to the London Assembly, Boff was elected as the GLA Conservative Group Leader. He was succeeded by
Gareth Bacon in October 2015. In September 2015, Boff called for a managed street prostitution zone to be set up in East London in order to protect sex workers from harm. In 2019, Boff became Chairman of the Confirmation Hearings Committee and the Planning Committee. In May 2021, he was elected Chairman of the London Assembly. In May 2022, he became Deputy Chairman of the London Assembly.
Hackney politics He has stood for office numerous times in
Hackney, where he lived. He received the Conservative nomination for the elections in 2002 and
2006 to elect the
Mayor of Hackney, but came second both times. He was the Conservatives' London Assembly candidate for the
North East constituency in 2004, but came third, behind the candidates from both Labour and the Liberal Democrats. He achieved success in Hackney in 2005, when he won the supposedly
safe Labour seat of
Queensbridge in a council
by-election, before losing it at the 2006 Hackney Council election, albeit with a vote tripled from the previous borough election. Boff stood for Mayor of Hackney for a third time in
2010. A booklet containing election statements from every candidate except him was distributed to every voter in the borough. It excluded Boff owing to the council's confusion over whether the statements he made about the cost of the mayoralty were legally admissible. By the time they decided that they were, it was too late to print, and the council compounded the problem by telling voters who enquired that Boff was not running. In the contest, Boff fell to third place, behind the Labour incumbent and the Liberal Democrats.
Barking and Dagenham politics Boff unsuccessfully stood for the ward of
Thames at the
2014 Barking and Dagenham elections and for the ward of
Longbridge at the
2018 elections. He unsuccessfully stood at the
2021 Thames by-election. He stood unsuccessfully for the ward of
Thames View at the
2022 elections and the
2025 Thames View by-election. ==Controversies==