Daniel Michael Gerald Moylan, Baron Moylan (born 1 March 1956) is an English Conservative politician and a member of the House of Lords.
Before being created Baron Moylan in September 2020, he had been a diplomat, a merchant banker, and a member of Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council. He had also served as chief airport adviser to Boris Johnson as Mayor of London, advocating a new hub airport to the east of London to replace Heathrow, as Johnson's principal adviser on Crossrail 2, as Chairman of the London Legacy Development Corporation, as deputy chairman of Transport for London, and as co-chairman of Urban Design London.
In 2010, the London Evening Standard described Moylan as "one of London's most powerful and colourful politicians".
Early life Moylan was born in Birmingham on 1 March 1956. He was educated at St Philip's Grammar School, Edgbaston."Nixon will speak to Oxford Union on his favourite subject", Birmingham Mail, Thursday 30 November 1978, p. 51: "Daniel Moylan lives in Edgaston and went to St Philips’ Grammar School" In 1975 he went up to the Queen's College, Oxford, where he took a degree in German and philosophy. He was president of the Oxford Union in the Michaelmas term, 1978,Christopher Hibbert, "Presidents of the Union since 1900" in The Encyclopaedia of Oxford (Macmillan, 1988, ), p. 532 and in November secured Richard Nixon as a guest speaker.David Walter, The Oxford Union: Playground of Power (1984), p. 197
Early career Moylan joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in December 1978.The Diplomatic Service List 1980 (Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1980), p. 282: "Moylan, Daniel Michael Gerald; FCO since December 1978; born 1.3.56; Grade 8." After some time in the FCO's Central and Southern African Department, he undertook Afrikaans language training and was posted to the British Embassy in South Africa as Third Secretary, reporting on the progress of South-West Africa to independence as Namibia.The Diplomatic Service List 1981 (Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1981), p. 55 In 1982, Moylan left the FCO and joined County Bank, the investment banking subsidiary of National Westminster, and stayed with them until 1986. At the general election of 1983, he stood as the Conservative candidate in Birmingham Erdington and lost to Robin Corbett by a narrow margin.F. W. S. Craig, Britain Votes 3 (Parliamentary Research Services, 1983), p. 19 In 1986, he joined Security Pacific Hoare Govett as a Vice-President and left them in 1987 to set up Egan Associates, a business providing training courses to financial institutions.Egan Associates. Retrieved 9 November 2015
Local government career Moylan first stood for election to the Kensington and Chelsea Council at a by-election in the Golborne ward in June 1989, caused by the resignation of a rebel Labour councillor."Five in contest NOMINATIONS have closed for the June 15 council by election In North Kensington's Golborne Ward", Kensington Post, Thursday 1 June 1989, p. 9 He was elected to the council in the Queen's Gate ward in May 1990, and in 1991 made headlines when he attacked the Labour opposition for not having enough black councillors."A RACE row has broken out between Conservative and Labour councillors over a claim that black people are under-represented", Kensington Post, Thursday 24 October 1991, p. 3: "Daniel Moylan, a Tory councillor in Queen's Gate, has attacked the opposition for not having enough black councillors..." By 1992, he was chairman of the Kensington Conservative Association.'Use the law not bullying tactics', Kensington Post (London), Thursday 27 February 1992, p. 3 In 1996, The Westminster & Pimlico News said of him that he had "a subtle jesuitical intelligence"."The bad Bishop and Barbara Denny", The Westminster & Pimlico News, Thursday 7 November 1996, p. 10: "Moylan is man with a subtle jesuitical intelligence who knows full well that history is not about what happened but about who won." He became the council's deputy leader in 2000, after having stood unsuccessfully as leader. As a councillor, he specialised in environmental matters, including waste, environmental health, parks, transportation, and planning. From 2006 to 2009 he chaired the London Councils Transport and Environment Committee. In April 2011, he resigned from the Kensington and Chelsea council's cabinet in order to concentrate on his work as Deputy Chairman of Transport for London, although in 2013 when Merrick Cockell stood down he made a second bid to become leader of the council, coming equal second in the contest and losing to Nick Paget-Brown. He stood down as a Kensington and Chelsea councillor in May 2018. The 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in Kensington and Chelsea took place while Moylan was still a member of the council.
Transport for London and Crossrail In August 2008, the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, appointed Moylan to the Board of Transport for London.Alexandra Wynne, New members appointed to Transport for London board in New Civil Engineer at Nce.co.uk dated 15 August 2008. Retrieved 6 June 2014 In February 2009 he became deputy chairman,Moylan can become TfL deputy chairman in Transport News at Transportxtra.com dated 1 March 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2014 in which position he served until 2012 and again from March to May 2016. Moylan was responsible both for bringing the organisation's finances back into order and for terminating the public-private partnership initiated by the Blair government, brought to a close in May 2010 with TfL's acquisition of Tube Lines from Ferrovial and Bechtel.
In August 2013, Moylan was appointed to the board of Crossrail as a non-executive director, replacing Sir Mike Hodgkinson as the Transport for London nominee.New Crossrail Board appointment, 8 August 2013 at crossrail.co.uk, accessed 8 November 2015 In September 2014, he was appointed to oversee City Hall's work on the Crossrail 2 project.Mayor appoints Daniel Moylan to oversee City Hall’s work on the Crossrail 2 project dated 10 September 2014 at london.gov.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2015 In July 2015, as the Mayor's adviser on the project, he stated that "delay should not be an option," as London was growing at the rate of two inhabitants an hour, and that by 2030 it would have a population of ten million.Daniel Moylan: London needs transport investment now. Delaying is not an option in London Evening Standard online dated 17 July 2015 He remained a non-executive director of CrossrailDaniel Moylan profile at crossrail.co.uk. Retrieved 8 November 2015 and a member of the TfL Board, until the mayoral election in May 2016, when Sadiq Khan became Mayor.
London infrastructure Within London, Moylan has promoted new approaches to streetscape drawn principally from the Dutch "shared space" concept developed by Hans Monderman.RIBA honours Royal Borough design champion, rbkc.gov.uk, 10 October 2007RIBA presents ten Honorary Fellowships, archived, Architecture.com, 2008, accessed 8 November 2015 These resulted in a redesign of Kensington High Street soon after Moylan became deputy leader of the Council in 2000.Mark Gould, Life on the open road in The Guardian dated 4 December 2006. Retrieved 6 June 2014 One aim of this was to rationalise street furniture and create a more pedestrian-friendly environment, and to achieve this Moylan had to reject professional advice and transfer the risks of the project onto himself and other councillors, after detailed consideration of the public safety risks.Great Britain Parliament: House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs, Government Policy on the Management of Risk: 5th Report of Session 2005–06 (2006), p. 209 Plans for a similar improvement of Sloane Square in Chelsea proved controversial and were shelved in 2007, after a campaign against them,Kensington and Chelsea shelves Sloane Square 'improvements' » Local Government at 24dash.com dated 24 April 2007. Retrieved 4 November 2014 but a clutter-free redesign of Exhibition Road, in London's museums district, was achieved in 2012.Ray Massey, "Britain's longest clutter-free street is unveiled to make things safer", Thurrock Mail, 2 February 2012
In 2009, Boris Johnson appointed Moylan to chair the Mayor's Design Advisory Panel,Director of Tate appointed to Mayor of London's design panel in The Editor at Large. Retrieved 4 November 2015 with responsibility for delivering the Mayor's vision for the public realm as set out in his "Great Outdoors" policy statement.London's Great Outdoors at website of Greater London Authority accessed 4 November 2015 Until he left these roles in June 2012, Moylan oversaw many improvements to highways and parks around the capital, including the restoration of Piccadilly and St James's Street to two-way traffic."Pall Mall sees two-way traffic for first time in nearly 50 years", Evening Standard (London), 4 July 2011
In 2011 Moylan was appointed as Chairman of the London Legacy Development Corporation, a Mayoral body created by statute to own and manage the Olympic Park, heading it for the duration of the London Summer Olympics of 2012 and the Paralympic Games.John Geoghegan, London mayor appoints his new planning and regeneration team at Planning Resource dated 18 May 2012. Retrieved 4 November 2015 He replaced the Labour peer Lady Ford, and was formally opposed by the Labour/Green majority on the London Assembly. He made significant changes to the leadership of the organisation, which were not welcomed by the longer-serving Board members.Owen Gibson, Boris Johnson takes charge of Olympic Park's future in The Guardian online accessed 8 November 2015 In September 2012, Johnson himself took over as Chairman of LLDC,Penny Bernstock, Olympic Housing: A Critical Review of London 2012's Legacy (2014), p. 86: "The former chair of transport for london Daniel Moylan replaced Baroness Ford in June 2012, however, his appointment was short-lived and in September 2012 it was confirmed that Daniel Moylan would be stepping down as Chair and replaced on an interim basis by Boris Johnson." so that Moylan could focus on promoting their policy on a new London airport.
Airport Service Advisor Moylan was the Airport Aide to Boris Johnson as Mayor of LondonNicholas Cecil, Extra Heathrow runway ‘would give just 4-hour break from noise’ dated 15 October 2015 in London Evening Standard online. Retrieved 8 November 2015 and worked to promote the Mayor's concept of a new or expanded multi-runway hub airport to the east of London, which would replace the existing Heathrow Airport.Pippa Crerar, Boris Johnson’s aviation aide Daniel Moylan aims for top job at Kensington & Chelsea dated 20 April 2013 in London Evening Standard online. Retrieved 27 August 2015