Chris Foote Wood (born Christopher Wood, 15 December 1940) is an English politician and author. He is the brother of the late comedian and actress Victoria Wood. Education and early career Foote Wood was born in Prestbury, Cheshire, and is one of the four children of Stanley Wood and Nellie Mape; the late comedian Victoria Wood was one of his three sisters. Foote Wood went to Bury Grammar School. He completed a four-year honours degree course in Civil Engineering at Kings College, Newcastle (then part of the University of Durham) but was not awarded a degree. He worked as a civil engineer for several years before starting Durham Free Press in 1968, but gave it up after three years to work as a freelance journalist and broadcaster. He later set up his own press agency, North Press News & Sport, and ran it for 30 years up to 2004. Political career Foote Wood has contested a large number of public elections at all levels. He has stood for Parliament nine times as a Liberal, later Liberal Democrat: February 1974 – Newcastle upon Tyne NorthOctober 1974 and 2010 – Middlesbrough1979 – City of Durham1983 and 1987 – North West Durham2001 and 2005 – Bishop Auckland2017 – Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland His best performance was in 1983 when he achieved 25.65% of the vote, whilst his lowest poll was in 2017, achieving 2.8% of the votes. He also stood for the European Parliament six times (1979 and 1984 for Durham; 1999 No. 1 on the North East list; 2004 No. 2 on the North East list; 2009 No. 2 on the North East list; 2014 No. 4 on the Yorkshire and the Humber list). He also stood as Mayor of Middlesbrough in 2011. Foote Wood was a district councillor in Bishop Auckland for 40 years, from 1967 to 2007 and was Leader of Wear Valley District Council for six years. He was also a member of Durham County Council for 12 years, vice-chairman of the North East Regional Assembly and a member of the EU Committee of the Regions, one of the three elected councillors representing the North East on this body and the first Liberal Democrat to do so. He was the Liberal Democrat PPC in Richmond (Yorks) for the 2015 General election before stepping aside in March 2015. He joined the Labour party in 2018. Author Foote Wood's first