Camden, which succeeded his old local authority. He was elected to Camden's Hampstead Central ward at the inaugural 1964 elections, and became Leader of the Council in 1968, a role he held until 1970. Finsberg remained a Camden councillor until 1974. He was Deputy Chairman (1969–1971) and Vice-President of the Association of Municipal Corporations (1971–74): Patrick Cosgrave, writing in The Independent, later said that Finsberg "had a deep, and almost tactile, understanding of how local government worked and he was a formidable administrator. Few dared to cross his path for, besides being immensely knowledgeable, he could be exceptionally vain and overbearing; and he did not forget enmities." From 1972 to 1975, Finsberg was Chairman of the Greater London Area Conservative Local Government Committee. In Parliament At the 1970 general election, whilst still serving as a councillor, Finsberg was elected as the Member of Parliament for Hampstead, unseating the incumbent Labour MP Benjamin Whitaker by a margin of just 474 votes. Finsberg celebrated this victory by having '474' stamped on his car's number plate. The same year, he became a member of the Select Committee on Expenditure, remaining there until 1979. Finsberg acted as Opposition spokesman on Greater London from 1974 to 1979, and was a member of the Executive of the 1922 Committee, representing Conservative backbenchers, from 1974 to 1975. In addition, he was a Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party Organisation from 1975 to 1979. Throughout his time in Parliament, Finsberg's constituency remained marginal, with his victories always less than 10% ahead of his nearest rival. At the 1979 general election, he won against Labour's Ken Livingstone, a future Leader of the Greater London Council and Mayor of London. Following the Conservatives' election victory, he served in two junior ministerial roles, as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of the Environment (1979–81), and the Department of Health and Social Security (1981–83). The Times later suggested that his inability to progress further "could have been because he lacked excitement. His public persona was dull; in private, he could be an amusing companion." Boundary changes saw Finsberg become the MP for Hampstead and Highgate at the 1983 general election, at which he beat another Labour left-winger, John McDonnell. That year, Finsberg again became a Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party Organisation, holding this role until 1987. From 1986 to 1989, he was President of the Greater London Area Executive Committee of