Mike Shone is a former mayor of Stafford who was a councillor for 24 years. He was a deputy leader of Stafford Borough Council and was responsible for launching its first recycling scheme. In 2007, he resigned from the Labour Party after 35 years and in 2008 joined the Green Party. He is a former lecturer in sociology at Stafford College and is now semi-retired, working on national surveys, which keeps him in constant and close touch with the general public and their concerns. Shone has a daughter and three grandchildren and is getting married in the autumn.