Ambassador Michael Mainelli

Ambassador Michael Mainelli 

The Lord Mayor City of London

Alderman Michael Mainelli has from the, 29 September 2023, been elected as the 695th Lord Mayor of the City of London.

As the elected head of the City of London Corporation, he will serve as a global ambassador for the UK financial and professional services industry from Friday 10 November for a one-year term. He will succeed current Lord Mayor Nicholas Lyons.

The annual Lord Mayor’s Show takes place on Saturday 11 November, which will be Alderman Mainelli’s first public engagement. It will be followed by the Lord Mayor’s Banquet on Monday 13 November at Guildhall, where the Prime Minister will deliver a keynote speech.

The Lord Mayor acts as an international spokesperson for the City, leading business delegations overseas to key international markets on behalf of the UK’s financial and professional services industry.

In the role Alderman Mainelli will meet government representatives from around the world, alongside business leaders and policy makers both at home and abroad. He will work to strengthen global economic ties with the UK, identify new business opportunities, and promote the UK as a top global destination for foreign investment.

During his Mayoral year, Alderman Mainelli will champion ‘Connect to Prosper’, an initiative focused on harnessing the City’s vast knowledge ecosystem. With over 40 learned societies, 70 higher education institutions, and 130 research institutes, in and around the City, it is a dynamic hub for innovation.

He will spotlight the City’s expertise in areas including finance, law, art, and engineering, while bringing together thought leaders from diverse backgrounds to encourage innovation and global problem solving on critical challenges facing the world – from climate change to artificial intelligence.

He will also emphasise the City’s unique role as a global knowledge connector and talent cluster, showcasing its capacity to address global challenges and foster inventiveness within its communities.

Lord Mayor  Alderman Michael Mainelli, said:

“I am deeply honoured to have been elected as the 695th Lord Mayor of the City of London.

“As its global ambassador, I will champion the UK financial and professional services industry – not only as a powerhouse of the UK economy – but also a driver of prosperity to key markets abroad.

“My Connect to Prosper theme will bring together thought leaders from the business, scientific, and academic worlds to demonstrate the City’s strengths in solving global challenges.

“Together we will showcase the Square Mile’s unique leadership role as the world’s coffeehouse, where connections between firms, institutions, and people, lead to new ideas and solutions that benefit the world.”

Financial and professional services firms employ over seven per cent of the UK workforce, 2.3m people, two-thirds of whom are outside London. The City accounts for one in every five financial services jobs in the UK.

Financial and professional services firms contributed nearly £100 billion in taxes in 2020, providing over 13% of the UK’s total tax revenue.

The UK was the world’s leading net exporter of financial and professional services (£121bn) in 2020. Financial services accounted for £82bn and professional services for £39bn.

Financial and insurance services contributed £173.6 billion to the UK economy in 2021, 8.3% of the total. It was the fifth largest sector in terms of overall economic output.

Around 2.5 times as many dollars are traded in the UK as in the US. Overall, the UK has 43% of the global total of foreign-exchange turnover.

Lord Mayor City of London

An international ambassador for the UK’s financial and professional services sector, the Lord Mayor also heads the City of London Corporation, the governing body of the Square Mile. It is an annually elected role with each new Lord Mayor taking office in November.

694th Lord Mayor of the City of London

During his year as Lord Mayor, he will act as a spokesman for the City, leading overseas business delegations to key international markets on behalf of the UK financial and professional services industry.

In the role he will meet government representatives, alongside business leaders and policy makers both at home and abroad. He will look to strengthen economic ties with the UK, identify new business opportunities and promote the UK as a top global destination for foreign investment.

During his year as Lord Mayor, he will champion Financing our Future promoting a resilient, resourceful and responsible city, deploying capital and expertise to supercharge economic growth nationwide and grow our global competitiveness.

Financing our Future will focus on driving growth and investment especially in the areas of long-term infrastructure lending, green and sustainable finance, boosting the early stage growth economy by mobilising private savings and pension funds and attracting international asset owners to have more of their money managed by asset managers in the UK. All of which will be underpinned by a commitment to financial inclusion for all.

Mansion House

Until the mid-18th century, Lord Mayors used their own houses or livery halls for their work as head of the City’s governmental, judicial and civic functions. The idea of creating a permanent residence came after the Great Fire of 1666 to provide a house for Lord Mayors who did not have their own livery hall.

It was almost a century later however, that the architect and Clerk of the City’s Work, George Dance the Elder, was chosen to design and build Mansion House. The first stone was laid in 1739, and the first Lord Mayor to take up residence was Sir Crispin Gascoigne. The House was completed in 1758.

Imposingly Palladian in style, it is faced by a grand temple portico at the front approached by flights of steps each side. The entertaining rooms were built on the first and second floors. The first floor had a roofless courtyard (later covered to form the Salon, the entertainment space) and the great Egyptian Hall. The second floor has a ballroom and private apartments of the Lord Mayor and family. The third and fourth floors contain meeting rooms and staff rooms. The cellars have storage space and once held prisoners’ cells, reflecting the former use of the Mansion House as the Lord Mayor’s Court.

While the Mansion House retains much of its original character, there have been changes. Some 50 years later, two large roof pavilions were found to be unsafe. Dance’s son, George Dance the Younger, removed one in 1795. The other was removed in 1846, and at the same time, the main entrance to the house was moved round the side, after various road works narrowed the esplanade up the steps at the front. There were refurbishments in the 1860s, and 1930s, and again in the early 1990s.