Greenwich’s new council leader says he entered politics after seeing his local Wetherspoons burn down on TV during the London riots.

In a wide-ranging interview, he also said he fled warring gangs attacking each other with bricks and machetes as a kid.

Greenwich’s Labour leader Anthony Okereke, who replaced Danny Thorpe as Labour leader in May, also threw his weight behind a campaign to extend the DLR to new parts of the South London borough.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr Okereke said: “Leading the council is a huge opportunity and as someone who grew up in Greenwich, and is passionate about the borough and someone who has seen the very best of this borough, it gives me a huge opportunity to lead it in a way I think will take Greenwich to a higher destination.

“My story is not the typical story [of someone] who has grown up in riches. I am someone who has faced a lot of difficulty.

"And to be in this position where I am at the helm of this authority, I can understand people’s difficulties, suffering and people’s want to just progress and live their life.

"I think I have the right lived experience of Greenwich and can work with our residents, and I hope I can do it justice.

“I went to [a school in] Blackheath.

"I grew up seeing people wielding machetes near schools. I went to a school where there was a lot of gang crime.

"Sometimes it will be one gang versus the other, with one side wielding machetes and the other side wielding bricks and throwing them, and you’d just watch the clash in front of you while hiding behind a car.”

Cllr Okereke, 32, also remembered where he was when the London riots broke out in 2011 after the shooting of Mark Duggan in Tottenham.

He said: “The most distinct thing that made me joined the Labour party was when Mark Duggan was shot and the London riots happened.

“And what I recall was sitting in my student accommodation in Coventry, watching the TV as Woolwich was burning.

"I think it was the Wetherspoons that was burning. And I can never, ever forget that moment.

"That was the key turning point that activated my activism in politics. It’s such a vivid memory.

"That was the single moment that led me to being in this office.

“And when I turned on the TV the next day, what I saw was politicians saying ‘thugs’, depicting young people as though all we wanted to do was steal and thief and all of that type of stuff.

"I [was] one of those young people and I thought ‘there is no one that is representing my lived experience, speaking about the difficulties we faced.'”

Wetherspoons’ Great Harry pub reopened in Woolwich in 2012 after it was burned down amid the carnage of the London riots.

Asked if he would prioritise the extension of the DLR in Greenwich, Cllr Okereke said: “Yes, 100 per cent.

"I believe we have some things coming up in the diary to talk to the mayor’s office about it.

"We want the DLR everywhere. We want the DLR to Thamesmead… our local MP Clive Efford has campaigned for it to come to Eltham as well.

“We need more transport this side of London. We haven’t had as much transport investment as other parts of London so we need that investment [here].  If you go to Eltham, people struggle to go places. They’re reliant on buses.”

Cllr Okereke will face councillors for the first time as leader during a full council meeting next week.

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