A member of the Liberal Democrats, he previously served as leader of Newcastle City Council between 2006 and 2010.

He is also a supporter of Sunderland AFC Shipley was elected to Newcastle City Council in 1975 as a councillor, before becoming the Opposition Leader between 1988 and 1998.

Shipley stood as the Liberal candidate for Blyth in the February and October general elections in 1974, then for Hexham in 1979, as well as the SDP–Liberal Alliance candidate for Newcastle upon Tyne North in the 1983 and 1987 general elections.

In the 1995 New Year Honours Shipley was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

[2] Since becoming a peer, he was appointed as a Liberal Democrat spokesperson in Parliament, serving on the frontbench teams of Jo Swinson and Vince Cable between 2017 and 2019.