Richard Michael Barnes (born 1 December 1947) is a British politician, who was the Deputy Mayor of London from 2008 to 2012.

[3][4] Barnes was a councillor in the London Borough of Hillingdon from 1982 to 2014 and was leader of that council from 1998, securing the re-election of the Conservative administration with an 11% swing, one of the most remarkable results in a poor year for the party.

[5] In 2018, he again stood as an Independent in Harefield but finished behind the Conservative candidates of Jane Palmer and Henry Higgins, receiving 483 votes.

This has led to his taking a national and international role in the fight against terrorism, particularly in addressing the ability of urban authorities to build resistance and response mechanisms to potential atrocities.

His reputation was tarnished in September 2013 when he inadvertently posted naked pictures of himself on the internet, but he claimed that his account had been hacked.