Talk:Stephen Mold

Recent news

Would it be reasonable to record on here the recent events regarding nepotism? 81.96.52.11 (talk) 18:35, 19 July 2023 (UTC)

Proposed update to lead, business career and political career sections (COI disclosure)

I am Stephen Mold, the subject of this article, and I have a conflict of interest (see my user page for disclosure). In line with WP:COI I am not editing the article directly and am requesting that an independent editor review the following proposed changes. I'm happy to have any part of this rejected, edited, or trimmed.

1) Lead – replace with: Stephen Graham Mold (born January 1968) is an English businessman and former Conservative Party politician. He is a director of several companies, including M2 Innovation Ltd, a digital and leadership advisory business, and Euro Securitas Ltd, a security and fire-protection group brand. He served as the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Northamptonshire from 2016 to 2024, and chaired the Police ICT Company (Police Digital Service) as the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners' lead on police digital services. He did not stand for re-election in 2024, following controversy over remarks he made about a colleague.

2) New "Business career" section (insert after "Early life and education"): Mold has held a number of company directorships over three decades, spanning retail, technology and, more recently, digital advisory and security services.

In April 2024 he was appointed a director of M2 Innovation Ltd, a Northampton-based consultancy whose stated focus is market entry, cyber security, leadership advisory and digital transformation for businesses and public-sector organisations. In March 2025 he was appointed a director of Euro Securitas Ltd, which his own website describes as a group brand being developed for security and fire-protection businesses.

According to his own website, Mold is also involved in Built by Owners, described as an advisory venture for business owners considering growth, acquisition or exit, and in Earthlets, an e-commerce business; as of 2026 neither venture has attracted independent press coverage.

Mold's earlier business interests include two now-dissolved companies. He was a director of The Big Red Warehouse Limited, appointed in 2015, which was later dissolved. He also ran Uber Shop Ltd, a Northampton-based retailer of baby products, from 2005; the company was placed into creditors' voluntary liquidation in October 2024 and formally dissolved in September 2025.

Sources: Companies House filings for M2 Innovation Ltd (15674241), Euro Securitas Ltd (16292034), Uber Shop Ltd (05379093, dissolved), The Big Red Warehouse Limited (09530299, dissolved); stephenmold.com (self-published, used under WP:ABOUTSELF for uncontested facts only).

3) "Political career" section – replace existing prose with: In the 2010 general election, Mold was the Conservative candidate for Derby North, losing by 613 votes. He had previously stood unsuccessfully in the 2007 Northampton Borough Council election, and was elected as a district councillor for South Northamptonshire in 2015, resigning the seat in 2016 after his election as police and crime commissioner.

Mold was elected Police and Crime Commissioner for Northamptonshire in May 2016, succeeding Adam Simmonds, and was re-elected in 2021. Governance of the Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service transferred to his office on 1 January 2019, creating the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner role. As the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners' lead for the Police Digital Service, he chaired the Police ICT Company board, working on shared digital and cyber standards across the 43 police forces of England and Wales.

His tenure attracted criticism over a vehicle-repair facility purchased for £3.3 million in 2021 that was sold at a loss in 2023, and over his July 2023 appointment of Nicci Marzec as interim fire chief, made without going through an appointment panel. Mold said the appointment was intended to drive cultural change within the fire service; the Fire Brigades Union criticised it over Marzec's lack of operational firefighting experience, and she stood down after ten days.

In March 2024, after it emerged that he had used a sexist slur about the newly appointed fire chief in a private meeting, Mold announced he would not stand for re-election. He was succeeded by Danielle Stone in May 2024.

Shortly before leaving office, Mold selected Nikki Watson, a former senior police officer, as his preferred candidate for permanent Chief Fire Officer; she took up the post in May 2024 under his successor. A subsequent HMICFRS inspection, revisited in 2025, found the service had made enough improvement to close a cause of concern on equality, diversity and inclusion that had been raised during the 2023–25 assessment cycle, while setting a further area for improvement on monitoring those objectives.

This keeps every fact currently cited in the article (2010 election, council seats, PFCC election/re-election, the Earls Barton building loss, the FBU's criticism of the Marzec appointment, her resignation, and the 2024 non-standing decision), condensed, and adds newly-sourced facts: the Police ICT Company/Police Digital Service chairmanship (UKAuthority, APCC), Mold's own stated rationale for the Marzec appointment as reported at the time (Northampton Chronicle/Daventry Express), and the Nikki Watson appointment and subsequent HMICFRS finding (ITV News Anglia; HMICFRS). It omits the previously-published detail about speculation over a personal relationship with Marzec and Mold's denial of it — happy to discuss if reviewers feel that should stay for completeness.

4) External links – add:

• Official website: stephenmold.com
• M2 Innovation: m2innov8.com
• Built by Owners: builtbyowners.com
• Euro Securitas: eurosecuritas.com
• Earthlets: earthlets.com

Thank you for reviewing. Happy to answer questions here. Stephen Mold (talk) 17:58, 5 July 2026 (UTC)