Political career
Vanneck became involved in Municipal affairs through the City of London Corporation (as Alderman for Cordwainer Ward and a member of many Livery Companies).
After a year serving as a Sheriff of London in 1974, he was elected the 650th Lord Mayor of London in November 1977, towards the end of the Queen's Silver Jubilee year. He made an eloquent speech at the Guildhall in which he recalled the first time he had met The Queen, who accompanied her father during a visit to the Royal Naval College when Vanneck was a young cadet there.
A popular Lord Mayor, Vanneck declared that despite his interesting careers, he had missed out on the one he would most like, which was to be a tug-boat skipper on the Thames. He made excellent contacts with his Paris counterpart Jacques Chirac and arranged an official visit to visit (one of only two that had taken place since the French revolution). Vanneck was a Francophile who was fluent in French.
At the end of his Lord Mayoral term, Vanneck was adopted as Conservative candidate for the European Parliament for Cleveland. He won the seat at the 1979 election, enjoying his time in the European institutions. He was vice-chairman of the Political Affairs committee and served on Energy Resources and Technology. After keeping his seat by only 2,625 votes in 1984, he lost in the 1989 election, and then retired from public life.
