Shipley was elected to Newcastle City Council in 1975 as a councillor, before becoming the Opposition Leader between 1988 and 1998. He became leader of the council in 2006 until 2010. In 2010, he became vice-president of the Local Government Association (LGA).
He was created a life peer as Baron Shipley of Gosforth on 14 July 2010.[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.