House of Commons Women

140 Pages·2012·1.1 MB·English

Women in Power
A-Z of Female Members of the
The House of Commons
Labour MPs

Diane Abbott

Diane Abbott was first elected to the House of Commons in 1987, making her the
first black woman to sit in Parliament. She was appointed Shadow Public Health
Minister in 2010, securing herself a position on the party front benches for the
first time in her career. Abbott’s selection for this role came about partly as a
result of her raised profile following the 2010 Labour Party leadership contest.
She surprised the party by joining the race after criticising the apparent
similarity of the existing white, male nominees. Prior to this, Abbott was best
known as a left-wing backbencher, critical of numerous government policies.
Rarely shying from controversy, Abbott aroused much criticism in 2003 when
she decided to send her son to a fee-paying school despite having previously
criticised colleagues who had chosen selective state schools for their children.
Abbott’s public profile has been further raised by her engagement with the
media. She has appeared regularly on the political discussion programme This
Week, alongside former Conservative minister Michael Portillo.
Before becoming an MP, Abbott was a journalist and race relations officer,
working for Thames Television, TV-AM and the National Council for Civil
Liberties. Abbott was born in 1953 and graduated from Cambridge University in
1976.
Heidi Alexander

Heidi Alexander was elected to the House of Commons in 2010 as the MP for
Lewisham East. She cites her interests as housing and local government, and
currently sits on the Select Committee for Communities and Local Government.
Before entering parliament, Alexander spent six years as a Labour Councillor on
Lewisham Council. Between 2006 and 2010, she was both Deputy Mayor and
Cabinet Member for Regeneration. During her time as a councillor, Alexander
was also Director and Chair of Greater London Enterprise, and Director of
Lewisham Schools for the Future. Until 2005 she worked as a parliamentary
assistant to Joan Ruddock MP. She gained this position in 1999 after graduating
from Durham University with a Masters in European Urban and Regional
Change. Alexander was born in 1975.
Rushanara Ali

Rushanara Ali was elected to the House of Commons in 2010 as the MP for
Bethnal Green and Bow, becoming the first Bangladesh-born MP. Since 2010, she
has been Shadow Minister for International Development.
Ali has received considerable media attention, singled out as an example of the
new generation of politicians to watch. The Guardian, for example, named her as
one of the most powerful Muslim women in Britain in 2009. Since 2005 she has
been associate director of the Young Foundation and has chaired the Tower
Hamlets Summer University, as well as sitting on the London Child Poverty
Commission and various other public bodies. She is also a prolific writer,
producing articles for various left-wing publications. Between 1999 and 2005,
she worked for centre-left think-tank the Institute of Public Policy Research, and
for both the Foreign and Home Office, on projects connected with race and
discrimination. Before that, she worked for two years as a parliamentary
assistant to former Labour MP Oona King. Ali graduated from Oxford University
in 1996 with a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.
Margaret Beckett

Margaret Beckett was first elected to the House of Commons in 1974 as the MP
for Lincoln, but lost her seat at the 1979 General Election. She was re-elected in
Derby South in 1983 and has represented the constituency ever since. Beckett is
a well-established Labour figure, and the only woman to have remained in
Cabinet throughout the Blair years. Her long and varied career has included
spells as the UK’s first female Foreign Secretary and as interim Leader of the
Labour Party.
Beckett was last in Cabinet as Minister for Housing and Planning, an office she
held between 2008 and 2009. Prior to that, she spent a year as Foreign Secretary
(2006-2007) and five years as Secretary of State for the
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2001-06). Between 1998 and 2001
Beckett was both President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons.
She spent the previous year as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. Beckett
held several frontbench posts during Labour’s lengthy period in opposition,
spending time as Shadow President of the Board of Trade (1995-98) and as
Shadow Health Secretary (1994-95). After John Smith’s death in 1994, Beckett
was briefly made Party Leader, having been elected as Deputy Leader two years
earlier. Beckett has also served as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
(1989-92) and Shadow Social Security Minister (1984-89). She quickly ascended
the party ranks during her first term in Parliament, securing the roles of Under-
Secretary of State at the Department of Education and Science (1976-79) and
Assistant Government Whip (1975-76).
Beckett is an industrial and academic metallurgist by training, and has a strong
leftist union background. Her time outside parliament was spent working as an
industrial policy researcher for the Labour Party (1970-74) and at Manchester
University’s Department of Metallurgy (1966-70). Beckett was born in 1943.
Anne Begg

Anne Begg was first elected to the House of Commons in 1997 and is the MP for
Aberdeen South. From 2006 to 2010, she was Vice-chair of the Labour Party
National Policy Forum. Begg has Gaucher’s disease, which causes her bones to be
soft and prone to fracture, forcing her to use a wheelchair. Her experience of
disability has shaped her political interests in welfare reform, social inclusion
and genetics. She is currently Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee.
Before entering parliament, Begg was an English and history teacher. She had to
fight the Scottish General Teaching Council for three years before being allowed
to teach, due to its ban on teachers in wheelchairs. In 1988 she was awarded the
title of Disabled Scot of the Year in recognition of her work. Begg was born in
1955 and studied at Aberdeen University.
Luciana Berger

Luciana Berger was elected to the House of Commons in 2010 as the MP for
Liverpool Wavertree. She is currently Shadow Minister for Climate Change.
Before entering parliament, Berger was director of Labour Friends of Israel and
sat on the steering group of the London Jewish Forum. She was also anti-racism
co-ordinator of the National Union of Students, but resigned in 2005 claiming the
union leadership was turning a blind eye to anti-semitism. Berger has worked in
public affairs and consultancy, most recently for the NHS Confederation. Prior to
this, she was a management consultant at Accenture, a position she gained after
completing an Masters in government at the University of London in 2005.
Berger was born in 1982.
Roberta Blackman-Woods

Roberta Blackman-Woods was first elected to the House of Commons in 2005
and is the MP for the City of Durham. She is currently a Shadow Minister for
Communities and Local Government, having previously been a Shadow Minister
for the Cabinet Office. Blackm-Waonods has been Parliamentary Private
Secretary to several Ministers, most recently working with David Lammy whilst
he was Minister for Universities, Business, Innovation and Skills (2008-10).
During this time, Blackman-Woods was also Parliamentary assistant to Nick
Brown, Minister for the North East. Prior to that, she was PPS to Des Browne as
Secretary of State for Defence (2007-08) and to Hilary Armstrong, Chancellor of
the Duchy of Lancaster (2006-07).
Blackman-Woods is an academic, specialising in labour studies and social policy.
Before entering Parliament she spent five years as Professor of Social Policy at
Northumbria University. Between 1995 and 2000, Blackman-Woods taught at
the trade union run Ruskin College in Oxford. During this time she was elected to
Oxford City Council, where she spent three years as head of policy in the Local
Government Information Unit. Blackman-Woods has also taught at Ulster and
Newcastle Universities, and between 1982 and 1985 sat on Newcastle City
Council. She was born in 1957 and holds a PhD from Ulster University.
Hazel Blears

Hazel Blears was first elected to the House of Commons in 1997 as MP for
Salford. The boundaries of her constituency were changed before the 2010
election and she now represents Salford and Eccles. Blears has been subject to
criticism in recent years, both over her decision to resign from the Cabinet on the
eve of the 2009 local and European elections, and for her failure to pay capital
gains tax on her second home. Before her shock exit, Blears spent two years as
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. Previously, she had
been a Minister without Portfolio (2006-07) and had spent time at the Home
Office, where her portfolio included crime reduction, policing and community
safety (2003-06). Between 2001 and 2003 Blears was a junior Health Minister,
and before that was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Alan Milburn whilst he
was Chief Secretary at the Treasury (1999) and Health Minister (1998).
Before entering Parliament, Blears worked as a solicitor, largely for local
authorities. She was a Salford councillor for eight years and a branch secretary
of UNISON. Blears was born in 1956 and studied at Nottingham Trent University
and Chester College of Law.
Lyn Brown

Lyn Brown was first elected to the House of Commons in 2005 and is MP for
West Ham. She cites her political interests as poverty, housing, local government,
sexual health and foreign affairs. She has been a party Whip since October 2010,
and served as an Assistant Government Whip between 2009 and 2010. She spent
the previous two years as Parliamentary Private Secretary to John Denham,
Secretary of State for Innovations, Universities and Skills (2007-09), and prior to
that was PPS to Phil Woolas, Minister at the Department for Communities and
Local Government (2006-07).
Before her election to Parliament, Brown worked in the local government and
voluntary sector. She spent seventeen years on Newham Borough Council, where
she was especially involved with cultural and leisure services. During this time,
Brown was also equalities officer for the nearby London Borough of Waltham
Forest. Brown was born in 1960 and has a degree in English and Religious
Studies from Whitelands College, Roehampton.