Joan Lestor, Baroness Lestor of Eccles

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Joan Lestor, Baroness Lestor of Eccles (* 13. November 1931 in Vancouver , British Columbia , Canada ; † 27. March 1998 in London ) was a British politician of the Labor Party . Since 1997 she was a Life Peeress member of the House of Lords .

Life

Lestor was born in Canada. Her father was a journalist and was a leader in the Socialist Workers' Party of Great Britain. Lestor was raised by her maternal grandmother. Lestor visited the Blaenavon Secondary School in Monmouth in the County of Monmouthshire and the William Morris High School in Walthamstow . She graduated from the University of London . There she graduated with a diploma in sociology . She worked as a trained educator and kindergarten teacher.

Lestor's political career began in local politics . She was initially a member of the Socialist Party of Great Britain , from which she later left. In 1958 she became a Councilor of the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth , and later Councilor of the London Borough of Wandsworth . She was a member of the London County Council (1962–1964).

In 1964 she ran for the Labor Party in the British general election for the Lewisham West constituency. In the British general election in 1966 , she won the constituency of Eton and Slough for the Labor Party and became a member of the House of Commons in 1966 . In the following years she took on various functions in the Labor Party: in 1967 she became a member of the National Executive Committee of the Labor Party; she was a member there until 1982. 1977-1978 she was party chairman ( chairman ) of the Labor Party. From 1978 to 1997 she was also chairman ( chairman ) of the International Committee of the Labor Party.

Under the government of Prime Minister Harold Wilson , she was briefly from October 1969 to 1970 State Secretary ( Junior Minister ) in the British Department of Education and Science (Department of Education and Science); In this role she was responsible for the training of educators, kindergarten teachers and nannies . In April 1974 she was Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office with responsibility for foreign policy and Commonwealth affairs concerning ( Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs ). However, her collaboration with the then British Foreign Secretary James Callaghan turned out to be difficult because of her far-reaching commitment to the political rights of black Africans . In June 1975, she was therefore as sub-Secretary of State for Education and Science ( Under-Secretary of State for Education and Science , mixed) back to the British Ministry of Education and Science (Department of Education and Science). In March 1976 she resigned from this post after budget cuts.

After a change in constituency boundaries, Lestor stood in 1983 for the House of Commons in the newly created constituency of Slough; however, it was subject to Conservative Party candidate John Watts . In 1987 she was re-elected to the House of Commons for the Eccles constituency; She then held this seat without interruption until she left in 1997. In the shadow cabinet by Neil Kinnock she was from November 1989 to October 1994 spokesperson for youth and family policy ( Shadow Spokesperson for Children and Families ), then then from October 1994 to July 1996 under Tony Blair Shadow Minister for Development Aid ( Shadow Minister for Overseas Development ). In July 1996, she announced that she was no longer available for re-election in the 1997 British general election .

Lestor was politically active for the rights of the British trade unions and for children's rights . She campaigned for the establishment of day nurseries , day nurseries and all-day kindergartens . She supported demands for maternity benefit as well as assistance and support services for mothers and single parents . She called for facilities for preschoolers . Her special political priorities also included her commitment to financial support and training for pregnant students and school-age mothers.

She was a staunch opponent of racism, especially the apartheid policy in South Africa . She was a co-founder and one of the editors of the anti-fascist monthly magazine Searchlight .

Membership in the House of Lords

On June 4, 1997, Lestor was made a Life Peeress and became a member of the House of Lords ; she was entitled Baroness Lestor of Eccles , of Rednal, of Tooting Bec in the London Borough of Wandsworth.

She gave her inaugural address in the House of Lords on July 9, 1997 for the millennium celebrations planned for 2000 in London. In Hansard word posts Lestors are documented in the House of Lords from 1997 and the 1998th In January 1998 she spoke up for the last time in the House of Lords with a question in the context of a debate on health policy ( vitamin and mineral supplements ).

Private

Lestor was unmarried. She was an adoptive mother of two children, a son and a daughter. In the Who's Who , she listed theater , reading , and playing with children and animals as her personal hobbies. She died in a hospice in London at the age of 66 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Joan Lestor, Baroness Lestor of Eccles Entry in Encyclopedia Britannica (online); Retrieved November 8, 2013
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Baroness Lestor of Eccles ; Obituary in: The Independent, March 30, 1998
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h Baroness Lestor of Eccles dies aged 66 obituary BBC News dated March 28, 1998
  4. ^ Joan Lestor, Baroness Lestor of Eccles on thepeerage.com , accessed September 12, 2016.
  5. ↑ Jubilee 2000 Scheme Text of the speech of July 9, 1997
personal data
SURNAME Lestor, Joan, Baroness Lestor of Eccles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lestor, Joan (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Labor Party politician, Member of the House of Commons
DATE OF BIRTH November 13, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Vancouver British Columbia , Canada
DATE OF DEATH March 27, 1998
Place of death London , England, UK