Margaret Beckett

Dame Margaret Beckett (2017)

Dame Margaret Mary Beckett DBE , b. Jackson (born January 15, 1943 in Ashton-under-Lyne , Lancashire ) is a British politician ( Labor ) and was Foreign Secretary in the government of Tony Blair from 2006 to 2007 . In the government of Gordon Brown, she served from 2008 to 2009 as Minister for Housing.

Life

The trained metallurgist comes from a Catholic - Irish family and initially worked at the University of Manchester . She has been politically active since 1970. Between 1974 and 1979 she was a Labor MP for the Lincoln constituency and worked on the side at the Department of Overseas Affairs. Then she was Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of Education. Since 1983 she has represented the Derby South constituency in the British House of Commons .

In 1992 she became the first woman to become the party's deputy chairwoman. After the death of party leader John Smith on May 12, 1994, she took over the party chairmanship for some time. On July 21, 1994, the Labor Party held a leadership election . The principle adopted in 1993 “one member, one vote” was applied for the first time. Blair won this election by an absolute majority over John Prescott and Margaret Beckett.

In 1997 she became Minister for Trade and Industry, and in 1998 majority leader in the House of Commons . From June 8, 2001, she was Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; on May 5, 2006 she was appointed Foreign Minister. She was the first woman to hold this position.

After Gordon Brown became Prime Minister in 2007, Margaret Beckett left the government (see Brown cabinet ). From 2008 to 2009 she was briefly again in the cabinet as Minister for Housing. In 2013 she was ennobled as Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire .

She has been married to Lionel Beckett since 1979. She has two step-sons from her husband's first marriage.

Web links

Commons : Margaret Beckett  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Miss Margaret Jackson at Hansard (English)