Maria Eagle

Maria Eagle MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
Incumbent
Assumed office 8 October 2010
Leader	Ed Miliband
Preceded by	Sadiq Khan
Shadow Solicitor General
In office 11 May 2010 – 8 October 2010
Leader	Harriet Harman Ed Miliband
Preceded by	Jonathan Djanogly
Succeeded by	Catherine McKinnell
Member of Parliament for Garston and Halewood Liverpool Garston (1997–2010)
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 May 1997
Preceded by	Eddie Loyden
Majority	16,877 (39.4%)
Personal details
Born	17 February 1961 (1961-02-17) Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Alma mater	Pembroke College, Oxford

Maria Eagle (born 17 February 1961) is a British solicitor and Labour Party politician. She is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Garston and Halewood, having been the MP for Liverpool Garston from 1997 to 2010.

Until 2010, she held the rank of Minister of State at both the Government Equalities Office and the Ministry of Justice. She was previously a Minister at the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department for Education and Skills, and the Northern Ireland Office. After the 2010 general election she became the Shadow Solicitor General. On 8 October 2010, Eagle was announced as the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport in Ed Milliband's new shadow cabinet.

Early life

Eagle was born in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, the daughter of a printworker, she was educated at St Peter's Church of England School in Formby and Formby High School, before attending Pembroke College, Oxford, where she was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1983.

She then went to The College of Law, London, where she took her law finals in 1990.^{[citation needed]} She was a solicitor in the voluntary sector from 1983,^{[citation needed]} before she joined Brian Thompson & Partners in Liverpool as an articled clerk in 1990,^{[citation needed]} before becoming a solicitor with Goldsmith Williams in Liverpool in 1992,^{[citation needed]} and the senior solicitor at Steven Irving & Co also in Liverpool,^{[citation needed]} where she remained until her election to Westminster. Before entering parliament, Eagle concentrated on housing issues whilst a solicitor.^{[citation needed]}

Political life

Eagle joined the Labour Party in 1978,^{[citation needed]} and was elected the secretary of the Crosby Constituency Labour Party (CLP) for two years in 1983, and was also elected as the campaigns organiser with that CLP for three years in 1993. She unsuccessfully contested the Crosby seat at the 1992 general election where she was defeated by the sitting Conservative MP Malcolm Thornton by 14,806 votes.^{[citation needed]}

For the following election Eagle was selected to stand for Labour in Garston through an all-women shortlist. This method of selection was subsequently declared illegal in January 1996 as it breached sex discrimination laws. Despite the ruling she remained in place as the candidate for the following year's election. She was elected to the House of Commons at the 1997 general election at Liverpool Garston following the retirement of the veteran Labour MP Edward Loyden.^{[citation needed]} Eagle held the seat with a majority of 18,417 and remained the MP until the constituency was abolished in 2010. She made her maiden speech on 17 June 1997.

Parliamentary career

In parliament Eagle was a member of the Public Accounts Committee following her initial election, and in 1999 she was appointed the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of State at the Department of Health, John Hutton. She was promoted to the Tony Blair government following the 2001 general election as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions, and after the 2005 general election, she was the Minister for Children at the Department for Education and Skills, until the May 2006 reshuffle moved her to Northern Ireland, where she was Minister for more than one department at a time, including a period at the Department for Employment and Learning, on 29 June 2007 she moved to the Ministry of Justice. As part of the reshuffle of Gordon Brown's government in October 2008, she assumed additional responsibility for the Government Equalities Office. In the June 2009 reshuffle she was promoted to Minister of State within the justice department.

When she was first elected to parliament in 1997 she joined her twin sister, Angela Eagle, who had been elected at the previous parliament, to serve as one of the first set of twins in the House of Commons.^{[citation needed]} Another set of sisters, Sylvia Heal and Ann Keen, had both been elected at the 1997 election,^{[citation needed]} also, meaning that neither pair of sisters holds the record for being the first.

She has called for the ban on mink fur farming.^{[citation needed]}

After Labour lost the 2010 general election served in interim Labour leader Harriet Harman's front bench as Shadow Solicitor General and Shadow Justice Minister. In October 2010 Eagle was elected to the Shadow Cabinet of new Labour Party leader Ed Miliband as Shadow Secretary of State for Transport in the Labour Party Shadow Cabinet election.

Expenses controversy

Main article: United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal

On 17 May 2009 The Daily Telegraph revealed that Eagle had claimed £3,500 for the refurbishment of the bathroom of her Liverpool home property, then switched her second home designation to a different property just four months later. Eagle voted in favour of legislation which would have kept MPs' expenses information secret.

Personal life

Like her twin sister Angela, Maria Eagle is a very able chess player having played for England, and a keen cricketer.

Publications

• High Time or High Tide for Labour Women? by Maria Eagle and Joni Lovenduski, 1998, Fabian Society Books, ISBN 0-7163-0585-2, OCLC 39267019

External links

• Maria Eagle MP official website
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
• Voting record at PublicWhip.org
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou.com
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Profile at BBC News Democracy Live

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Edward Loyden	Member of Parliament for Liverpool Garston 1997 – 2010	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Garston and Halewood 2010 – present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Margaret Hodge	Minister for Children 2005–2006	Succeeded by Beverley Hughes