Shaun Woodward

The Right Honourable Shaun Woodward MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office 11 May 2010 – 7 October 2011
Leader	Harriet Harman Ed Miliband
Preceded by	Owen Paterson
Succeeded by	Vernon Coaker
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office 28 June 2007 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Peter Hain
Succeeded by	Owen Paterson
Member of Parliament for St Helens South and Whiston St Helens South (2001–2010)
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 June 2001
Preceded by	Gerald Bermingham
Majority	14,122 (30.6%)
Member of Parliament for Witney
In office 1 May 1997 – 7 June 2001
Preceded by	Douglas Hurd
Succeeded by	David Cameron
Personal details
Born	26 October 1958 (1958-10-26) Bristol, England
Political party	Labour (1999–present)
Other political affiliations	Conservative (Before 1999)
Alma mater	Jesus College, Cambridge Harvard University
Religion	Anglicanism

Shaun Anthony Woodward (born 26 October 1958) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for St Helens South since 2001. He served in the Cabinet from 28 June 2007 to 11 May 2010 as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Woodward was the Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland until 7 October 2011, when he was replaced by Vernon Coaker.

A former television researcher and producer, Woodward began his political career in the Conservative Party. He was elected in 1997 as a Conservative MP for Witney, but joined Labour in 1999.

Early life

Woodward was educated at the independent Bristol Grammar School, Jesus College, Cambridge, where he studied English Literature, and Harvard University as a Kennedy Scholar. From 1981–2, he was Parliamentary Lobbyist for the National Consumer Council. From 1982–90, he worked as a researcher and producer for BBC TV News and Current Affairs on the programmes That's Life!, Panorama and Newsnight. He subsequently wrote a book about Ben Hardwick. From 1991–2, he was Director of Communications for the Conservative Party.

Member of Parliament

He was selected as Douglas Hurd's successor as Conservative candidate for the safe seat of Witney at the 1997 election, having previously been a senior official of the party. Elected with a large majority, he was a front-bench spokesman on London for the Conservative opposition under William Hague until 1999, when he was sacked for supporting the repeal of Section 28, a regulation which prevented the promotion of homosexuality in schools.

Defection to the Labour Party

After being sacked from the Tory frontbench, Woodward then controversially left the Conservative party to move to the ruling Labour Party, where he was given a job co-ordinating the Labour party's 2001 general election campaign. Woodward's local constituency association requested that he resign and run again in a by-election, under the Labour banner, as he had originally won the safe Conservative seat by campaigning as a Conservative. Woodward refused to hold a by-election, and continued to represent his constituency for two years, despite criticism from colleagues in his own party, including Tony Benn, Jeremy Corbyn and Chris Mullin, who would later write that Woodward's decision to change his political affiliation without consulting his electorate "discredits the political process". In the June 2001 general election he decided not to contest his Witney seat under the Labour banner and instead found a safe Labour seat in St Helens South. His successor in Witney was David Cameron, who subsequently became Prime Minister in 2010. In his acclaimed diaries, Chris Mullin, then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the DETR, wrote with shock of "the awful Shaun Woodward" defecting to his own side, calling "the New Labour elite parachuting [Woodward] into a safe seat... one of New Labour's vilest stitch-ups... made my flesh creep". Mullin had previously accused Woodward of using the Ladbroke Grove rail crash "to score cheap political points".

When news of Woodward's intention to stand reached St. Helens, a strong left-wing challenge was put forward in an attempt to deny the former Conservative the safe Labour seat. Neil Thompson of the Socialist Alliance and Michael Perry of the Socialist Labour Party both contested the St Helens South seat and received a total of 12% of the vote between them. Woodward won the seat with a much reduced 49% of the vote.

As a Labour MP, Woodward served on the Joint Committee on Human Rights, and was a prominent supporter of the Gender Recognition Act 2004.

In May 2005, Woodward was re-elected in St Helens South receiving 54% of the vote and his majority increased. However, the Liberal Democrats candidate, Brian Spencer, saw his party's vote increase from 23% in 2001 to 28%. Michael Perry of the Socialist Labour Party contested the seat again and received just under two percent of the vote.

In government

After the 2005 election he was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office.

In the May 2006 reshuffle, Tony Blair named Woodward Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport with responsibilities for the digital handover for TV. On 28 June 2007, in his first cabinet, newly appointed Prime Minister Gordon Brown appointed Woodward as the Northern Ireland Secretary, replacing Peter Hain. Woodward chose not to receive a Ministerial salary because of his personal wealth. As Northern Ireland Secretary, Woodward reportedly became a close confidant of the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. This was largely due to Woodward's previous first hand experiences of the beleaguered Conservative government of John Major.

In Opposition

Woodward stood for election to Labour's Shadow Cabinet, but was unsuccessful. Nevertheless, he was retained as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland by Labour leader Ed Miliband for just under a year.

Personal life

He married Camilla Davan Sainsbury, daughter of former Conservative MP Tim Sainsbury of the wealthy supermarket Sainsbury family, on 2 May 1987 in Newbury. They have one son (Thomas, born July 1989) and three daughters (Eleanor, born May 1991, Olivia, born October 1993, and Katherine, born September 1996).

He was said in 2001 to be the only Labour MP with a butler. 

He added a seventh property to his property portfolio in January 2010 and now has a 1 million pound apartment in an alpine resort, along with a £1.35m London flat, a £7m pad in Hamptons, a £5m villa in Mustique, a house in the south of France, a £2m townhouse and a modest £85,000 home in his St. Helens constituency.

Works

• Death by Television by Esther Rantzen, Shaun Woodward (Century, 1999) ISBN 0-7126-2543-7
• Drugwatch: Just Say No! by Sarah Caplin, Shaun Woodward (Corgi, 1986) ISBN 0-552-12820-1
• Ben: Story of Ben Hardwick by Esther Rantzen, Shaun Woodward (Penguin Character Books, 1985) ISBN 0-563-20331-5
• "That's Life" Survey on Tranquillisers by Ron Lacey, Shaun Woodward (BBC, 1985) ISBN 0-563-20294-7

External links

• Shaun Woodward MP official constituency website
• Joint Committee on Human Rights
• 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
• Articles authored at Journalisted

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Douglas Hurd	Member of Parliament for Witney 1997–2001	Succeeded by David Cameron
Preceded by Gerald Bermingham	Member of Parliament for St Helens South 2001–2010	Succeeded by Constituency abolished
Preceded by Constituency created	Member of Parliament for St Helens South and Whiston 2010–present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Peter Hain	Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 2007–2010	Succeeded by Owen Paterson
Preceded by Owen Paterson	Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 2010–2011	Succeeded by Vernon Coaker