Vera Baird

Vera Baird QC
Vera Baird in July 2009
Solicitor General for England and Wales
In office 29 June 2007 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Mike O'Brien
Succeeded by	Edward Garnier
Member of Parliament for Redcar
In office 7 June 2001 – 6 May 2010
Preceded by	Mo Mowlam
Succeeded by	Ian Swales
Personal details
Born	13 February 1950 (1950-02-13) Oldham, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	David Taylor-Gooby 1972–78 (divorced) Robert Brian Baird 1978–79 (deceased)
Children	2 stepsons
Residence	Crouch End, London
Alma mater	Newcastle Polytechnic, Open University, London Guildhall University, University of Teesside

Vera Baird (born Vera Thomas on 13 February 1950) is a British Labour Party activist, barrister, author and lecturer. She serves as visiting lecturer at London Southbank University and is co-director of Astraea: Gender Justice (research and education). Baird was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Redcar from 2001 to 2010, when she lost her seat to the Liberal Democrats, with the highest swing against any Labour candidate anywhere in the country prompted by local anger over the closure of Teesside Steelworks

Early life

Baird was born in Chadderton near Oldham, Lancashire, the daughter of Jack Thomas, a maintenance painter in a cotton mill, who died when she was 10-years-old, and Alice Marsland, a print worker. Her paternal grandfather was a Welsh miner and her maternal grandparents were cotton mill workers. She went to Yew Tree County Primary School and the local authority-run Chadderton Grammar School for Girls (renamed The Radclyffe School) and was then at Newcastle Polytechnic where she studied Law, gaining an LLB. In 1983 she gained a BA in Literature and Modern History at the Open University. In 1983 she became a legal associate of the Royal Town Planning Institute. She completed the first year of an MA in modern history at London Guildhall University from 1999 before transferring to University of Teesside on being selected for Redcar. She is currently studying for an MPhil (History) at the University of Teesside.

She was the parish council clerk of Shadforth parish council in County Durham in the late 1970s when her married name was Vera Taylor-Gooby.

Baird joined the Labour Party and what was the TGWU now Unite union in 1971 and was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1975 and first practised in Newcastle Upon Tyne. She specialised in criminal defence and worked on cases arising from the 1984 UK miners' strike (1984-1985). She met Anthony Gifford, 6th Baron Gifford while working on the Battle of Orgreave trial and joined his chambers in 1986 before moving to the Chambers of Michael Mansfield alongside Patrick Roche, the husband of her former parliamentary colleague, Barbara Roche. She took silk in 2000, 25 years after becoming a barrister, and has said that the Queen's Counsel system was in need of reform to make it more transparent. High profile cases Baird has been involved in include representing murderer Jane Andrews in an appeal.

Parliamentary career

At the 1983 general election, Baird unsuccessfully contested the constituency of Berwick-upon-Tweed, finishing in third place behind the victor Alan Beith. but becoming the first Labour candidate in nearly two decades to retain her deposit. At the 2001 general election she was selected to contest Labour's ultra-safe seat of Redcar, following the retirement of the sitting MP and former Cabinet minister, Mo Mowlam. Baird won with 7% smaller vote than Mowlam taking the seat with a large majority.

Spectator Backbencher of the Year in 2004 Baird served on a number of select committees between 2001 and 2005 including Joint Select Committee on Human Rights 2001–2003 and the Select Committee on Work and Pensions between 2003 and 2005.

Baird was re-elected at the 2005 general election with a reduction in her majority. She then became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke.

On 8 May 2006, she was appointed as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department for Constitutional Affairs - which was renamed the Ministry of Justice in May 2007, following the reorganisation of the Home Office. In June 2007, newly appointed Prime Minister Gordon Brown appointed Baird Solicitor General for England and Wales.

In 2009 Baird helped establish the Stern Review on the way rape cases are handled, an independent report by Baroness Stern, it was published in March 2010 concluding there needed to be a greater focus on victims.

She lost her seat in the House of Commons on 7 May 2010 at the 2010 General Election, the first time in the history of the constituency the Labour Party had lost the seat in Redcar. The huge swing of 21.8% to the Liberal Democrats was the largest ever against a Labour candidate in a general election. It was put down to a number of reasons, in particular the view that the government failed to save local Teesside Steelworks from closure as well as the expenses scandal.

Other activities

Baird was vice-chairwoman of the Fawcett Society between 1998 and 2001 and has strong links to the organisation. She founded the government funded Gender and Criminal Justice Forum at the Fawcett Society and chaired it's Commission on Women and the Criminal Justice System.

She is a Member of the Fabian Society, the Co-operative Party and is a National Patron of the Rape Crisis Foundation and the Drug Rape Trust. She chairs the Society of Labour Lawyers, the Labour Criminal Justice Forum and is a Steering Committee Member of Labour Women's Network.

She remains very active in the Labour Party in Hornsey and Wood Green where she lives. She is chair of the Haringey Campaign Committee, the Constituency Women's Forum and the Crouch End branch party as well as secretary of the Haringey branch of the Co-operative Party. She was recently made an honorary member of the Durham Miners Association, the only woman to have that honour.

Baird has written several books concerning rape and women's experiences in court and a book on women murderers. She is currently working on a further publication and is a frequent contributor to a range of websites and magazines. She is also an Honorary Fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford and of Teesside University and an Honorary Professor of London South Bank University.

After her election defeat Baird founded the Astraea Institute for Gender Justice along with feminist criminologist Jill Radford

Controversies

Criticism of judge

In 2006 Baird commented that in calculating the sentence of a sex offender the judge had been too lenient; she retracted the comments after her boss Lord Falconer supported the judge saying the fault lay not with the judiciary but with sentencing guidelines. Judge Keith Cutler later suggested that criticism from ministers including Baird and Home Secretary John Reid could force judges to break their tradition of silence when criticised.

Expenses

Main article: United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal

In May 2009 The Daily Telegraph reported that Baird had claimed £286 of Christmas decorations using her expense allowance. Baird submitted receipts under a "miscellaneous items" claim, and House of Commons officials denied payment. She later said she'd been grateful for the officials' guidance. Baird also benefited from the Additional Costs Allowance (more commonly known as the 'second homes' allowance) by designating her London flat as her main home while claiming allowances for the four-bedroomed property in her constituency she has designated as her second home in accordance with rules. Baird successfully appealed a direction to repay expenses relating to her constituency home with Sir Paul Kennedy's inquiry finding she only claimed for payments she was entitled to receive. Baird has insisted she has no need to apologise for her actions as she had always acted within the rules.

Dog fouling incident

In 2009 Baird was involved in an altercation with a woman at King's Cross railway station in relation to Baird's dog fouling the platform which led to a PCSO intervening. After a six week investigation into Baird's conduct during the incident, the British Transport Police decided not to take any action against her. Baird said she received an apology from British Transport Police following her complaints about their attitude.

Speeding

In June 2010, Baird was banned from driving for six months, having accumulated 12 penalty points on her driving licence. In August 2009, she was caught on camera doing 98 mph on the M4 motorway at Miskin, South Wales, whilst travelling to see an injured friend near Swansea. Baird travelled to Wales to ask the court to vacate the conviction which had occurred in her absence. She then pled guilty. She said had not received her summons which magistrates allowed but they did not accept the ban would cause her exceptional hardship. Pontypridd magistrates then re-imposed the six month ban. She was also fined £400.

Personal life

Baird married David Taylor-Gooby in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1972. They divorced in 1978, and she married Robert Brian Baird (born July 1928) in the same year in County Durham, a year before he died in 1979. She has two stepsons from him. Her interests outside politics include her pet dog, tennis, travel, reading and running. Baird lives in Crouch End, London.

External links

• Vera Baird Q.C. official site
• ePolitix - Vera Baird official site
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Vera Baird MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Vera Baird MP
• The Public Whip - Vera Baird MP voting record
• Solicitor General page
• BBC Politics - Vera Baird

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Mo Mowlam	Member of Parliament for Redcar 2001–2010	Succeeded by Ian Swales
Legal offices
Preceded by Mike O'Brien	Solicitor General for England and Wales 2007–2010	Succeeded by Edward Garnier