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Margaret Hodge

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The Right Honourable
Margaret Hodge
MBE MP
Minister for Culture and Tourism
Assumed office
22 September 2009
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
Preceded byBarbara Follett
Minister for Culture, Creative Industries and Tourism
In office
27 June 2007 – 3 October 2008
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
Preceded byDavid Lammy
Succeeded byBarbara Follett
Minister for Children
In office
2003–2005
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byNew role
Succeeded byMaria Eagle
Member of Parliament
for Barking
Assumed office
9 June 1994
Preceded byJo Richardson
Majority8,883 (30.7%)
Personal details
Born (1944-09-08) 8 September 1944 (age 79)
Cairo, Egypt[1]
NationalityBritish
Political partyLabour
Height150px
Alma materLondon School of Economics
Website[2]

Margaret Eve, Lady Hodge MBE (née Oppenheimer; born 8 September 1944, Cairo) is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Barking since 1994. She was the first Minister for Children in 2001 and is currently Minister of State for Culture and Tourism at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Early life

Margaret Hodge was born in Egypt as Margaret Oppenheimer, the daughter of a refugee multi-millionaire German Jewish steel trader and his Austrian Jewish wife, Hans and Lisbeth Oppenheimer.[3][4] The family's company Stemcor is the world's largest privately owned steel trading corporation, with a turnover of £6.28 billion in 2008.[5][6] After World War II, the family settled in London. Her mother died when Margaret was 10. She was educated at Bromley High School on Blackbrook Lane in Bickley, Oxford High School on Belbroughton Road in Oxford (both independent schools), and the London School of Economics where she obtained a third class BSc Economics degree in 1966[citation needed]. She worked in market research from 1966-73.

She married Andrew Watson in 1968. They had a son and daughter. The couple divorced in 1978 and that same year she married Henry Hodge (later Sir Henry), going on to have two daughters. Henry Hodge was a fellow Labour borough councillor and Chairman of the National Council for Civil Liberties who went on to become a High Court judge; he died in 2009. From 1992 to 1994, she was a senior consultant for Price Waterhouse. Her family is estimated to possess a fortune in the hundreds of millions of pounds.[7]

She has four children and one grandchild.[8]

Islington Council

Hodge was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Islington in 1973. She was associated with a group of newly elected, activist, largely middle-class councillors who were viewed with varying degrees of antagonism by some established Labour Party councillors.

She rapidly became Chairman of the Housing Committee (opting to use "chairman" rather than "chair"). This was a critical post in an authority with one of the worst sets of housing statistics in London and in a period when London Boroughs were expected to be housing providers and managers. Hodge's tenure as Housing Chairman saw the continuation of a large new housing programme. There was a change of emphasis to the refurbishment of sound, older buildings (e.g., Charteris Road, Alexander Road areas), in response to a paper published by the local Islington Housing Action Group.

At one point, Hodge's deputy chairman was Jack Straw, subsequently a Cabinet member of Prime Minister Tony Blair's administrations.

The Islington Labour Parties were badly affected by the defection of members and elected public representatives to the Social Democratic Party but, when the dust had settled, Hodge had emerged as council leader, in 1982, a post which she held until 1992. During her 10 years as leader of Islington Council she was referred to as "Enver Hodge", after the Albanian despot, Enver Hoxha[9][10] ('Hoxha' is pronounced similarly to 'Hodge'). She had become the focus of antagonism from "old-guard", former Labour Party members who felt that their party had been "taken over" by middle-class incomers.

The end of her period at Islington, before taking up her Parliamentary career, was marred by criticism of her response (in 1985) to serious child abuse allegations.

Child abuse controversy

In 1985, Demetrious Panton complained about abuse that he had suffered while in the council's care in the 70s and 80s. He did not receive an official reply until 1989, in which the council denied responsibility.[11]

In 1990 Liz Davies, a senior social worker employed by the borough and her manager David Cofie, raised concerns about sexual abuse of children in Islington Council Care. Correspondence between Hodge and the Director of Social Work indicates that she declined a request for extra resources to investigate. In early 1992, Liz Davies (not to be confused with the barrister and former Islington councillor) resigned from her post and requested that Scotland Yard investigate the allegations. The Evening Standard then began reporting on the allegations of abuse in Islingtons children's homes, shortly after which Hodge resigned to pursue a career with Price Waterhouse. In 1995, the White Report into sexual abuse in Islington Care homes reported that the council had failed adequately to investigate the allegations.

In 2003, following Hodge's appointment as Minister for Children, Demetrious Panton went public with his allegation that he was abused in Islington Council care and had repeatedly raised this issue with no effect. He accused Margaret Hodge of being ultimately responsible for the abuse that he suffered. Liz Davies also went public with the issues that she had raised concerns about while working for the council.

Following a media campaign conducted by several national newspapers calling for her to resign from her new post, she responded to Panton by letter, in which she referred to him as 'extremely disturbed'. Panton then passed the letter to the press which planned to publish it, only to be judicially restrained from doing so at the instruction of Hodge. The letter was eventually published, mainly on the grounds that the blocking of the letter was seen as disproportionate. Hodge was forced to publicly apologise and offered to contribute to a charity of the man's choosing as recompense.[12]

Parliamentary career

Hodge has been member for Barking since a by-election on 9 June 1994 caused by the death of Jo Richardson. As a new MP, she co-nominated the candidature of Tony Blair, a former neighbour, to be the new leader of the Labour Party[13] after the sudden death of John Smith.

She became a junior minister in 1998 and was made Minister for Universities in 2001, and remained there until 2003 when she was made Children's Minister. She was appointed to the Privy Council on 22 June 2003.[14]

First Children's Minister and after

Hodge was the first person to be Children's Minister when the post was created in 2003 but suffered difficulties after the Islington controversy; her resignation was called for on several occasions by the press and parliamentary opposition.

She was later transferred to less visible posts. Usually viewed as a strong supporter of Tony Blair, she appeared to have retained his support despite the hostility of the press.

Privacy International awarded Margaret Hodge the 2004 Big Brother Award for "Worst Public Servant" for her backing of controversial initiatives including the Universal Child Database. At a keynote speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research on 26 November 2004, Hodge strongly defended the idea of greater state regulation of individuals' choices, stating that "some may call it the nanny state but I call it a force for good".[citation needed]

In the same year Fathers 4 Justice campaigner Jonathan Stanesby handcuffed Hodge, stating he was arresting her for child abuse.[15] Fathers 4 Justice targeted Hodge because she was the "bogeywoman of family law, who doesn't even believe in equal parenting".[16] Stanesby and colleague Jason Hatch were later cleared of a charge false imprisonment after claiming that it was part of a reasonable political protest.[17]

In 2005 she was appointed Minister of State at the Department for Work and Pensions with responsibility for Work. It was during this period that she was often to be heard and seen in the media advocating as mitigation against the raising of university tuition fees, that these were a good investment for students as they would benefit from a supposed £400,000 graduate premium, a figure supposedly representing the advantage in lifetime salary enjoyed by graduates. Many considered this claim extremely disingenuous, since if a premium existed at all, it existed at a time when perhaps 5% of the population entered into degree level studies, and not the 50% proposed. Furthermore, there was ample evidence that a large number of modern graduates struggle to gain employment paying much above minimum wage when they have engaged in some of the softer and less vocationally oriented subjects now on offer. Many consider that perhaps a third of modern graduates will struggle to repay their loans in the long term. When the Student Loan Book is privatised as is now proposed (2009)their situation may become ever more parlous.

On 17 June 2005 was criticised for saying that the former workers of MG Rover would be able to obtain jobs at Tesco, a local supermarket. Later, she claimed that this was not what she meant, rather that she had empathy for those losing their jobs, and pointed to a new Tesco supermarket as an example of new jobs being created in the face of the redundancies at the car manufacturing plant.[18]

Hodge and the BNP

In April 2006 she commented in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph that eight out of ten white working class voters in her constituency may be tempted to vote for the British National Party (BNP) in the local elections on 4 May 2006 because "no one else is listening to them" about their concerns over unemployment, high house prices, and the housing of asylum seekers in the area. She said the Labour Party must promote "very, very strongly the benefits of the new, rich multi-racial society which is part of this part of London for me".[19]

There was wide media coverage of her remarks, and she was strongly criticised for giving the BNP publicity in the local election campaign. The BNP went on to gain 11 seats in the election out of a total of 51, making them the second largest party.[20] Local Labour activists blamed Hodge, and it was reported that moves were under way to deselect her.[21] The GMB wrote to Hodge in May 2006, asking for her to resign as a result of the election.[22]

More recently, the then Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, accused Hodge of "magnifying the propaganda of the British National Party" after she said that British residents should get priority in council house allocation.

In November, 2009, the leader of the BNP, Nick Griffin, announced that he intended to stand for election in Barking against Hodge at the next General Election, in 2010.[23]

Remarks on Tony Blair's foreign policy

On 17 November 2006 it was reported in the Islington Tribune that she described the Iraq war as a "big mistake in foreign affairs". The newspaper, whose content was reported on BBC news, claimed that Hodge had doubts about Blair's "moral imperialism" and had doubted Blair's attitude to foreign affairs since 1998.[24]

Housing policy

In an article for The Observer on 20 May 2007[25] Hodge argued that established families should take priority in the allocation of social housing over new economic migrants. These comments were condemned by the Refugee Council and other bodies working in this field.[26]

Richmond Parks Controversy

In January 2010, Margaret Hodge announced that Royal Parks, who manage Richmond and Bushy Park in the borough of Richmond, would be allowed to charge drivers £2 per visit. This announcement caused mass protests across the borough and has been deplored by many political figures, such as Vince Cable, Susan Kramer and Zac Goldsmith.[27][28]

Gordon Brown's government

On 27 June 2007, Hodge was appointed Minister of State at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport by the new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.[29] As Minister for Culture, Creative Industries and Tourism, she criticised the UK's foremost classical music festival, the Proms, for being insufficiently inclusive, instead praising television shows such as "Coronation Street".[30]

Following the cabinet reshuffle of 3 October 2008, it was announced Hodge was resigning her ministerial position, "temporarily leaving Government on compassionate grounds of family illness and will return to Government in the spring".[31] While she was caring for her terminally ill husband, she was replaced as Minister of State by Barbara Follett. On 22 September 2009, Hodge was reappointed Minister of State, as Minister for Culture and Tourism.[32][33]

References

  1. ^ Sarah Hall, political correspondent. "Guardian, November 21, 2003". Politics.guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
  2. ^ "UK political and parliamentary news, interviews, analysis, comment, blogs and podcasts". ePolitix.com. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
  3. ^ Sarah Hall, political correspondent. "The Guardian profile: Margaret Hodge | Society | The Guardian". Politics.guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
  4. ^ "Telegraph.co.uk: news, business, sport, the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Sunday". Telegraph. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
  5. ^ "Stemcor Home > About Us". Stemcor.com. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
  6. ^ Griffin vs Hodge: the Battle for BarkingThe Guardian, John Harris The Guardian, Saturday 13 March 2010]
  7. ^ Ralph Oppenheimer and family The Sunday Times April 27, 2008
  8. ^ "DTI website". Dti.gov.uk. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
  9. ^ "Telegraph.co.uk: news, business, sport, the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Sunday". Telegraph. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
  10. ^ Published: 12:01AM BST 06 Sep 2003 (2003-09-06). "Margaret Hodge factfile". Telegraph. Retrieved 2010-03-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ "Timeline: Margaret Hodge row | Society | Society". Guardian. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
  12. ^ "UK | Politics | Hodge apologises to abuse victim". BBC News. 2003-11-14. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
  13. ^ Sarah Hall "The Guardian profile: Margaret Hodge", The Guardian, 21 November 2003. Retrieved on 21 May 2007
  14. ^ Privy Council appointments, Downing Street announcement, 22 June 2003
  15. ^ "England | Manchester | Justice fathers 'handcuffed MP'". BBC News. 2007-09-24. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
  16. ^ "Activist 'arrests' British cabinet minister". Cbc.ca. 2004-11-19. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
  17. ^ "Handcuff protesters cleared - News". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
  18. ^ [1][dead link]
  19. ^ "UK | UK Politics | Minister says BNP tempting voters". BBC News. 2006-04-16. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
  20. ^ "UK | UK Politics | BNP doubles number of councillors". BBC News. 2006-05-05. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
  21. ^ Will Woodward, Hugh Muir and Steven Morris. "BNP rears its head as Labour loses heartland seats | Politics". The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
  22. ^ "UK | England | London | MP 'should go' over BNP comments". BBC News. 2006-05-24. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
  23. ^ "BNP leader Nick Griffin to take on Margaret Hodge in Barking". The Guardian. 15 November 2009. Retrieved 17 Nov 2009. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  24. ^ "UK | UK Politics | Minister 'attacks Iraq mistake'". BBC News. 2006-11-17. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
  25. ^ Margaret Hodge "A message to my fellow immigrants", The Observer, 20 May 2007. Retrieved on 20 May 2007.
  26. ^ Press Association "Call for migrant housing rethink", as reproduced on The Guardian website. Retrieved on 20 May 2007.
  27. ^ Helen Clarke. "Hundreds turn out to oppose park charges". Hounslow Chronicle. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
  28. ^ "Police close Pembroke Lodge car park as Richmond Park rally draws huge crowd (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)". Richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk. 2010-01-30. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
  29. ^ "List of Her Majesty's Government". Number10.gov.uk. 2007-06-29. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
  30. ^ "UK | UK Politics | Proms not inclusive, says Hodge". BBC News. 2008-03-04. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
  31. ^ Ministerial appointments and full list of Government, Downing Street announcement, 6 October 2008
  32. ^ Ministerial appointments, Downing Street announcement, 22 September 2009
  33. ^ Our ministers, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Retrieved 22 September 2009.
Template:Incumbent succession box
Parliament of the United Kingdom

Template:Incumbent succession box

Political offices
New title Minister for Children
2003 – 2005 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
David Lammy
Minister for Culture
 Minister for Culture, Creative Industries and Tourism
2007 – 2008 		Succeeded by
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