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Luciana Berger

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Miss
Luciana Berger
MP
Member of Parliament
for Liverpool Wavertree
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded byJane Kennedy
Majority7,167 (18.9%)
Personal details
Born (1981-05-13) 13 May 1981 (age 43)
Wembley, Middlesex, England
Political partyLabour Co-operative
Alma materUniversity of Birmingham, Birkbeck

Luciana Clare Berger[1] (born 13 May 1981[2]) is a British Labour Co-operative[3] politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Liverpool Wavertree since 2010.[4] She is a shadow minister for Energy and Climate Change.

Education

Born in Wembley,[5] Berger was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls, a private school in Elstree, Hertfordshire,[6] followed by the University of Birmingham, where she obtained a degree in Commerce and Spanish and spent a year studying in ICADE in Madrid,[7] and Birkbeck College at the University of London,[8] where she took a part-time Masters degree in Government, Politics and Policy.[6]

Student politics

Berger was a National Executive Committee member of the National Union of Students. She co-convened the NUS Anti-Racism / Anti-Fascism Campaign. In April 2005, she resigned from the Executive Committee, accusing other NEC members of anti-Semitism.[9] An independent inquiry later cleared the NUS of failing to tackle anti-Semitism, but criticised it for not having rigorous complaints procedures in place and reacting too slowly to allegations. The report was also critical of Berger, who attended a meeting with the head of the School of Oriental and African Studies following complaints from Jewish students that the union was tolerating anti-Semitism. It stated that "Miss Berger should not have attended the meeting, which was implicitly critical of the union, when she was a national executive member. Protocol dictates she should have sought to support the union in tackling the problem first". [10]

She was a member of the Union of Jewish Students Executive Committee from 2001 to 2005.[11]

Career

Berger was director of Labour Friends of Israel.[12] Berger worked in public affairs for the management consultancy Accenture before moving to the public sector where she joined the NHS Confederation as their government and parliamentary affairs manager.[13]

She has been a committee member of the London Jewish Forum, an organisation dedicated to the promotion of Jewish life in London since 2009. [14]

Berger was a panelist at the Israel advocacy conference 'We Believe in Israel', organised by Israel advocacy group BICOM. [15]

She is a member of the World Jewish Congress Governing Board, whose mission is to address the interests and needs of Jews and Jewish communities throughout the world[16], and attended the annual WJC Governing Board meeting in Jerusalem in June 2011. [17][18]. During the same trip, she participated in the International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians in Jerusalem, she told the Jewish Post that as an active supporter of Israel who has visited the country over 20 times, she is “keenly aware” of her responsibilities as a Jewish lawmaker, and was excited to visit as an elected official. [19]

She is also a member of the Labour Jewish Movement, an affiliate of the World Labour Zionist Movement, who's aim is to work to promote a secure, progressive, just and succssful State of Israel. [20]

She is a member of the Zionist Federation, and attended their annual conference in London in January 2011. [21]

She is a patron of the Deane Road Jewish Cemetery in Kensington, Liverpool. [22]

2010 general election

Berger's selection was controversial within the local party. Frank Hont, the regional secretary of the regional branch of the union UNISON lodged protests about the selection process. Berger lived during the selection process for about a month at the home of Jane Kennedy, then the sitting MP, whose boyfriend was the Labour official, Peter Dowling, who ran the selection process. The completed ballot papers were returned to Kennedy's home address.[2]

Kennedy insisted that she and Dowling acted properly. Nearby MP, Peter Kilfoyle, claimed that there had been a deliberate operation by Blairites to get Berger selected. Unison instead supported Liverpool city councillor Wendy Simon for selection to be Labour's candidate.[23] Berger was selected as Labour candidate for Liverpool Wavertree by 94 votes, defeating her nearest rival Wendy Simon who got 50 votes.

During the run-up to the General Election, in January 2010, the Liverpool Echo tested Berger with a four-question quiz on Liverpool life and history. She scored two out of four, not knowing who performed Ferry Cross the Mersey and not recognising the name of former Liverpool F.C. manager, Bill Shankly.[24] In her defence, Berger said, "You can't ask a girl a football question" and added "I'm not new to the city. I've been coming here for the past decade through all different jobs."[24]

Having secured the nomination for Wavertree Berger campaigned on pledges to work closely with local business, tackle anti-social behaviour, maintain public services and to reduce the number of derelict houses in the constituency by ensuring the Council use tough laws fast to deal with absent landlords.[25] This was despite the vast majority of derelict housing (900) within Wavertree being as a result of the Labour Government's Pathfinder project, as found by an Evaluation performed by John Moores University,.[26] She also signed a pledge to vote against any rises in university tuition fees and to put pressure on the next government to introduce an alternative to variable tuition fees[27]

On May 6, 2010, Berger was elected at the UK General Election with 53.1% of the vote.[28]

Parliamentary career

Berger was elected to the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, but left the role when approximately five months after first joining Parliament she was appointed a junior shadow minister for Energy and Climate Change.

According to the Liverpool Echo, on 31 October 2010, Berger "sparked outrage online" after appearing in a Radio Five Live show, which also featured former editor of The Sun, Kelvin MacKenzie.[29] MacKenzie was editor at the time of the Hillsborough disaster, and the paper's coverage of the story led to a widespread boycott of the paper on Merseyside that lasts to this day, and vilification of MacKenzie. The Echo wrote that Berger responded to the criticism on her Twitter feed, writing, "Was there for the MP bit with Amber Rudd, wasn't told before who the other guests were."[29]

At Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday 27 October 2010, Berger asked about the Government’s decision to go back on its commitment to introduce tax relief for the video games industry, which employs 600 people in Wavertree.[30]

On December 9th 2010, she voted against rises in university tuition fees[31]

In March 2011, Berger asked the Secretary of State for Defence how many items over the value of £100 had been taken without authorisation from Ministry of Defence sites. It was later revealed that the total cost of items stolen during 2010 amounted to £700,000 “enough to launch a small coup”, according to the Labour MP[32]

Shadow Minister for Climate Change

As Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Berger, has been critical of the Government's actions on the environmental agenda, particularly focusing on the Green Investment Bank and the Green Deal, writing in the environment section of The Guardian about the need for a pro-environmental-business agenda.[33] In the run up to the 2011 Budget, Berger also contributed an article to the Labour blog Left Foot Forward challenging the Chancellor of the Exchequer to meet "three Climate Change tests" in order for the Government to reach the Prime Minister's aim of being the "Greenest Government ever"[34]

According to The Jewish Chronicle she visited the Jewish Care's Golders Green campus to investigate intelligent green buildings. [35]

"Save BBC Radio Merseyside" campaign

In response to proposals by the BBC[36] to consider reducing locally produced content on their local radio network to cover only the breakfast and drivetime periods and syndicating Five Live during the daytime, Berger launched a campaign to Save BBC Radio Merseyside.[37]

Berger also signed Early Day Motion 1640[38] in Parliament to raise awareness of the topic, which was co-sponsored by other Merseyside MPs Louise Ellman, Bill Esterson, George Howarth, Steve Rotheram and Stephen Twigg.

Publications

Muslim-Jewish Dialogue in the United Kingdom (Jewish Family & Life (JFL Media), May 2005) [39]

Personal life

Berger attended a young Labour Party event in 2004 at which Euan Blair, the Prime Minister's son, was also present;[2] in 2005, press reports suggested that the two had a relationship.[6][40] Euan Blair issued an outright denial, sending a fax from Labour Party Headquarters to national newspapers saying, "I want to make it clear that Luciana Berger is not, and has never been, my girlfriend."[13][40]

Berger dated Siôn Simon, the former Member of Parliament for Birmingham Erdington, from 2001 until 2010.[2][41]

In early 2011 it was reported that she had been romantically linked with Chuka Umunna,[42][43] however this relationship had been reported to have ended on 20 June 2011.[44]

References

  1. ^ http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/59418/notices/1118281/from=2010-05-06;to=2010-05-19;all=returned+westminster/
  2. ^ a b c d Carlin, Brendan (31 January 2010). "Labour at war as Blair son's glamorous friend is chosen for safe seat". Daily Mail.
  3. ^ http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm100727/debtext/100727-0001.htm#10072741000844. Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. July 27, 2010. col. 855–856. {{cite book}}: |chapter-url= missing title (help)
  4. ^ "List of Labour MPs". labour.org.uk. 27 February 2010. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ a b c Melissa Kite "Labour should have fought back on immigration, says Euan Blair's girlfriend", Daily Telegraph, 17 April 2005
  7. ^ Berger, Luciana (15 April 2005). "Why I had to resign". The Guardian.
  8. ^ "Our students: Luciana Berger". Birbeck, University of London. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
  9. ^ Berger, Luciana (15 April 2005). "Why I had to resign". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  10. ^ Curtis, Polly (20 September 2005). "NUS cleared of anti-semitism claims". Guardian. London. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  11. ^ http://halldor2.blogspot.com/2005/05/aut-boycott-overturned.html
  12. ^ "Independent columnist slammed by LFI". The Jewish Chronicle. 14 October 2009. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  13. ^ a b "Minor disagreements in Wavertree, or Berger? My arse". Mtpt.wordpress.com. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  14. ^ "Westminster Parliamentary Record". Westminster Parliamentary Research. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help); Text "urlhttp://www.parliamentaryrecord.com/content/profiles/mp/Luciana-Berger/Liverpool-Wavertree/1292#Non-Parliamentary-Career" ignored (help)
  15. ^ http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/national/c-16209/israel-advocacy-conference/
  16. ^ http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/about
  17. ^ http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=226860
  18. ^ http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20110613/pl_usnw/DC18570_1
  19. ^ http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=227006
  20. ^ http://www.jlm.org.uk/about/
  21. ^ http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/44367/israel-activists-raise-concerns-mps
  22. ^ http://louisebaldock.blogspot.com/2010/07/deane-road-jewish-cemetery-update.html
  23. ^ David Bartlett. "Top union official waiting for answers about selection of Luciana Berger for the Liverpool Wavertree seat". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  24. ^ a b "Luciana Berger takes Liverpool test". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  25. ^ http://www.electionleaflets.org/leaflets/914/
  26. ^ http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/EIUA/EIUA_Docs/Kensington_Regeneration_Final_Report.pdf
  27. ^ http://www.lucianaberger.com/2010/02/first-parliamentary-candidate-in-liverpool-to-make-pledge-to-voters-on-student-fees/
  28. ^ "General Election 2010 results". BBC Website. BBC.
  29. ^ a b "Luciana Berger sparks outrage by sharing a panel with Kelvin MacKenzie". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
  30. ^ http://www.lucianaberger.com/2010/10/david-camerons-difficult-decision-to-let-liverpool-down/
  31. ^ http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2010-12-09&number=150&mpn=Luciana_Berger&mpc=Liverpool%2C_Wavertree&house=commons
  32. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/apr/10/stolen-military-equipment-list
  33. ^ Luciana, Berger. "The government is sabotaging British attempts to forge a green economy". Environment Guardian Website. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  34. ^ "Budget 2011: Three key climate change tests". Left Foot Forward.
  35. ^ http://www.thejc.com/community/community-life/49222/eco-friendly-caring
  36. ^ Laughran, Cathy. "Local radio programme sharing 'just an idea', BBC says". ariel. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  37. ^ Berger. "Save BBC Radio Merseyside". Luciana Berger website.
  38. ^ "BBC Radio Merseyside EDM". Parliament Website.
  39. ^ http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=6723
  40. ^ a b Milmo, Cahal (21 April 2005). "The NUS officer, the PM's son, and a love affair that never was". The Independent.
  41. ^ Swaine, Jon (3 February 2010). "MPs' expenses: Sion Simon to stand down as MP for Birmingham Erdington". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  42. ^ "Most-fanciable MPs list released - and Luciana Berger tops it". Daily Mirror article.
  43. ^ "Chicken, Berger'n'chips on the Chuka night bus".
  44. ^ "Romance cools for Commons cuties Luciana and Chuka". Daily Mail.

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