Judith Blake, Baroness Blake of Leeds
The Baroness Blake of Leeds | |
---|---|
Leader of Leeds City Council | |
In office 21 May 2015 – 24 February 2021 | |
Preceded by | Keith Wakefield |
Succeeded by | James Lewis |
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
Assumed office 1 February 2021 Life peerage | |
Leeds City Councillor for Middleton Park Ward | |
Assumed office 2004 | |
Preceded by | Jack Dunn |
Leeds City Councillor for Hunslet Ward | |
In office 2002–2004 | |
Preceded by | Mark Davies |
Succeeded by | Ward abolished |
Leeds City Councillor for Weetwood Ward | |
In office 1996–2000 | |
Preceded by | Ann Castle |
Succeeded by | James Souper |
Personal details | |
Born | Judith Vivienne Parsons July 1953 (age 71) Leeds, England |
Political party | Labour |
Children | 4, including Olivia |
Residence(s) | Otley, West Yorkshire |
Education | Leeds Girls High School |
Alma mater | University of Kent |
Judith Vivienne Blake, Baroness Blake of Leeds CBE (née Parsons) is a British Labour politician and the former Leader of Leeds City Council, the first woman to hold the position.[1][2][3]
In December 2020, it was announced Blake would be conferred a Life Peerage after a nomination by Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer.[4]
Personal life
Blake was born in July 1953 into a Methodist family in Leeds, of which both of her parents were doctors. She attended Leeds Girls High School until 1971 and then studied History at the University of Kent.[5][6]
After university, she began her career in education and social policy, living in London and then Birmingham in the 1980s. She taught English to refugees whilst living in Birmingham.[7][8] In 1992, she returned to live in Otley.[8]
Blake has four children. Her youngest child, Olivia Blake was elected as the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam in 2019.[7][9][10]
Political career
Blake was elected as an Otley town councillor,[7] and, except for a two-year gap after losing her seat in Weetwood at the 2000 city council election, has been an elected member of Leeds City Council since 1996.[2]
She has twice contested the Leeds North West constituency in 2005 and 2010 as the Labour Party's prospective parliamentary candidate, losing on both occasions to Greg Mulholland.
Blake served as the Deputy Leader of the Council for five years from 2010 to 2015. She was the Executive Cabinet Member for Children & Families during this period, overseeing the city's Children's Services' Ofsted rating change from "inadequate" to "good overall".[2] She has been involved in a number of national legal campaigns, worked with education authorities in Yorkshire to raise school standards in the area, and worked on crises and issues with student grades and school placements throughout her career.[3]
She voted for Yvette Cooper in the 2015 Labour Party leadership election and supported Keir Starmer in the 2020 leadership election.[11][12][13]
Leader of Leeds City Council
Blake was elected as the first woman leader of Leeds City Council in May 2015.[1] She currently chairs the Council's Executive Board, having also served on the boards for NHS Leeds and the West Yorkshire Police Authority too. In April 2019, Blake was appointed to the board of Northern Ballet.[14]
In December 2015, she expressed the frustration of city residents in feeling that Prime Minister David Cameron was giving greater attention to more affluent southern counties during a period of severe flooding.[15]
She was awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours.[16]
In February 2021, she was created Baroness Blake of Leeds, of Gledhow in the City of Leeds.[17]
References
- ^ a b "Leeds City Council Elects Judith Blake as First Female Leader". BBC News. 11 May 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
- ^ a b c "Clr Judith Blake: Power list 2016". Northern Power Women. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
- ^ a b "Councillor Judith Blake "Honoured" to be Leeds' First Ever Female Council Leader". Yorkshire Evening Post. 11 May 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
- ^ "Political Peerages 2020". Gov.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
- ^ "Judith Vivienne BLAKE". Companies House. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
- ^ "Judith reflects on an education which paved the way to a life in politics". Grammar School at Leeds. 24 May 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
- ^ a b c "Judith Blake, Labour, Leeds North West". Telegraph & Argus. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
- ^ a b https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/the-next-best-thing-1-2045707
- ^ "Sheffield Hallam Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
- ^ Burn, Chris (9 May 2018). "'Fresh start' hope after Sheffield tree-felling council boss quits post". The Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
- ^ Harris, John (8 September 2016). "'It feels like indulgence': Labour's city chiefs on leadership race". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
- ^ "Keir Starmer". twitter.com. Keir Starmer. 17 January 2020.
- ^ "Keir Starmer". botzarelli.wordpress.com. botzarelli. 18 January 2020.
- ^ "Northern Ballet appoints five new members to its Board of Directors". northernballet.com. Northern Ballet Limited. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
- ^ "As criticism rises, Cameron defends efforts to fight floods in England's north". Boston Globe. 29 December 2015. p. A3.
- ^ Jack, Jim (22 June 2017). "Queen's Honour for Otley resident and city council leader Judith Blake". Wharfedale Observer. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
- ^ "Crown Office". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
External links
- Judith Blake page at Leeds City Council