Karen Buck
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Karen Buck | |
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Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition | |
In office 17 April 2013 – 12 September 2015 | |
Leader | Ed Miliband |
Preceded by | John Denham |
Succeeded by | Steve Rotheram |
Shadow Minister for Education | |
In office 8 October 2011 – 17 April 2013 | |
Leader | Ed Miliband |
Preceded by | Iain Wright |
Succeeded by | Tristram Hunt |
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport | |
In office 10 May 2005 – 16 March 2006 | |
Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
Preceded by | Charlotte Atkins |
Succeeded by | Gillian Merron |
Member of Parliament for Westminster North Regent's Park and Kensington North (1997–2010) | |
Assumed office 1 May 1997 | |
Preceded by | John Wheeler (Westminster North) Dudley Fishburn (Kensington) |
Majority | 11,512 (26.6%) |
Personal details | |
Born | Castlederg, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland | 30 August 1958
Nationality | British |
Political party | Labour |
Spouse | Barrie Taylor |
Children | 1 |
Alma mater | London School of Economics |
Occupation | Member of Parliament |
Website | Official website parliament..karen-buck Parliamentary profile |
Karen Patricia Buck MP (born 30 August 1958) is a British Labour Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1997, firstly for Regent's Park and Kensington North until 2010, and for Westminster North after that.[2] She is a former Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport.
Early life
Born in Castlederg, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, she was educated at the Chelmsford County High School for Girls and the London School of Economics, from where she was awarded a BSc and a MSc in Economics, and an MA in Social Policy and Administration. She joined the Labour Party in 1978. In 1979, she became a research and development worker with Outset, a charity working with disabled people, before joining the Hackney London Borough Council in 1983 initially as a senior disability officer, and from 1986 a public health officer. She began to work for the Labour Party in 1987 as a health directorate researcher, becoming a campaign strategy coordinator in 1992. She was elected as a councillor to the City of Westminster Council in 1990 and remained on the council until her election to parliament in 1997.
Buck first gained attention while a councillor at Westminster when she was involved in exposing the fraudulent behaviour of Shirley Porter and the Homes for Votes scandal.
Parliamentary career
Buck was selected to stand for election for Labour through an all-women shortlist. The seat was based largely on the former Westminster North held narrowly by the Conservative former minister John Wheeler. Wheeler retired, and Buck was elected at the 1997 General Election as the Labour MP for Regent's Park and Kensington North with a majority of 14,657 and has been the MP there since. She made her maiden speech on 17 June 1997.[citation needed]
Following her election to parliament, Buck joined the Social Security Select Committee, and after the 2001 General Election on the Work and Pensions Select Committee. In 2001, her appointment as an Assistant Government Whip was announced without her knowledge and consent. She declined to take up the post. However, she did became a member of Tony Blair's government in the wake of the 2005 General Election as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport.
Buck has voted in favour of the hunting-ban, gay marriage, whilst voting against the Iraq War and replacing Trident.[3] At the 2010 General Election she was elected MP for the new seat of Westminster North with a majority of 2,126 over Joanne Cash, the Conservative candidate. In July 2015, she was elected as a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee.[4]
Views
Buck is concerned that homeless Londoners are forced to move out of London, Buck stated, “Losing your home is a deeply traumatic event and then being offered accommodation miles away from your community, your work, your children’s school and your care responsibilities compounds all that trauma. People are struggling against the most appalling odds to hold their own lives together and above all to hold their kids’ lives together.”[2]
Personal life
Buck's spouse is Barrie Taylor, a school governor and former Labour Councillor in Westminster. They have a son, Cosmo.[citation needed]
References
- ^ List of Roman Catholic MPs http://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/2380/0/fall-in-number-of-catholic-mps-in-the-house-of-commons-ahead-of-landmark-debate-on-assisted-dying
- ^ a b Number of homeless households moved out of London soars The Guardian
- ^ "Voting record - Karen Buck MP, Westminster North". TheyWorkForYou. mySociety Limited. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
- ^ "Work and Pensions Committee – membership". UK Parliament. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
External links
- Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
- Voting record at Public Whip
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
- Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Karen Buck MP
- CNN.com video segment on Buck's 2010 reelection campaign
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- 1958 births
- Living people
- People from Castlederg
- Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
- Alumni of the London School of Economics
- Councillors in the City of Westminster
- Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
- UK MPs 1997–2001
- UK MPs 2001–05
- UK MPs 2005–10
- UK MPs 2010–15
- UK MPs 2015–17
- People educated at Chelmsford County High School for Girls
- 20th-century women politicians
- 21st-century women politicians
- UK MPs 2017–