Patricia Hewitt

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The Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt

Patricia Hewitt
Secretary of State for Health
In office
May 6, 2005 – present
Preceded by John Reid
Succeeded by Incumbent
Born 2 December 1948
Constituency Leicester West
Majority 9,070 (27.3%)
Political party Labour
Website: Department of Health

Patricia Hope Hewitt (born 2 December 1948) is a British politician. She is the Labour Member of Parliament for Leicester West and is the Secretary of State for Health.

Contents

[edit] Background

Born in Canberra, Australia, the daughter of Sir Lenox Hewitt a leading civil servant in the Australian Prime Minster's Office and future chairman of Qantas. She was educated at the Church of England Girls' Grammar School in Canberra, and the city's Australian National University. She went on to study at both Newnham College, Cambridge and Nuffield College, Oxford where she was awarded two master's degrees.

She has been a committed equality activist and feminist since her youth. She has been married to William Birtles, a lawyer, since 1981 and they have a son and a daughter. She was a member of the advisory panel of the New Statesman magazine for ten years from 1980. She is a former school governor at the Kentish Town primary education. She speaks French and is a keen gardener. She complained in 2002 over sexist advertising for the Motor Show in Birmingham[1]. In 2003 she was cleared of vote-rigging during the local council elections[2].

In 1971 she joined Age Concern as a press and public relations officer before joining the UK's National Council for Civil Liberties (now Liberty) initially as a women's rights officer in 1973, and for nine years from 1974 as the General Secretary, enduring long-term surveillance by MI5, revealed by Cathy Massiter, a former MI5 officer, in 1985.

[edit] Route to parliament

Joining the Labour Party in the 1970s, she was initially a follower of Tony Benn; she publicly condemned those left-wing MPs who had abstained in the deputy leadership election of 1981, helping give Denis Healey a narrow victory. She was selected as the Labour candidate in Leicester East constituency at the 1983 General Election following the defection of the sitting Labour MP Tom Bradley to the Social Democratic Party. Bradley stood for the SDP at the election, but it was the Conservative candidate Peter Bruinvels who beat Hewitt into second place by just 933 votes.

Following her defeat in Leicester, she was appointed as the press secretary to the Leader of the Opposition Neil Kinnock, where she was a key player in the first stages of the modernisation of the Labour Party, and helped set up the Institute for Public Policy Research. After Labour's 1992 General Election defeat she became head of research with Andersen Consulting.

Hewitt was elected to the House of Commons for Leicester West at the 1997 General Election following the retirement of the veteran Labour MP Greville Janner. She was elected with a majority of 12,864 and has remained the MP there since. She made her maiden speech on July 3, 1997[3].

[edit] Parliamentary career

In parliament she served for a year as a member of the social security select committee from 1997 before becoming a member of the government of Tony Blair in his first reshuffle in 1998 as the Economic Secretary to the Treasury. She was promoted in 1999 to become a Minister of State at the Department for Trade and Industry.

She joined the Blair Cabinet following the 2001 General Election as the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and Minister for Women and Equality.

Hewitt is known as a reliable Blairite within the cabinet. However, she notably once broke ranks whilst live on the BBC's Question Time, expressing her concern about government plans to introduce ID cards[4].

[edit] Secretary of State for Health

She became a member of the Privy Council in 2001 and has served as the Secretary of State for Health since the 2005 general election.

[edit] Smoking Ban

As Health Secretary, Hewitt lobbied hard for a complete ban on smoking in public places. However her predecessor, John Reid, had been in favour of limiting the Government's proposed smoking ban as much as possible and in their 2005 election manifesto, Reid had introduced only a limited pledge to ban smoking in all places where food was served. Even though he was now Secretary of State for Defence, Reid was reported to be the main opponent of her proposals. He won the argument in the Cabinet, gaining an exemption for private clubs and pubs that did not serve food [5]. The Cabinet proposals did not find favour with MPs however and the Government gave MPs a free vote on the issue. Patricia Hewitt voted with the rebels to defeat the Cabinet's partial ban, which was replaced by an outright ban [6].

[edit] NHS never had it so good

In April 2006, Patricia Hewitt claimed that the NHS had had "its best year ever", citing waiting times for hospital treatment. However, this came as thousands of jobs were being cut across the country as a number of NHS trusts attempted to cope with budget deficits. At the Royal College of Nursing 2006 conference, Hewitt was heckled and booed by health workers. Delegates at the conference called for job cuts and bed closures to be halted, predicting that the number of posts lost could reach 13,000, and said a work to rule was possible[7].

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Motor Show advert 'pathetic and sexist' BBC News | October 28, 2002
  2. ^ Minister cleared of vote rigging BBC News | July 1, 2003
  3. ^ Hewitt's maiden speech Hansard | July 3, 1997
  4. ^ Hewitt reveals split over ID cards Gareth Morgan, Computing | September 26, 2003
  5. ^ Cabinet agrees England smoking ban BBC News | October 25, 2005
  6. ^ Campaigners welcome smoking ban BBC News | February 15, 2006
  7. ^ NHS Cash Crisis The Guardian | April 24, 2006

[edit] Publications

  • Your Rights by Patricia Hewitt, 1973, Age Concern Books, Age Concern England, ISBN 0-904502-08-2
  • Danger Women at Work: Conference Report Edited by Patricia Hewitt, National Council for Civil Liberties, ISBN 0-901108-30-8
  • Equality for Women: Comments on Labour's Proposals for an Anti-Discrimination Law, Edited by Patricia Hewitt, National Council for Civil Liberties, ISBN 0-901108-33-2
  • Step-by-Step Guide to Rights for Women by Patricia Hewitt, 1975, National Council for Civil Liberties, ISBN 0-901108-49-9
  • Your Rights by Patriica Hewitt, 1976, Age Concern Books, Age Concern England, ISBN 0-904502-62-7
  • 'Your Rights: For Pensioners by Patricia Hewitt, 1976, Age Concern Books, Age Concern England, ISBN 0-904502-66-X
  • Civil Liberties by Patricia Hewitt, 1977
  • The Privacy Report by Patricia Hewitt, 1977
  • Privacy: The Information Gatherers" by Patricia Hewitt, 1978, National Council for Civil Liberties, ISBN 0-901108-68-5
  • Your Rights at Work by Patricia Hewitt, 1978, National Council for Civil Liberties, ISBN 0-901108-71-5
  • Computers, Records and the Right to Privacy by Patricia Hewitt, 1979, Input Two-Nine, ISBN 0-905897-27-7
  • Income Tax and Sex Discrimination: Practical Guide by Patricia Hewitt, 1979, Civil Liberties Trust, ISBN 0-901108-84-7
  • Your Rights at Work by Patricia Hewitt, 1980, National Council for Civil Liberties, ISBN 0-901108-88-X
  • Prevention of Terrorism Act: The Case for Repeal by Catherine Scorer and Patricia Hewitt, 1981, National Council for Civil Liberties, ISBN 0-901108-94-4
  • The Abuse of Power: Civil Liberties in the United Kingdom by Patricia Hewitt, 1981, Blackwell Publishers, ISBN 0-85520-380-3
  • A Fair Cop: Reforming the Police Complaints Procedure by Patricia Hewitt, 1982, Civil Liberties Trust, ISBN 0-946088-01-2
  • Race Relations: A Practical Guide to the Law on Race Discrimination by Paul Gordon, John Wright, Patricia Hewitt, 1982, Civil Liberties Trust, ISBN 0-946088-02-0
  • Your Rights: For Pensioners by Patricia Hewitt, 1982, Age Concern England, ISBN 0-86242-014-8
  • Your Rights at Work by Patricia Hewitt, 1983, National Council for Civil Liberties, ISBN 0-946088-06-3
  • Your Rights: For Pensioners by Patricia Hewitt, 1984, Age Concern England, ISBN 0-86242-029-6
  • The New Prevention of Terrorism Act: The Case for Repeal by Catherine Scorer, Sarah Spencer, Patricia Hewitt, 1985, Civil Liberties Trust, ISBN 0-946088-13-6
  • Your Rights: For Pensioners by Patricia Hewitt, 1986, Age Concern England, ISBN 0-86242-047-4
  • A Cleaner, Faster London: Road Pricing, Transport Policy and the Environment by Patricia Hewitt, 1989, Institute for Public Policy Research, ISBN 1-872452-00-0
  • Women's Votes: The Key to Winning Edited by Patricia Hewitt and Deborah Mattinson, 1989, Fabian Society, ISBN 0-7163-1353-7
  • Your Rights: A Guide to Money Benefits for Retired People by Patricia Hewitt, 1989, Age Concern England, ISBN 0-86242-080-6
  • The Family Way: A New Approach to Policy-Making by Anna Coote, Harriet Harman, Patricia Hewitt, 1990, Institute for Public Policy Research, ISBN 1-872452-15-9
  • Your Second Baby by Patricia Hewitt and Wendy Rose-Neil, 1990, HarperCollins, ISBN 0-04-440608-8
  • Next Left: An Agenda for the 1990s by Tessa Blackstone, James Cornford, David Miliband and Patricia Hewitt, 1992, Institute for Public Policy Research, ISBN 1-872452-45-0
  • About Time: Revolution in Work and Family Life by Patricia Hewitt, 1993, Rivers Oram Press, ISBN 1-85489-040-9
  • Social Justice, Children and Families by Patricia Hewitt and Penelope Leach, 1993, Institute for Public Policy Research, ISBN 1-872452-76-0
  • A British Bill of Rights by Anthony Lester, Patricia Hewitt et al, 1996, Institute for Public Policy Research, ISBN 1-86030-044-8
  • The Politics of Attachment: Towards a Secure Society" by Sebastian Kraemer, preface by Patricia Hewitt, 1996, Free Association Books Ltd, ISBN 1-85343-344-6
  • Defence for the 21st Century: Towards a Post Cold-War Force Structure by Malcolm Chalmer, foreword by Patricia Hewitt, 1997, Fabian Society, ISBN 0-7163-3040-7
  • Information Age Government: Delivering the Blair Revolution by Liam Byrne, foreword by Patricia Hewitt, 1997, Fabian Society, ISBN 0-7163-0582-8
  • Pebbles in the Sand by Patricia Hewitt, 1998, Dorrance Publishing Co, ISBN 0-8059-4272-6
  • Winning for Women" by Harriet Harman and Deborah Mattinson, foreword by Patricia Hewitt, 2000, Fabian Society, ISBN 0-7163-0596-8
  • Unfinnished Business: The New Agenda for the Workplace by Patricia Hewitt, 2004, Institute for Public Policy Research, ISBN 1-86030-259-9
  • The Future of the NHS (contributed a chapter) edited by Dr Michelle Tempest, xpl Publishing, ISBN 1-85811-369-5

[edit] External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by:
Greville Janner		 Member of Parliament for Leicester West
1997 – present		 Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by:
Helen Liddell		 Economic Secretary to the Treasury
1998–1999		 Succeeded by:
Melanie Johnson
Preceded by:
Stephen Byers		 Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
2001–2005		 Succeeded by:
Alan Johnson
Preceded by:
John Reid		 Secretary of State for Health
2005 – present		 Incumbent
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