Sarah Teather

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Sarah Teather
Sarah Teather

Sarah Louise Teather (born 1 June 1974, London) is a British Liberal Democrat politician and Member of Parliament for Brent East. She was first elected on 18 September 2003 in the Brent East by-election and re-elected with an increased majority on 5 May 2005 in the 2005 general election.

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[edit] Biography

Born in North London and educated at Leicester Grammar School and St John's College, Cambridge University, she gained a 2:1 degree in Natural Sciences specialising in pharmacology. It was while at Cambridge she became interested in politics and joined the Cambridge Student Liberal Democrats, of which she became Treasurer, and became involved with LDYS in 1993.

She went on to work as a policy advisor for a number of prominent groups including the Royal Society and the charity Macmillan Cancer Relief.

[edit] Election to Parliament

Teather first contested an election in 2001 in the seat of Finchley and Golders Green, successfully increasing the Lib Dem share of the vote. In 2002, she became a councillor in the London Borough of Islington.

In 2003 she moved to Willesden Green and was quickly selected as the party's candidate in the Brent East by-election, caused by the death of the Labour MP Paul Daisley from cancer. The by-election was set against the Iraq War - a war which was especially unpopular with the large Muslim electorate. The Liberal Democrats came from third place behind Labour and the Conservatives, with a 39.12% share of the total and 1,118 more than Labour's Robert Evans. Teather thus became the youngest member of the House, informally known as the "Baby of the House". She also became the joint shortest MP (with Hazel Blears), standing just 4'10" (1.47 Metres) tall.

At the 2005 general election, Labour fielded an Asian female candidate, Yasmin Qureshi, who also took an anti-war stance. However, Teather retained her seat and increased her majority. She gained 14,764 votes, 47.5% of the total and 2,712 more than Qureshi. Her informal title of "Baby of the House" was taken by a newly-elected MP, fellow Liberal Democrat, Jo Swinson.

[edit] Parliamentary Career

In parliament, Teather has quickly become one of the highest profile Liberal Democrat MPs. Initially acting as her party's spokesperson on London, after the election she was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet to serve as the Liberal Democrat Spokeswoman on Community and Local Government. She was promoted again to Education Spokeswoman [1] following Menzies Campbell's election as leader in early 2006.

Despite these roles, Teather continues to have a strong reputation as a constituency MP. She has a constituent, Jamil el-Banna, currently held in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, and has been calling for him to either be put on trial or released. She has frequently spoken of his case in parliament, and in March 2006 visited Washington to put pressure on senators to close the camp.

She used her maiden speech to speak of the great diversity of her constituency, and to highlight the unfairness of top up fees. She has also spoken in parliament on the Brent housing crisis [2], the impact of NHS cuts in Brent [3], fairer funding for Brent Schools [4], saving local post office services [5] and ending discrimination against muslims [6]. In Autumn 2006, she spent a week observing in schools, writing a daily blog of the experience for Guardian Unlimited. As one of the youngest MPs she is vocal in defending youth issues, and has consistently championed the arguments for votes at 16.

On January 6th 2006, 25 Liberal Democrat MPs signed a letter drafted by Teather and fellow frontbencher Ed Davey, indicating their unwillingness to continue working under party leader Charles Kennedy. The Guardian claimed the letter to be "the most damning" of the publicly expressed sentiments regarding Kennedy's position [7], and later that day Kennedy announced his resignation. Teather supported Menzies Campbell in the subsequent leadership election campaign. [8] [9].

Teather lives in her constituency in Willesden Green and is the only MP in Brent not to claim her second home allowance [10]. Brent East and neighbouring Brent South are to be abolished at the next general election. On 31 August 2006 she announced her intention to stand for the new Brent Central constituency, the seat in which she lives and maintains her office.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Paul Daisley		 Member of Parliament for Brent East
2003 – present		 Incumbent
Preceded by
David Lammy		 Baby of the House
2003–2005		 Succeeded by
Jo Swinson
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