Siobhain McDonagh

Siobhain Ann McDonagh (born 20 February 1960) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mitcham and Morden since 1997. She previously served as an Assistant Whip in the Labour Government, but was fired following comments regarding a leadership contest to replace PM Gordon Brown.^[1]

Early life

McDonagh is a Roman Catholic^[2] of Irish descent ^[3] and was educated at the Holy Cross Catholic Girls' School on Sandal Road in New Malden and later studied Politics at the University of Essex. Her sister is Baroness McDonagh who was General Secretary of the Labour Party between 1998 and 2001 and was instrumental in the modernisation of the Labour Party in both its campaigning and policy.

She was a clerical officer for the DHSS between 1981–83, a receptionist at the Wandsworth Homeless Persons Unit from 1984–86, and a housing adviser from 1986–88.

Prior to being elected to Parliament she worked as a Development Manager for Battersea Churches Housing Trust from 1988-97. She also served as a councillor on London Borough of Merton for Colliers Wood ward between 1982 and 1998, chairing the Housing Committee between 1990 and 1995 where she was instrumental in the rebuilding of Phipps Bridge Estate.

Parliamentary career

McDonagh was selected to stand in the 1997 election for Labour through an all-women shortlist.^{[citation needed]}

She was first elected in 1997 on her third attempt, defeating the Conservative incumbent, Dame Angela Rumbold, who was her opponent in both 1987 and 1992 General Elections.

McDonagh had a record of loyalty to the Labour Party. Locally, she generally has a reputation for being an assiduous local Member of Parliament ^{[citation needed]} holding a weekly surgery along with regular coffee mornings.

After the 2001 election, Tony Blair offered McDonagh the job of being Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Communities, however she declined the offer and remained a backbencher.

She has been extremely pro-active and instrumental in securing two Academy schools for East Mitcham, an area that suffers from considerable educational underachievement with GCSE results far below the national average. Recently she was also successful along with Merton Council in getting the Secretary of State for Health, Patricia Hewitt, to locate the new critical care hospital at St Helier near the southern edge of her constituency. This overturned a decision by local health chiefs to locate the hospital at the Sutton Hospital site a number of miles away from her Mitcham and Morden constituency.

After the May 2005 General Election she served as PPS to Dr. John Reid in his position as Secretary of State for Defence and from May 2006 to June 2007 Secretary of State for the Home Department. She was appointed to the position of Assistant Whip on 28 June 2007 in the re-shuffle brought about by Gordon Brown becoming Prime Minister.

On 12 September 2008, McDonagh became the first member of the government to call for a leadership contest. McDonagh said "It's about time we let party members and people involved in the Labour Party and the wider community in on that debate" in a BBC interview.^[4]

Expenses controversies

In April 2000, her office sent a party political questionnaire to 200 of her constituents using parliamentary resources; a spokesman for Ms McDonagh said it was a mistake. McDonagh promised to apologise and pay back the money.^[5]

In 2007, her expenditure on stationery and postage attracted criticism, being more than any other MP for postage from 2003 to 2006. In total her office spent £126,833 on postage alone in the four-year period, an average of almost £32,000 per year. When adding in stationery costs, the expenditure was close to £50,000 in both 2004-05 and 2006-07.^[6] McDonagh sent 120,000 letters in one year alone - 800 for every sitting day of Parliament^[7]

Subsequently, a £7,000 limit was introduced for postage costs in 2007.^[8]

Mobile phone theft

In October 2010, during her tenure as private secretary to the then Defence Secretary John Reid, her mobile phone was stolen from her car.^[9] Although not implicated in the robbery itself, it became evident that The Sun newspaper had accessed the phone, including messages stored on it. She subsequently won substantial damages against the newspaper in March 2013.^[10]

Personal life

McDonagh lives in her constituency in Colliers Wood with her sister Margaret, a baroness who was formerly General Secretary of the Labour Party during Tony Blair's premiership.^[11]

She is Patron of Leap Forward Employment - a community interest company that finds work for adults with mental health issues.^[12]

See also

• News media phone hacking scandal reference lists

References

External links

• Siobhain McDonagh MP official site
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Siobhain McDonagh
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Siobhain McDonagh MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Siobhain McDonagh MP
• BBC Politics