Ann Coffey

Ann Coffey
Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office
28 June 2007 – 11 May 2010
Chancellor Alistair Darling
Preceded by Ann Keen
Succeeded by Greg Hands
Member of Parliament
for Stockport
Incumbent
Assumed office
9 April 1992
Preceded by Anthony Favell
Majority 6,784 (17.3%)
Personal details
Born 31 August 1946
Inverness, Invernessshire, Scotland, UK
Nationality British
Political party Labour
Alma mater London South Bank University

Ann Coffey (born 31 August 1946) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stockport since 1992.

Early life

Born as Margaret Ann Brown, the daughter of a Royal Air Force officer, in Inverness, she attended Nairn Academy; Bodmin County Grammar School (closed in 1973); Bushey Grammar School and the Polytechnic of South Bank, London, where she was awarded a BSc in Sociology in 1967, and was elected vice president of the students' union).

She attended Walsall College of Education (where she received a PGCE in 1971 and qualified as a teacher; and University of Manchester where she obtained her MSc in psychiatric social work.

She began her career as a trainee social worker with the Walsall Social Services in 1971. In 1972 she became a social worker with the Birmingham City Council, moving to Gwynedd County Council in 1973 and the Metropolitan Borough of Wolverhampton in 1974, then to the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport in 1975, moving once more in 1982 to the Cheshire County Council. In 1988 she became the fostering team leader with the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham until her election to parliament. Ann also resides in Stockport.

Parliamentary career

Politically, Coffey was elected as a councillor to the Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council in 1984 and became its Labour group leader 1988-92, stepping down from the council in 1994. She contested the parliamentary seat of Cheadle at the 1987 General Election she finished in third place some 25,000 votes behind the sitting Conservative MP Stephen Day. She was selected to contest the Conservative held marginal Stockport constituency at the 1992 General Election and she defeated the sitting Conservative MP Tony Favell by 1,422 and has remained the MP there since. She made her maiden speech on 12 May 1992.

In her first term in Parliament, Coffey served initially as a member of the trade and industry select committee until she was promoted by Tony Blair to become an Opposition whip in 1995 and became an Opposition health spokeswoman in 1996. When Labour won the 1997 General Election, Coffey was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Prime Minister Tony Blair. In 1998, she became PPS to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Alistair Darling and has remained his assistant since, from 2002-6 in his capacity as the Secretary of State for Transport, and since 2006 as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

Following the resignation of Tony Blair as Prime Minister on 28 June 2008, Coffey became Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling.

Coffey chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group for Runaway and Missing Children and Adults, and has criticised perceived failings in authorities in responding to signs of abuse and exploitation. .[1] She chaired an inquiry into the issue of child sexual abuse following widespread criticism of the investigation of the Rochdale sex trafficking gang.[2] In January 2015 Coffey tabled amendments calling for the removal of the term "child prostitution" from UK legislation, arguing the term implied children were complicit in their own abuse and the change was necessary to change authorities' attitudes.[3]

Coffey voted for the military intervention in Iraq in 2003 and for the ban on fox hunting.

Personal life

She married Thomas Coffey in 1973 in Pontefract and they have a daughter. They divorced in 1989 and she has since remarried to Peter Saraga, vice-chair of the University of Sussex's University Council and a former managing director at Philips Research Labs UK.[4] She enjoys photography and painting.

References

  1. ↑ Owen, Jonathan (30 September 2013). "'No mercy' for those who fail to protect children, says Ann Coffey". Independent. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  2. ↑ "Coffey Inquiry". Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  3. ↑ Topping, Alexandra (6 January 2015). "End use of outdated term ‘child prostitution’, says MP". Guardian. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  4. ↑ "The Badger" (PDF). Sussex Student. Retrieved 3 January 2013.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Anthony Favell		 Member of Parliament for Stockport
1992–present 		Incumbent