Gloria De Piero

Gloria De Piero
Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
Incumbent
Assumed office
7 October 2013
Leader Ed Miliband
Preceded by Yvette Cooper
Member of Parliament
for Ashfield
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded by Geoff Hoon
Majority 192 (0.4%)
Personal details
Born 21 December 1972
Bradford, United Kingdom
Political party Labour
Domestic partner James Robinson
Alma mater Birmingham City University
University of Westminster
University of London
Religion Roman Catholicism
Website Official website

Gloria De Piero (born 21 December 1972) is a British Labour Party politician and journalist who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashfield since 2010. She was previously known for her work on GMTV.

Early life

De Piero was born in Bradford, Yorkshire and is of Italian descent. She lived in the working class area of south-west Bradford known as Wibsey, traditionally a Labour-voting area. She attended Marshfields Primary School in Little Horton then Priestman Middle School on Thornton Lane in Little Horton until 1986. From around the time De Piero was 10, neither of her parents were in employment owing to her father's ill-health.[1]

She attended the Roman Catholic Yorkshire Martyrs Catholic College on Westgate Hill Street. She completed her A Levels at Bradford and Ilkley College, and joined the Labour Party at 18.[2] De Piero then went to the University of Central England, where she served an annual term as President of the Student Union, before graduating as a BA in Social Science from the University of Westminster in 1996. She was involved in the Labour Student campaign of 1996–97 at the national base.[2] She later obtained an MSc in Social and Political Theory from Birkbeck, University of London in 2001.

Career

Journalism

De Piero began her career in journalism as a researcher on Jonathan Dimbleby's TV programme from 1997 to 1998. She then moved to the BBC where she worked at On the Record from 1998 to 2002, The Politics Show from 2002–03 and BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour, where she produced and reported on the Palace of Westminster.

From 2003 to February 2010 she was political correspondent and a relief newsreader for GMTV.[3]

De Piero has also been an occasional presenter on the Weekend Breakfast and Weekend News programmes on BBC Radio 5 Live.

In 2009 and 2010, De Piero acted as a guest presenter on the Five magazine show Live from Studio Five, in the absence of presenters Kate Walsh and Melinda Messenger.

Politics

In February 2010, De Piero resigned from GMTV to seek selection as the Labour Party's candidate for the Ashfield constituency in the 2010 General Election.[4] The position became available following the announcement that the constituency's Labour MP, former Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, would be stepping down at the election.[5] On 20 March 2010, De Piero was selected by the local Labour Party as its candidate.[6][7]

She was elected by a narrow margin to the seat with a majority of 192 votes (down from the 10,000 majority) after a 17.2% swing to the Liberal Democrat Jason Zadrozny – the second largest such swing in the 2010 election.[8] In 2012 she was elected to the Progress strategy board.

On 7 October 2013 she was promoted from the job of Shadow Minister for Crime Prevention to the role of Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities.

Personal life

De Piero's husband is The Guardian's former media correspondent, James Robinson.[9][10]

In 2010 The Mail on Sunday reported that De Piero had posed for topless photos aged 15.[11] The issue re-emerged on 17 October 2013 when De Piero accused and objected to an unnamed news agency of attempting to acquire the photos for a national newspaper.[1] Former Conservative MP Louise Mensch said on the Today (BBC Radio 4) programme: "Women in particular, I think, will be cheered by her refusal to be cowed by this quasi-sexual or moralistic assault on her behaviour as a 15-year-old girl".[12] It later emerged that the photos had been purchased by The Mail on Sunday in 2010.[11] De Piero became aware of this after the 2013 purchases attempt and at her request the paper sent the photos and negatives to De Piero along with a letter of apology.[11]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "MP Gloria de Piero: Call off the hunt for topless pictures", BBC News, 17 October 2013
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 .Andy McSmith "Gloria de Piero's question for the public: why do you hate me?", The Independent, 22 October 2012
  3. ↑ Gloria quits GMTV to pursue political career Mail Online, accessed 4 March 2010
  4. ↑ Paul Bentley (28 February 2010). "Backlash as Labour lines up GMTV's Gloria De Piero for Hoon seat at election". Daily Mail. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  5. ↑ Andrew Sparrow (11 February 2010). "Geoff Hoon to stand down at general election". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  6. ↑ Brendan Carlin (21 March 2010). "Tony Blair's 'favourite broadcaster' Gloria De Piero selected for safe Labour seat". Daily Mail. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  7. ↑ Ex-GMTV reporter Gloria De Piero is Labour candidate BBC News, 21 March 2010
  8. ↑ Ex-TV reporter wins Labour seat of Ashfield BBC News, 7 May 2010
  9. ↑ Staff profile: James Robinson, guardian.co.uk
  10. ↑ Gideon Spanier "In the air: Clarkson is driving Times web ads push", Evening Standard, 10 October 2012
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 "Street of shame". Private Eye (Pressdram Ltd) (1354): 7. 29 November. Check date values in: |date= (help);
  12. ↑ Patrick Wintour "Louise Mensch backs Gloria de Piero's response to topless photos threat", theguardian.com, 18 October 2013

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Geoff Hoon		 Member of Parliament
for Ashfield
2010–present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Yvette Cooper		 Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
2013–present 		Incumbent