Helen Southworth

Helen Mary Southworth (born 13 November 1956) is a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. She is the former Member of Parliament (MP) for Warrington South, and was first elected at the 1997 general election. She retained the Warrington South seat at the 2001 and 2005 general elections, each time with a reduced majority. On 15 June 2009, she announced that she would be retiring at the next general election. The seat that she vacated was subsequently won for the Conservative Party by David Mowat. She is the longest-serving representative for Warrington South and the only person to have won successive elections in the constituency.

Early life

Born in Preston, Southworth was educated at the former Larkhill Convent Grammar School (now called Cardinal Newman College, a sixth form college) on Larkhill Road in Frenchwood, Preston. In 1978, she graduated with a BA in English Literature from Lancaster University.

Before entering Parliament, Southworth was a councillor on St Helens Borough Council, on which she became chairperson of the Leisure Committee. She unsuccessfully contested the Wirral South constituency at the 1992 General Election. She was a Director at Age Concern in St Helens.

Parliamentary career

Southworth served as a member of the House of Commons select committees on Trade and Industry (1998–2001) and Procedure (1997–1999). She was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Paul Boateng, the former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, from 2001 to 2005. In 2005 she was appointed a member of the Culture, Media and Sport select committee, which will scrutinise the implementation of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

She has served as a non-executive director on a number of bodies, including the charity Age Concern, Grosvenor Housing Association and Merseyside and Knowsley Health Authority.

At the Women in Public Life Awards in 2008 Southworth was named MP of the year for her work involving missing and runaway children.^[1]

On 16 June 2009, Southworth announced her intention to stand down at the next general election, citing her desire to spend more time with her family.^[2]

Personal life

She is the sister of science writer Gabrielle Walker, well known for her radio shows on BBC Radio 4 and also her Antarctic studies. She married Edmund Southworth, who graduated from Lancaster University in 1977 where he studied Archaeology. Her husband has been on the North West Committee of the Heritage Lottery Fund, was the County Museums Officer for Lancashire County Council from 2001, and became Director of Manx National Heritage in 2009.^[3]

References

External links

• Helen Southworth official website
• The Labour Party - Helen Southworth MP official biography
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Helen Southworth MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Helen Southworth MP
• BBC 1997 General Election - candidate biography
• BBC Politics page