Liz Davies

Liz Davies (born 1963) is a British barrister, author and political activist who advocates "socialist feminism".[1] She is the daughter of retired Oxford academic and historian of Tudor England, C. S. L. Davies.

She studied at University College London, taking a sabbatical year working for the students' union as welfare secretary.

Specialising in housing law, Davies initially worked as a solicitor before being called to the bar in 1994. Davies is a co-author of Housing Allocation and Homelessness: Law and Practice.[2] In 2014 Davies was a finalist for the Legal Aid Barrister of the Year award.[3]

A former Labour Party councillor in Islington (1990–98), she was selected as the Labour Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Leeds North-East in 1995, but was subsequently found "unsuitable" as a candidate by a large majority of the Labour Party's ruling National Executive Committee.[4] Davies' selection was accompanied by allegations over her behaviour at Labour group meetings, for which Davies' later commenced legal proceedings against three former Islington councillors, which ended in a settlement in which the three apologised and made a contribution to the general election fund of their local MP. She was also attacked for her association with the newspaper London Left Briefing;[5] its connections to trotskyist groups was used against Davies.[6] She was elected as a member of the NEC in October 1998 on the Grassroots Alliance slate, serving on the body for two years, an experience recounted in her book.[7]

Later, after resigning from the Labour Party, she joined the Socialist Alliance in 2001, becoming the organisation's national chair for nine months. She resigned from the SA in October 2002 over claims of financial "bad practice"[8] and frustration at the way the Socialist Workers Party's leadership had conducted itself in the organisation's activities.[9] She has been chair of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers since 2006.[10][11]

Liz Davies' partner was the American-born political activist and writer Mike Marqusee.[12]

References

  1. ↑ Liz Davies "In praise of feminism", Morning Star, 22 March 2013
  2. ↑ Liz Davies, Jan Luba (2012). Housing Allocation and Homelessness: Law and Practice. Jordan Publishing. ISBN 978 1 84661 524 5.
  3. ↑ Jon Robins (23 April 2014). "This year's LALY shortlist". LegalVoice. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  4. ↑ "A Dissenter Inside New Labour", by Dennis L. Bird, Contemporary Review, June 2002.
  5. ↑ Andy McSmith Faces of Labour, London: Verso, 2001, p.235
  6. ↑ Peter Barberis, John McHugh, Mike Tyldesley Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations: Parties, Groups and Movements of the Twentieth Century, London: Pinter, 2000, p.284
  7. ↑ Liz Davies Through the Looking Glass, London: Verso, 2001 ISBN 1-85984-609-2
  8. ↑ "Executive wake-up call", Weekly Worker, 454, October 31, 2002
  9. ↑ "A Spin too Far", Sign of the Times seminar, February 24, 2002 (subsequently updated).
  10. ↑ "Liz Davies". Garden Court Chambers. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  11. ↑ "Executive and Officers". Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  12. ↑ Mike Marqusee "Ten years on: a comment on the British SWP", MikeMarqusee.com, 10 January 2013

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