Liz Kendall

Liz Kendall
Shadow Minister for Care and Older People
Incumbent
Assumed office
7 October 2011
Leader Ed Miliband
Preceded by Position established
Member of Parliament
for Leicester West
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded by Patricia Hewitt
Majority 4,017 (11.2%)
Personal details
Born 11 June 1971
Abbots Langley, United Kingdom
Political party Labour
Domestic partner Greg Davies
Alma mater Queens' College, Cambridge
Website Official website

Elizabeth Louise 'Liz' Kendall (born 11 June 1971)[1] is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Leicester West since 2010.

Early life and career

Kendall grew up in the village of Abbots Langley in Hertfordshire and attended Watford Grammar School for Girls. She then went up to Queens' College, Cambridge, graduating with a first in history in 1993.

She has worked as Director of the Ambulance Services Network, and the Maternity Alliance charity, as a researcher for the King's Fund, as an associate director for health, social care and children’s early years at the Institute for Public Policy Research think tank and was a special adviser to two cabinet ministers,[2] Patricia Hewitt and Harriet Harman.[3]

She campaigned in an unsuccessful attempt to become the Labour candidate in Chesterfield for the 2001 general election,[4]

Parliamentary career

In 2010 Kendall was elected as MP for Leicester West with a majority of 4017 despite a 12.4% swing away from Labour[5]

On 26 May 2010 Kendall posted a picture of the previous day's state opening of parliament on the microblogging website Twitter, in contravention of parliamentary rules.[6] She apologised, saying that she was unaware of the regulations. She made her maiden speech in the debate "Tackling Poverty in the UK" on 10 June 2010.[7]

As part of the new intake of MPs, she was made a Shadow Health Minister in 2010 and given specific responsibility as Shadow Minister Care and Older People the following year.[5]

On 12 February 2013 she advocated increased patient choice in healthcare a speech on health care reform at the National Health Service.[8] In 2015 she argued in a Parliamentary magazine that "there will remain a role for the private and voluntary sectors where they can add extra capacity to the NHS or challenges to the system", arguing that with the NHS "what matters is what works" [9][10]

On 18 October 2013 she promised to take action against forty youths who were targeting a single family whose car they had burned twice.[11]

Kendall - who is seen as a Blairite - was named as a potential successor to Ed Miliband for the leadership of the Labour Party in early 2015[9][10]

References

  1. ↑ "The NHS Confederation Group Company Limited". Dellam Corporate Information. 15 March 2010. Archived from the original on 2 April 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  2. ↑ Biography page Liz Kendall's website
  3. ↑ "Comment is Free contributor page". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 December 2007.
  4. ↑ Stephen Pollard (16 April 2001). "Hating Tony Blair. With a general election imminent, publishers are eagerly issuing condemnations of new Labour...". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Liz Kendall". Parliament UK. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  6. ↑ "MP apologises for Twitter picture". BBC News. 26 May 2010. Archived from the original on 27 May 2010.
  7. ↑ "Tackling Poverty in the UK". TheyWorkForYou. 10 June 2010. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
  8. ↑ John Rentoul (13 February 2013). "Labour Finds its Voice on NHS Reform". The Independent. Archived from the original on 1 April 2014.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Merrick, Jane (25 January 2015). "Labour party leadership: Blairite Liz Kendall emerges as a fresh rival to Ed Miliband". Independent. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Watt, Holly (1 February 2015). "Blairite MP Liz Kendall emerges as favourite in Labour leadership stakes". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  11. ↑ Peter Warzynski (18 October 2013). "Gang of youths tormenting family must be tracked down, says MP". Leicester Mercury. Archived from the original on 2 April 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2014.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Patricia Hewitt		 Member of Parliament
for Leicester East
2010–present 		Incumbent
Political offices
New office Shadow Minister for Care and Older People
2011–present 		Incumbent