Hazel Blears
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| The Right Honourable Hazel Blears MP |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office June 27, 2007 |
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| Prime Minister | Gordon Brown |
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| Preceded by | Ruth Kelly |
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| In office May 5, 2006 – June 27, 2007 |
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| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Ian McCartney |
| Succeeded by | Harriet Harman |
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Member of Parliament
for Salford |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office May 1, 1997 |
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| Preceded by | Stanley Orme |
| Majority | 7,945 (35.2%) |
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| Born | 14 May 1956 Salford |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse | Michael Halsall |
| Alma mater | Nottingham Trent University |
| Profession | Solicitor |
| Religion | Christian Methodist |
| Website | www.hazelblears.co.uk |
Hazel Anne Blears, MP (born May 14, 1956) is a British politician and is the Labour Member of Parliament for Salford. She was Minister without Portfolio and Labour Party Chair between May 5, 2006 and June 24, 2007. Since June 27, 2007 she has served as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.
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[edit] Early life and education
Hazel Blears was born in Salford in 1956, the daughter of a maintenance fitter. She grew up in Salford and as a young child, Hazel and her brother Stephen both played street urchins in the film A Taste of Honey which was filmed in Salford in 1961, when Blears was aged five.[1]
Blears was educated at the Wardley High School (became part of Salford College, then closed) on Mardale Avenue in Swinton then The Eccles (Sixth Form) College on Chatsworth Road in Eccles, although her parents had tried to get her into a private school. She went to Trent Polytechnic, graduating with a BA (Hons) degree in Law, and later, the Chester College of Law, where she completed a law conversion course in 1977.
[edit] Career outside Parliament
Hazel Blears started her career in Salford as a trainee solicitor with Salford City Council in 1978. After two years, went into private practice for a year, before joining Rossendale Borough Council as a solicitor in 1981 and in the same year was elected as a Branch Secretary in NALGO. In 1983 she became a solicitor for Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council and later became Manchester City Council's education solicitor. In the following year, 1984 she was elected as a councillor to Salford City Council and she served on the council until 1992. She was Chair of the Salford Community Health Council for several years.
[edit] Parliamentary career
She stood in Tatton in 1987 against Neil Hamilton and in 1992 in Bury South where she lost by 800 votes. At the 1997 general election she was elected as the Labour MP for Salford, her home seat.
After the election she became the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Minister of State at the Department of Health Alan Milburn until 1998. She spent ten months in 1999 as PPS to then Chief Secretary to the Treasury Andrew Smith.
In the run-up to the 2001 General Election, Blears was a member and later deputy head of the Labour Party campaign team, a group of backbenchers tasked with campaigning around the country. This raised her national profile. Blears has been a supporter of the Lowry theatre and art gallery in her constituency.
[edit] Ministerial career
After the 2001 General Election, Blears entered Tony Blair's government as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health, responsible for Public Health. In this job she launched the Government's "5-a-day" campaign to get people to eat more fruit and vegetables.
Blears was promoted in 2003 to Minister of State at the Home Office and was responsible for policing, crime reduction and counter terrorism. She was elected to the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party in 2003. After the 2005 General Election, on 7 June 2005 she became a Member of the Privy Council. In a cabinet reshuffle following Council Elections on 4 May 2006, Tony Blair appointed her Party Chair replacing Ian McCartney.
[edit] Secretary of State for Communities
On 27 June 2007, Gordon Brown appointed Blears as the new Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, replacing Ruth Kelly. It has been reported, she may be demoted/sacked in an upcoming reshuffle with Gordon Brown. [1]
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[edit] Deputy Leadership candidate
On 24 February 2007 she announced her unsuccessful candidacy for the election for Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, making her one of six candidates for the job formerly held by John Prescott.[2] However, Harriet Harman won the election.
In her announcement, she said Labour must remain the party of "success and aspiration". Calling on the party not to distance itself from Tony Blair, she called for the renewal of the "big tent" coalition which brought Labour victories in 1997, 2001 and 2005. Blears' supporters included Cabinet Ministers Ruth Kelly, Tessa Jowell, Hilary Armstrong and John Reid; Health Ministers Caroline Flint and Andy Burnham; European Parliament Labour leader Gary Titley; and other MPs such as Stephen Pound, John Heppell and Kali Mountford.
Throughout her campaign, Blears has stressed the importance of a full-time Deputy Leader who acts as its campaigner-in-chief. Responding to media labelling of the candidates she has stated, "No more Blairites, no more Brownites, we are all Labour. Granita is shut."
On 12 June 2007, part of a building in Dean Farrar Street in Central London which houses the Blears campaign office collapsed.[2] [3]
On 24 June, it was announced that Blears had been placed in last place in the election for Deputy Leader.[3]
[edit] Voting record
Hazel Blears has voted on key issues since 2001 as follows [4]:
- Has never voted on a transparent Parliament.
- Voted for introducing a smoking ban.
- Voted for introducing ID cards.
- Voted for introducing foundation hospitals.
- Voted for introducing student top-up fees.
- Voted for Labour's anti-terrorism laws.
- Voted for the Iraq war.
- Voted against investigating the Iraq war.
- Voted for replacing Trident.
- Voted for the hunting ban.
- Voted for equal gay rights.
[edit] Private life
She married Michael Halsall, a solicitor, on 21 October 1989 in Salford. They have no children. Halsall is a biker and introduced Blears to motorcycling; she is now a biker in her own right.
Along with several other Labour women MPs, Blears is a member of a tap-dancing troupe known as the Division Belles. Other members include Caroline Flint, Beverley Hughes, Laura Moffatt, Meg Munn, Joan Ryan and Dari Taylor.[5]
Although brought up as a methodist, she attends the catholic SS Peter & Paul Church in Pendleton, as her husband is Catholic.
[edit] Criticism
In March 2005, while Home Office minister, Blears implied that section 44 of the terrorism act would disproportionally affect the Muslim community.
| “ | Dealing with the counter-terrorist threat and the fact that at the moment the threat is most likely to come from those people associated with an extreme form of Islam, or falsely hiding behind Islam, if you like, in terms of justifying their activities, inevitably means that some of our counter-terrorist powers will be disproportionately experienced by people in the Muslim community.[6] | ” |
In August 2005, Blears, while standing in for Home Secretary Charles Clarke (who was on holiday), suggested the 'rebranding' of ethnic minorities in favour of adopting US-style hyphenated titles such as Asian-British-Canadian.[7] This proposal was quickly withdrawn by the Home Office, as the government moved to distance itself from the idea. Nevertheless this inspired Private Eye magazine to 'rebrand' Blears as 'That stupid woman who Charles Clarke left in charge while he was sunning himself on holiday'.[8]
In 2006, Blears was accused of "hypocrisy" after joining protests against the closure of hospital departments in her constituency, even though these closures were consistent with the policies of the government of which she was a senior member. Health Emergency's head of campaigns Geoff Martin said:
| “ | Here we have Cabinet ministers, totally bound up in the Government's hospital cuts and closure programme, riding on the backs of anti-cuts campaigns in their own constituencies in a bid to save their own political skins. Frankly, it stinks.
There are 29 hospitals up and down the country facing the immediate threat of cuts and closure to key services in 2007. Will Hazel Blears be joining demonstrators on the streets in each of those areas or is this just a classic case of 'not in my back yard'?[9] |
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[edit] Political Prospects
Blears has held the safe labour seat of Salford since 1997 which is due for a boundary change before the next election; it is highly unlikely Blears will lose her seat. She will continue to contest it after she defeated another MP, Ian Stewart, in the internal Labour Party selection.
[edit] References
- ^ 'Street socialist' Blears joins battle to replace Prescott - UK Politics, UK - Independent.co.uk
- ^ Blears to run for Labour deputy and admits party 'disengaged'
- ^ Harman wins deputy leader contest BBC News | June 24, 2007 (retrieved 2007-06-24)
- ^ They Work For You
- ^ The Guardian profile: Hazel Blears MP | Special Reports | Guardian Unlimited Politics
- ^ Home Affairs Select Committee, Uncorrected Minutes of Evidence, 1 March 2005, HC 156-v.
- ^ The UK's ethnic name game, BBC, August 9, 2005
- ^ Private Eye Magazine, August 2005
- ^ Blears rejects hypocrisy claims over NHS protest » Central Government » 24dash.com
[edit] External links
- Hazel for Deputy Official Deputy leadership campaign site
- Hazel Blears MP Official parliamentary site
- Home Office - Hazel Blears MP Official biography
- Communities Department profile
- Times May 2007 article
- New Statesman 2007 article
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Hazel Blears MP
- TheyWorkForYou.com - Hazel Blears MP
[edit] Audio clips
- WPRadio Online interview on Women's Parliamentary Radio just before taking over role as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by Stan Orme |
Member of Parliament for Salford 1997 – present |
Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Ian McCartney |
Minister without Portfolio (Labour Party Chair) 2006-2007 |
Succeeded by Vacant (Harriet Harman appointed Party Chair) |
| Preceded by Ruth Kelly |
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 2007 – present |
Incumbent |
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