Beverley June Hughes,Baroness Hughes of Stretford PC (born 30 March 1950) is a British politician who most recently served as Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester for Policing and Crime between 2017 and 2023. A member of the Labour Party,Hughes was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stretford and Urmston from 1997 to 2010. In 2004,she was appointed to the Privy Council. From 2005 to 2009,she served in the Government as the Minister of State for Children,Young People and Families. [1]
Beverley Hughes was born in Ellesmere Port,Cheshire in 1950 and was educated at Ellesmere Port Girls' Grammar School (now called The Whitby High School) on Sycamore Drive in Whitby,Ellesmere Port. She moved to Flixton in 1976,and has lived there ever since.
Hughes studied for a BSc in Social Science at the University of Manchester,graduating in 1971. After graduation she continued her studies at the University of Manchester,carrying out postgraduate research into the care of people with schizophrenia,for which she was awarded a Master of Science degree in 1978. She also gained a Diploma in Applied Social Studies in 1974 from the University of Liverpool. She worked as a probation officer in Merseyside from 1971 to 1976.
From 1976 to 1997 Hughes worked first as a research associate,then lecturer (from 1981) and then a senior lecturer in the Department of Social Policy at the University of Manchester,a department that she became the head of in 1994.
Hughes' political career began with election to Trafford Borough Council in 1986. She established herself,and was appointed leader of the council's Labour Group in 1992. She became Trafford Borough Council Leader in 1995,remaining in the post until her election to the UK Parliament at the 1997 general election.
From June 1997 to July 1998,she was a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee,until she was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Hilary Armstrong,Minister for Local Government and Housing. In July 1999 she was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department of the Environment,Transport and the Regions. In 2001,she was appointed the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prisons and Probation in the Home Office.
In July 2001,she received significant ridicule and criticism in the media after it was revealed that along with other politicians she had repeatedly denounced an edition of the Channel 4 television show Brass Eye as being "unbelievably sick",but then subsequently admitting that she'd never seen it and refused to ever watch it. [2] The programme was in fact parodying hysteria surrounding the issue of paedophilia and the media,thus commentators suggested that extreme reactions such as those by Hughes had in fact emphasised the need for such programming. Sir Paul Fox criticised Hughes and her colleagues suggesting they "have to have the courtesy to have seen the programme before they go in at the deep end", [3] with Christopher Howse even more critical,suggesting "it was as if paedophilia were sacred and not to be blasphemed against" and that the idiocy of Hughes' performance on the affair was "hard to beat". [4]
In 2002,Hughes was appointed Minister of State for Immigration,Citizenship and Counter Terrorism,but was forced to resign in April 2004 when it was shown that she had been informed of procedural improprieties concerning the granting of visas to certain categories of workers from Eastern Europe –she had earlier told the House of Commons that if she had been aware of such facts she would have done something about it. [5]
Upon resignation,she made clear that she had not set out to "intentionally mislead anyone",but she could not "in conscience continue to serve as immigration minister". The prime minister replaced Hughes with Work and Pensions Minister Des Browne.
She was re-appointed into government after the 2005 general election as the Minister of State for Children,Young People and Families in the Department for Education and Skills. She became the Regional Minister for the North West as of 19 July 2007. [6]
On 2 June 2009,Hughes announced she was resigning her ministerial position of Minister of State for Children,Young People and Families within that week following the Local and European elections with a cabinet reshuffle anticipated. She stood down at the 2010 General Election for "personal reasons" and specifically denied that she was standing down due to the ongoing expenses scandal. [7] She was made a life peer on 15 July 2010 taking the title Baroness Hughes of Stretford,of Ellesmere Port in the County of Cheshire. [8]
On 6 May 2017,Hughes was appointed as Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester for Policing and Crime by Greater Manchester Combined Authority mayor,and former Shadow Home Secretary,Andy Burnham. [9] On 9 January 2023 Hughes retired as Deputy Mayor,with Kate Green succeeding her. [10]
She married Thomas McDonald in 1973 in West Cheshire and has three grown up children:one son and two daughters.
Ellesmere Port is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire,England. Ellesmere Port is on the south eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula,6 miles (9.7 km) north of Chester,on the bank of the Manchester Ship Canal. The town had a population of 61,090 in the 2011 census. Ellesmere Port also forms part of the wider Birkenhead urban area,which had a population of 325,264 in 2011.
Hazel Anne Blears is a British former Labour Party politician,who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) successively for the constituencies of Salford and Salford and Eccles between 1997 and 2015.
Andrew Murray Burnham is a British politician who has served as Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017. He served in Gordon Brown's Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2007 to 2008,Culture Secretary from 2008 to 2009 and Health Secretary from 2009 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party,Burnham identifies as a socialist and as belonging to the party's soft left. He served as Shadow Home Secretary from 2015 to 2016 and was Member of Parliament (MP) for Leigh from 2001 to 2017.
Sir Anthony Joseph Lloyd was a British Labour politician. He served as a member of Parliament (MP) for 36 years,making him one of the longest-serving MPs in recent history. He served as MP for Stretford from 1983 to 1997,Manchester Central from 1997 to 2012,and represented Rochdale from 2017 until his death in 2024. He was Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner between 2012 and 2017 and served as the interim Mayor of Greater Manchester in his last two years in the role.
Liam Dominic Byrne,is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Hodge Hill since 2004. A member of the Labour Party,he served in Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Cabinet from 2008 to 2010.
Ellesmere Port and Neston is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Justin Madders of the Labour Party.
Stretford and Urmston is a constituency in Greater Manchester represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since a 2022 by-election by Andrew Western,a Labour MP.
Mohammed Afzal Khan,is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Manchester Gorton since 2017.
Michael Lee Amesbury is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Weaver Vale since 2017. A member of the Labour Party,he has served as Shadow Minister for Building Safety and Homelessness since 2023. He previously served as Shadow Minister for Employment from 2018 to 2020,Shadow Minister for Housing from 2020 to 2021 and Shadow Minister for Local Government from 2021 to 2022.
Damian Patrick George Hinds is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Schools since November 2023. He previously served as Secretary of State for Education under Theresa May from 2018 to 2019 and has held junior ministerial positions under four Prime Ministers. A member of the Conservative Party,he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for East Hampshire since 2010.
Stretford Grammar School is a grammar school located in Stretford,in the Trafford borough of Greater Manchester,England. It is located on a 15-acre plot in the heart of Stretford,Trafford.
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Angela Rayner is a British politician serving as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party since 2020 and Shadow Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up,Housing and Communities since 2023. Rayner has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashton-under-Lyne since 2015. She ideologically identifies as a socialist and as being part of Labour's soft left.
Justin Piers Richard Madders is a British Labour Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ellesmere Port and Neston since the May 2015 general election.
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Andrew Howard Western is a British politician of the Labour Party who was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Stretford and Urmston at the 2022 by-election. He had been the leader of Trafford Council since 2018,a post he vacated upon his election to parliament.
A by-election was held in the United Kingdom parliamentary constituency of Stretford and Urmston on 15 December 2022,following the appointment of sitting Labour MP Kate Green as Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester. Green was appointed as Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead on 10 November,giving effect to her resignation as a member of Parliament.
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