A former television researcher and producer, Woodward began his political career in the Conservative Party. He was elected in 1997 as Conservative MP for Witney, but joined Labour in 1999. He then served as Labour MP for St Helens South from 2001 to 2015.
Woodward was selected as Douglas Hurd's successor as Conservative candidate for the safe seat of Witney at the 1997 election, having previously been a senior official of the party. Hurd's majority from the previous election was over 22,000. Elected with a 7,000 majority, he was a front-bench spokesman on London for the Conservative opposition under William Hague until 1999, when he was sacked for supporting the repeal of Section 28,[1] a regulation which aimed at preventing the promotion of homosexuality in schools.
Defection to the Labour Party
After being sacked from the Tory front bench, on 20 December 1999, Woodward left the Conservative Party to move to the ruling Labour Party, without resigning as an MP. This meant that no by-election took place. He was given a job co-ordinating the Labour party's 2001 general election campaign.[2][3] Woodward's local Conservative constituency association requested that he resign and run again in a by-election, under the Labour banner, as he had originally won the safe Conservative seat by campaigning as a Conservative. Woodward refused to hold a by-election, and continued to represent Witney for a further eighteen months.
Woodward was criticised by his former colleagues in the Conservative Party, including leader William Hague,[4] Conservative former Deputy Prime Minister Michael Heseltine and party chairman Michael Ancram.[4][5] Other critics included backbench Labour MPs Tony Benn and Jeremy Corbyn, and ten years later, former Labour government minister Chris Mullin, in his political diaries.[6]
Michael Heseltine said Woodward would "soon become a dot on the horizon",[5] whilst Conservative leader William Hague wrote a public letter to Woodward on his resignation, in which he stated: "You have left a party whose members have given you their loyal support. You have done so for reasons not of integrity or of principle, but for your own careerist reasons. That is an attitude of which I am determined to rid our party..."[4] Conservative chairman Michael Ancram said: "Shaun has decided for his own reasons to leave the party and no amount of sincerity or fake sincerity is going to hide that fact..."[5]
Woodward's defection was welcomed by senior Labour figures.[citation needed]
In the June 2001 general election, Woodward decided not to contest his Witney seat as a Labour candidate and instead found a safe Labour seat in St Helens South. Chris Mullin wrote with shock of "the awful Shaun Woodward" defecting to Mullin's own side, calling "the New Labour elite parachuting [Woodward] into a safe seat ... one of New Labour's vilest stitch-ups ... made my flesh creep".[6] His successor in Witney was David Cameron, who subsequently became Prime Minister in 2010.
When news of Woodward's intention to stand reached St. Helens, a strong left-wing challenge was put forward in an attempt to deny the former Conservative the safe Labour seat. Neil Thompson of the Socialist Alliance and Michael Perry of the Socialist Labour Party both contested the St Helens South seat and received a total of 12% of the vote between them. Woodward won the seat with a much reduced 49% of the vote.[7]
In May 2005, Woodward was re-elected in St Helens South receiving 54% of the vote and his majority increased. However, the Liberal Democrats' candidate, Brian Spencer, saw his party's share of the vote increase from 23% in 2001 to 28%. Michael Perry of the Socialist Labour Party contested the seat again and received just under 2% of the vote.[7]
In the May 2006 reshuffle, Tony Blair named Woodward Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport with responsibilities for the digital switchover for TV. On 28 June 2007, in his first cabinet, newly appointed Prime Minister Gordon Brown appointed Woodward as the Northern Ireland Secretary, replacing Peter Hain. Woodward chose not to receive a ministerial salary because of his personal wealth. As Northern Ireland Secretary, Woodward reportedly became a close confidant of the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. This was largely due to Woodward's previous first hand experiences of the beleaguered Conservative government of John Major.[8]
In Opposition
Woodward stood for election to Labour's shadow cabinet, but was unsuccessful. Nevertheless, he was retained as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland by Labour leader Ed Miliband for just under a year.
In November 2013 he announced that he would stand down from Parliament at the next general election,[9] to work on human rights issues. He was praised for his role by then Labour leader, Ed Miliband, who wrote to him: "In 1999, you made an incredibly hard decision to cross the floor of the House and join the Labour party. It took personal courage and political commitment, and our party will forever be grateful to you."[10]
Personal life
He married Camilla Davan Sainsbury, daughter of former Conservative MP Tim Sainsbury of the wealthy supermarket Sainsbury family, on 2 May 1987; they announced their separation after 28 years on 20 December 2015.[11] They have one son and three daughters, including the food blogger Ella Woodward.
His current partner is Hollywood camera operator Luke Redgrave.[12]
In March 2001, he was said to be the only Labour MP with a butler.[13]
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Witney is a market town on the River Windrush in West Oxfordshire in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is 12 miles (19 km) west of Oxford.
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