Valerie Wise

Last updated

Valerie Wise is a British socialist politician and activist. She is among the fourth generation of Labour Party activists in her family. [1]

Her mother was the late Audrey Wise, MP for Coventry South West 1974–79, then MP for Preston from 1987 until her death in 2000. During this time, Valerie Wise was a parliamentary assistant to her mother. [2] Audrey was well known for her socialist, unionist and feminist views, shared by her daughter Valerie. [3]

Representing Battersea South, Valerie Wise was a significant figure in Ken Livingstone's administration at the Greater London Council. She was chairman of the GLC Women's Committee, the first committee of its kind in UK government. She became chair at age 25, making her the youngest woman elected to a London-wide authority. [4] Many of the issues that the women's committee fought for and supported are now enshrined in UK law. [5] [6] However, some Labour politicians believed these policies contributed to their 1987 general election defeat. [7]

Wise was a Labour councillor in Preston from the 1990s until 2000, when she lost her seat to the Conservatives. In 1995 she was elected Labour Leader of the Council, the first woman to hold the post in Preston. After a falling-out with the chief executive over claims she was attempting to create a socialist republic in Preston, she stood down when a vote of no confidence was passed against her. [8] [5]

The death of her mother in 2000 resulted in a parliamentary by-election in the Preston constituency. She applied for selection as the prospective Labour candidate, but her local party did not select her. [9]

Valerie Wise left the Labour Party in the early 2000s over the Iraq War and interventions in the Middle East. [10] She publicly declared that in 2003 she had voted for a Socialist Alliance council candidate whilst still a Labour Party member and in the 2007 local elections gave her support to a Respect Party candidate. [11] She declared her intention to stand in the 2010 parliamentary election as a candidate for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) against the Labour candidate. She withdrew a few weeks before the election, leaving TUSC without a candidate. [12] She rejoined the Labour Party in August 2015 to support her friend Jeremy Corbyn's bid for leader. She campaigned again for his leadership during the 2016 Labour Party leadership election (UK)leadership challenge of 2016. [3]

In autumn 2017, Wise stood for selection as the Labour Party Parliamentary candidate in the Rossendale and Darwen constituency]], but was unsuccessful. [13] She is currently the Labour Party councillor for Fishwick & Frenchwood ward, having been elected in the 2022 Preston City Council election. [14]

Due to her contribution to women's liberation over years, her oral history is kept in the British Library. [15]

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greater London Council</span> English local administrative body (1965–1986)

The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 1986 by the Local Government Act 1985 and its powers were devolved to the London boroughs and other entities. A new administrative body, known as the Greater London Authority (GLA), was established in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janet Anderson</span> British politician (1949–2023)

Janet Anderson was a British politician from the Labour Party. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Rossendale and Darwen from 1992 until 2010, when she lost her seat. She was the Minister for Tourism from 1998 to 2001, a period which included the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak. In the 2009 United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal, she was found to have claimed costs for journeys she had not made.

John Wilson was a Labour Party member of the Greater London Council from May 1977 until the council was abolished in 1986. He was Chief Whip of the Labour group in 1984 when Ken Livingstone resigned from the GLC to force a by-election aimed at showing the popularity of the GLC. Wilson acted as Leader of the GLC while Livingstone was not a member.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blackburn (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1955 onwards

Blackburn is a constituency in Lancashire, England, which has been represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Kate Hollern of the Labour Party. From 1979 to 2015, it was represented by Jack Straw who served under the Labour leaders of Neil Kinnock and John Smith and the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

David John Nellist is a British Trotskyist activist who was the MP for the constituency of Coventry South East from 1983 to 1992. Elected as a Labour MP, his support for the Militant tendency led to his eventual expulsion from the party in late 1991. He is the National Chair of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), a member of the Socialist Party, and was a city councillor in Coventry from 1998 to 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afzal Khan (British politician)</span> British Labour Party politician

Mohammed Afzal Khan, is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Manchester Gorton since 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rossendale (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1885-1983

Rossendale was a parliamentary constituency in the Lancashire, England. Created in 1885, it elected one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system. When created it comprised the districts of Rawtenstall, Bacup, and Haslingden; Ramsbottom district was added to the constituency in 1950.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darwen (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1885–1983

Darwen was a county constituency in Lancashire, centred on the town of Darwen. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election.

The British left can refer to multiple concepts. It is sometimes used a shorthand for groups aligned with the Labour Party. It can also refer to other individuals, groups and political parties that have sought egalitarian changes in the economic, political, and cultural institutions of the United Kingdom. Various subgroups with a national scope are active. Liberals and progressives believe that equality can be accommodated into existing capitalist structures, but they differ in their criticism of capitalism and on the extent of reform and the welfare state. Anarchists, communists, socialists, and social democrats, among others, with international imperatives are also present within this macro-movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2012 London mayoral election</span> 2012 election for the Mayor of London

The 2012 London mayoral election was an election held on Thursday 3 May 2012, to elect the Mayor of London. It was held on the same day as the London Assembly election, and used a supplementary vote system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Livingstone</span> English politician and former Mayor of London (born 1945)

Kenneth Robert Livingstone is an English retired politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of London from the creation of the office in 2000 until 2008. He also served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brent East from 1987 to 2001. A former member of the Labour Party, he was on the party's hard left, ideologically identifying as a socialist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition</span> Political party in the United Kingdom

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is a socialist electoral alliance in Britain. It was originally launched for the 2010 general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graham Jones (politician)</span> British politician

Graham Peter Jones is a British Labour Party politician, and former Member of Parliament (MP) for Hyndburn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jake Berry</span> British politician (born 1978)

Sir James Jacob Gilchrist Berry is a British Conservative Party politician and former solicitor who served as Chairman of the Conservative Party and Minister without Portfolio from 6 September to 25 October 2022. He previously served as Minister of State for the Northern Powerhouse and Local Growth from 2017 to 2020 in the governments of Theresa May and Boris Johnson.

The Greater London Council leadership of Ken Livingstone refers to the period during which Ken Livingstone, a British Labour Party politician, was Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC). Livingstone took up the post on 17 May 1981, and remained in office until the GLC was abolished on 1 April 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate Hollern</span> British Labour politician

Catherine Malloy Hollern is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Blackburn since 2015. A member of the Labour Party, she served as Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council from 2004 to 2007 and 2010 to 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illtyd Harrington</span> Welsh politician

Illtyd Harrington was a British Labour Party politician who served as deputy leader of the Greater London Council (1981–84) and then subsequently as chairman (1984–85). He was a political ally of Ken Livingstone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate Osborne</span> British Labour politician

Kate Helen Osborne is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Jarrow since 2019.

A by-election for the United Kingdom parliamentary constituency of Birmingham Erdington was held on 3 March 2022. It was triggered by the death of the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Jack Dromey on 7 January. The winner was Paulette Hamilton, standing for Labour, who won 55.5% of the votes on a turnout of 27% of the electorate.

References

  1. ↑ "Valerie Wise's electoral challenge to neoliberalism and war". Socialist Worker (Britain). Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  2. ↑ "Valerie Wise". Socialist Review. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Valerie Wise (@valeriewise4RD) | Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  4. ↑ Kennedy, Dominic (24 December 2015). "Feminist critic of prominent women is back in the party". The Times. ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  5. 1 2 "Beyond Red Ken". The Guardian. 20 December 1999. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  6. ↑ Webber, Esther (31 March 2016). "The rise and fall of the GLC". BBC News. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  7. ↑ James E. Cronin (2004). New Labour's pasts: the Labour Party and its discontents. Pearson Education, pp. 283–86; ISBN   9780582438279.
  8. ↑ "Ousted chief's bid for top job". Lancashire Telegraph.
  9. ↑ Wainwright, Martin (25 October 2000). "Former MEP wins Labour poll nomination". The Guardian– via theguardian.com.
  10. ↑ "Why I've had enough of New Labour". Socialist Worker (Britain). Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  11. ↑ "Michael Lavalette's campaign in Preston is a key election battle for Respect". Socialist Worker (Britain). 17 March 2007.
  12. ↑ "End of family dream as Wise scraps MP bid - Lancashire Evening Post". www.lep.co.uk. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017.
  13. ↑ "Valerie Wise for Rossendale and Darwen". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  14. ↑ "Notice of Poll - All Wards" (PDF). Preston City Council. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  15. ↑ "Valerie Wise". The British Library. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.