Meg Hillier

Meg Hillier MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
In office 8 October 2010 – 7 October 2011
Leader	Ed Miliband
Preceded by	Ed Miliband
Succeeded by	Caroline Flint
Member of Parliament for Hackney South and Shoreditch
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 May 2005
Preceded by	Brian Sedgemore
Majority	13,225 (31.6%)
Member of the London Assembly for North East
In office 4 May 2000 – 10 June 2004
Preceded by	Constituency created
Succeeded by	Jennette Arnold
Personal details
Born	14 February 1969 (1969-02-14) (age 42) Hampstead, London, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour Co-operative
Alma mater	Portsmouth High School (Independent) St Hilda's College, Oxford
Religion	Anglican

Margaret Olivia Hillier (born 14 February 1969) is a British Labour Co-operative politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hackney South and Shoreditch since 2005, and was a junior Minister in HM Government from 2007 to 2010. She was replaced by Caroline Flint as Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change in Labour's reshuffle October, 2011.

Education

Hillier was educated at Portsmouth High School, an independent fee-paying school for girls, in the seaside resort of Southsea in the City of Portsmouth in Hampshire,^[1] followed by St Hilda's College at the University of Oxford, where she read Philosophy, Politics and Economics and during her time there was elected Librarian of the Oxford Union Society. She was not prominently involved in the Oxford University Labour Club.

Early career

Hillier worked as a journalist and was elected as a Councillor in the London Borough of Islington in 1994, serving as the Mayor of Islington in 1998, before standing down from the Council in 2002. She was elected as a founding Member of the London Assembly for North East London at the first London Assembly election of 2000, she served on the Assembly until 2004, and became a board member of Transport for London, a position she relinquished on her election to Parliament.

Parliamentary career

In 2004 Hillier was selected as the Labour candidate to contest the Hackney South and Shoreditch through a controversial all-women shortlist.^[2] She was elected to the House of Commons at the 2005 general election following the retirement of the veteran Labour MP Brian Sedgemore. During the election campaign Sedgemore resigned from the Labour Party and joined the Liberal Democrats^[3] in opposition to the attack on Iraq. Nonetheless, Hillier held the seat comfortably with a majority of 10,204. She made her maiden speech on 24 May 2005, in which she noted that there were more men in the House of Commons today than there have ever been women MPs.^[4]

She served as member of the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee for a year until she was became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Ruth Kelly in 2006. In June 2007 she was appointed a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office. During maternity leave beginning in March 2009 her ministerial role was taken over by Shahid Malik.

In March 2008, Hillier voted with the Government in favour of nationwide Post Office closures, including 7 in the London Borough of Hackney of which her constituency forms a part.^[5]

In December 2009, while promoting the unpopular National Identity Card scheme^[6][7] in Liverpool, she had to admit that she had managed to forget her own,^[8][9] blaming the loss on the demands of looking after her baby. The incident was especially embarrassing as Hillier was the Identity Minister with responsibility for the scheme.^[10][11]

She serves as a Trustee of the War Memorials Trust.

Personal life

Hillier married Joe Simpson in 1997 and they have three children. On 20 March 2009 she began a further period of maternity leave;^[12] and on 16 April gave birth to a baby girl.^[13] She resides in Islington, London.

References

1. ^ Hillier Biography on Parliamentary Record
2. ^ http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/briefings/snpc-05057.pdf
3. ^ BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Election 2005 | Veteran former Labour MP defects
4. ^ House of Commons Hansard Debates for 24 May 2005 (pt 19)
5. ^ Post Office Closures — Suspend for issues to be re-assessed — rejected — 19 Mar 2008 at 18:45 — The Public Whip
6. ^ BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | UK's national ID card unveiled
7. ^ BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Holyrood rejects identity cards
8. ^ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/16/hillier_launch
9. ^ BBC News - Identity minister forgets ID card
10. ^ Red-faced Minister Meg Hillier forgets her identity card for Liverpool roll-out - Liverpool News - News - Liverpool Daily Post
11. ^ MPs, Lords and offices - UK Parliament
12. ^ http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page18757
13. ^ Baby Girl for MP Hackney Gazetter 21 April 2009 accessed 14 May 2009

External links

• Meg Hillier MP official website
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
• Voting record at PublicWhip.org
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou.com
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Profile at BBC News Democracy Live
• Articles authored at Journalisted
• Debrett's People of Today

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Brian Sedgemore	Member of Parliament for Hackney South and Shoreditch 2005–present	Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Hillier, Meg
Alternative names	Ms Meg Hillier MP
Short description	Politician
Date of birth	14 February 1969
Place of birth	Hampstead, London
Date of death
Place of death