Daisy Cooper
MP
Official portrait, 2019
Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats
Assumed office
13 September 2020
LeaderEd Davey
Preceded byEd Davey
Member of Parliament
for St Albans
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byAnne Main
Majority6,293 (10.9%)
Liberal Democrat portfolios
2020Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
2020Justice
2020-2021Education
2021-Health, Wellbeing and Social Care
Personal details
Born (1981-10-29) 29 October 1981[1]
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England
Political partyLiberal Democrats
Alma materUniversity of Leeds[2]
University of Nottingham[3]
WebsiteOfficial website

Daisy Cooper (born 29 October 1981)[4] is a British Liberal Democrat politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for St Albans since 2019. She has served as the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats since 2020, and as the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Health, Wellbeing and Social Care since 2021.

Cooper was previously the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Education from September 2020 to October 2021, and the spokesperson for Justice and Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from January 2020 to September 2020.

Early life and career

Cooper was born in 1981 in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.[5] She gained a Bachelor of Laws honours degree from Leeds University and a Master of Laws degree in public international law from Nottingham University, as well as a foundation certificate in psychotherapy and counselling.[3] Before becoming an MP, Cooper worked in Commonwealth affairs, for Voluntary Service Overseas,[2] for the Hacked Off campaign for victims of press abuse, and for the cross-party group More United.[6] She also runs a local independent campaign group for rail users.[7]

Political career

Cooper was the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Suffolk Coastal constituency in the 2010 general election, where she came second behind Thérèse Coffey.[8] Cooper won 29.8% of the vote, an increase of 7.7% from the 2005 general election.[9]

She stood for president of the Liberal Democrats in 2014, coming second to Sal Brinton. During the campaign for the presidency, she declared her support for the group "Humanist and Secularist Liberal Democrats".[10]

In the 2015 general election, Cooper stood in Mid Sussex. She came fourth, losing to the Conservative incumbent Nicholas Soames, with the Liberal Democrats suffering a 26% decrease in their vote share from the 2010 general election.[11][12] Cooper also stood in the 2015 Lewes District Council election held on the same day; she was elected to represent the Lewes Bridge ward. Cooper stepped down as a councillor in 2016.[13]

Cooper was the Liberal Democrat candidate for St Albans in the 2017 general election. She came second behind the incumbent MP Anne Main; Cooper won 32.4% of the vote[14], an increase of 13.9% from the 2015 general election.[11][15] In 2019, she ran Jo Swinson's successful leadership campaign.[6]

Parliamentary career

Cooper was elected as the first Liberal Democrat MP for St Albans in the 2019 general election, winning it from the incumbent Conservative MP, Anne Main, who had held the seat since 2005.[16][17][18][19] She is the first liberal MP to be elected to represent this constituency since a Liberal, John Bamford Slack, was elected in 1904. Cooper won 50.1% of the vote, an increase of 17.7% from the 2017 general election[20], and a majority of 6,293, overturning a Conservative majority of 6,109.[21][22] The Guardian named Cooper as one of the ten new MPs from all political parties to "watch out for".[6]

In January 2020, it was announced Cooper had been appointed as the Liberal Democrats' justice, culture, media and sport spokesperson.[23] In June, she took part in George Floyd protests in Verulamium Park, St Albans, where she gave a speech about police brutality.[24] In September 2020, Cooper was announced as the party's new deputy leader and education spokesperson.[25]

In May 2021, Cooper was a signatory to an open letter from Stylist magazine, alongside celebrities and other public figures, which called on the government to address what it described as an "epidemic of male violence" by funding an "ongoing, high-profile, expert-informed awareness campaign on men’s violence against women and girls".[26]

References

  1. ↑ "Members' Names Data Platform query". UK Parliament. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  2. 1 2 Barbara Kasumu (31 July 2013). "One to watch: Why political campaigner Daisy Cooper is going places". The Telegraph. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  3. 1 2 "The role and future of the Commonwealth". United Kingdom Parliament. 10 January 2012. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  4. ↑ Brunskill, Ian (19 March 2020). The Times guide to the House of Commons 2019 : the definitive record of Britain's historic 2019 General Election. p. 319. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1. OCLC 1129682574.
  5. ↑ "Entry Information". FreeBMD. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 Walker, Peter (16 December 2019). "The new parliament – what and who to watch out for". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  7. ↑ Davies, Joe (13 December 2019). "Who is St Albans' new Liberal Democrat MP Daisy Cooper?". hertfordshiremercury. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  8. ↑ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  9. ↑ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  10. ↑ Humanist and Secularist Liberal Democrats. Party presidency - candidates' statements. Retrieved 28 April 2020
  11. 1 2 "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  12. ↑ "Sussex Mid parliamentary constituency – Election 2017". BBC.
  13. ↑ "Change of faces at Lewes Town Council". www.sussexexpress.co.uk. 7 April 2016.
  14. ↑ "2017 Parliamentary Election Results". St Albans City and District Council. 16 June 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  15. ↑ "2015 Parliamentary Election Results". St Albans City and District Council. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  16. ↑ "St Albans parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". BBC.com. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  17. ↑ "Lib Dems gain St Albans while David Gauke loses seat". 13 December 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  18. ↑ "Constituency profile: St Albans". Evening Express. Press Association. 18 November 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  19. ↑ Suslak, Anne (13 December 2019). "Liberal Democrats victorious in St Albans to unseat Conservatives in the 2019 General Election". Herts Advertiser. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  20. ↑ "2017 Parliamentary Election Results". St Albans City and District Council. 16 June 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  21. ↑ "Statement of Persons Nominated (St Albans Constituency)" (PDF). stalbans.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  22. ↑ "St Albans parliamentary constituency - Election 2019" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  23. ↑ "Daisy Cooper". Liberal Democrats. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  24. ↑ "#BlackLivesMatter #StAlbans peaceful protest social distancing patrolled by volunteer wardens face coverings worn by most passionate speeches #BlackLivesMatter". Twitter. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  25. ↑ Woodcock, Andrew (13 September 2020). "Liberal Democrats plan to woo 'soft conservatives' repulsed by 'thuggish' Johnson Tories". The Independent. Retrieved 13 September 2020. an interview to announce her election as deputy
  26. ↑ ""We're calling on you to act now": read Stylist's open letter to Priti Patel about ending male violence against women and girls". Stylist. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
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