Lucy Powell
MP
Official portrait, 2019
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Assumed office
4 September 2023
LeaderKeir Starmer
Preceded byThangam Debbonaire
Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
In office
29 November 2021 – 4 September 2023
LeaderKeir Starmer
Preceded byJo Stevens
Succeeded byThangam Debbonaire
Shadow Secretary of State for Housing
In office
9 May 2021 – 29 November 2021
LeaderKeir Starmer
Preceded byThangam Debbonaire
Succeeded byLisa Nandy[lower-alpha 1]
Shadow Secretary of State for Education
In office
13 September 2015 – 26 June 2016
LeaderJeremy Corbyn
Preceded byTristram Hunt
Succeeded byPat Glass
Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office
In office
5 November 2014 – 13 September 2015
LeaderEd Miliband
Harriet Harman (acting)
Preceded byMichael Dugher
Succeeded byTom Watson
Junior shadow portfolios
Shadow Minister for Business and Consumers
In office
9 April 2020 – 9 May 2021
LeaderKeir Starmer
Preceded byBill Esterson
Succeeded bySeema Malhotra
Shadow Minister for Childcare and Early Years
In office
7 October 2013 – 5 November 2014
LeaderEd Miliband
Preceded bySharon Hodgson
Succeeded byAlison McGovern (Children and Families)
Member of Parliament
for Manchester Central
Assumed office
15 November 2012
Preceded byTony Lloyd
Majority29,089 (55.6%)
Personal details
Born
Lucy Maria Powell

(1974-10-10) 10 October 1974
Manchester, England
Political partyLabour and Co-operative
SpouseJames Williamson
Children2
Alma materSomerville College, Oxford
King's College London
Websitewww.lucypowell.org.uk

Lucy Maria Powell (born 10 October 1974)[1] is a British politician serving as Shadow Leader of the House of Commons since 2023.[2] A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Manchester Central since 2012.

Prior to her election, she worked in campaigning and PR roles for Britain in Europe, NESTA and the Labour Party. She was a shadow Cabinet Office minister and vice-chair for the 2015 United Kingdom general election campaign. She was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Education in September 2015, but resigned in June 2016. She served as Shadow Minister for Business and Consumers from April 2020 to May 2021, and Shadow Secretary of State for Housing from May to November 2021.

Early life

Powell was born in Moss Side. She attended Beaver Road Primary School and Parrs Wood High School in the suburb of Didsbury, and then studied for A-levels at Xaverian College.[3] She studied Chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, and King's College London.[4]

Political career

Powell began her career working as a parliamentary assistant for Beverley Hughes MP, after having worked at the Labour Party Headquarters in Millbank Tower during the 1997 general election campaign.[5]

She joined the pro-Euro and pro-EU Treaty pressure group Britain in Europe (BiE), originally in a public relations role and later as head of regional campaigning. She replaced Simon Buckby as Campaign Director of BiE. In this capacity, she worked with Chris Patten, Neil Kinnock, Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander.[6]

After Britain in Europe was wound down in June 2005 because of the referendum "No" votes in France and the Netherlands, she worked for the non-departmental public body or quango NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts), initially in a public affairs role and later to establish and manage the Manchester Innovation Fund project.

She was selected as prospective parliamentary candidate for Manchester Withington in April 2007. She failed to defeat the incumbent Liberal Democrat, John Leech at the 2010 general election.

From May 2010 to September 2010 Powell managed Ed Miliband's successful campaign for the Labour Party leadership.[7] She then served as Miliband's acting and later deputy chief of staff from September 2010 to April 2012. She was selected by the local Constituency Labour Party (CLP) in April 2012 for the upcoming Manchester Central by-election, defeating local councillors Mike Amesbury (who became an MP in 2017) and Rosa Battle and the London councillor Patrick Vernon.

The by-election was triggered by Tony Lloyd, who stepped down as its MP to contest the 2012 England and Wales Police and Crime Commissioner elections for Greater Manchester Police area.

Member of Parliament (2012–present)

Powell was elected at the Manchester Central by-election held in November 2012. She won the election with a majority of 9,936 votes.[8]

Voter turnout of 18.2% at the by-election is believed to be the lowest in a by-election since the Second World War.[9] Powell became Manchester's first female Labour member of parliament[10] and the first woman elected from Manchester since 1964.[11]

Powell first joined the opposition front-bench in October 2013 as Shadow Childcare and Early Years Minister,[12] and entered the Shadow Cabinet in November 2014 as Shadow Cabinet Office Minister.

Powell was appointed vice-chair of the 2015 general election campaign by Ed Miliband,[13] in which Labour suffered a net loss of 26 seats, including a net loss of 40 seats in Scotland.[14][15] She was heavily criticised for apparently suggesting that Labour's election pledges were liable to be broken: in talking about the so-called EdStone, she commented: "I don't think anyone is suggesting that the fact that he's carved them into stone means that he is absolutely not going to break them or anything like that." She said that she had been quoted out of context.[16] She was responsible for Ed Miliband's interview with Russell Brand, described as a PR blunder.[17] As a result of these actions coupled to the result, Tanya Gold, writing for The Sunday Times, described her as "discredited".[18] In response to the result, Powell stated, "I bear my share of responsibility in this".[19]

In the 2015 Labour Party leadership election, she nominated Andy Burnham.[20]

Powell was appointed as Shadow Education Secretary on 13 September 2015 by Jeremy Corbyn, succeeding Tristram Hunt. As Shadow Education Secretary, she argued for bringing free schools and academies under Local Education Authority control.[21] She resigned from the Shadow Cabinet on 26 June 2016, along with dozens of shadow cabinet colleagues unhappy with Corbyn's leadership.[22][23] She supported Owen Smith in the 2016 Labour leadership election.[24] However, she later stated that, "We were wrong about Jeremy Corbyn" in an interview following the 2017 general election.[25]

In September 2017, the political commentator Iain Dale placed Powell at Number 81 in The 100 Most Influential People on the Left.[26]

In September 2018, Powell introduced legislation in the House of Commons to ban secret, private, invite-only groups on Facebook and hold moderators legally responsible for hate speech or defamation on forums.[27][28] She is a member of Labour Friends of Israel.[29]

On 9 April 2020, Powell rejoined the Labour front bench when she was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Business and Consumers by new party leader Keir Starmer.[30] In a minor reshuffle in May 2021, she was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet as the Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, succeeding Thangam Debbonaire.[31]

In the November 2021 shadow cabinet reshuffle, Powell was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.[32] Powell has described herself as a "tech optimist".[33]

Personal life

Powell is married to James Williamson, an emergency medicine doctor, and has three children – a step-son, a daughter, and a son who was born on 27 May 2013.[34]

She supports Manchester City football club.[35]

Notes

  1. ↑ As Shadow Secretary for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities.

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References

  1. ↑ "The Next Generation: Parliamentary Candidates to Watch" (PDF). Insight Public Affairs. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 November 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
  2. ↑ "Labour reshuffle live: Angela Rayner gets new role as Keir Starmer reshuffles team". BBC News. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
  3. ↑ Administrator, men (28 April 2010). "Lucy Powell (Lab)". Archived from the original on 30 September 2015.
  4. ↑ "About Lucy". Archived from the original on 9 June 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  5. ↑ "PPC Profile: Lucy Powell - LabourList". 7 July 2009. Archived from the original on 10 March 2014.
  6. ↑ Patrick Wintour, chief political correspondent (24 September 2004). "Kinnock joins Europe campaign". The Guardian. London, UK. Archived from the original on 28 August 2013. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  7. ↑ "About Lucy Powell". Lucypowell.org.uk. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  8. ↑ "Labour's Lucy Powell elected MP for Manchester Central". Itv.com. 12 November 2012. Archived from the original on 16 November 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  9. ↑ Arif Ansari. "Labour's Lucy Powell wins Manchester Central election". Bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 November 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  10. ↑ "Lucy Powell wins Manchester Central by-election for Labour – but with lowest turnout since WWII". menmedia.co.uk. 16 November 2012. Archived from the original on 19 November 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  11. ↑ Florence Horsbrugh was a Manchester member from 1950-59, and Eveline Hill from 1950-64 The Big Interview Archived 20 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine, manchesterconfidential.com; accessed 13 May 2018.
  12. ↑ "Lucy Powell named new shadow minister for childcare and early years". Nursery World. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  13. ↑ "Lucy Powell: Mancunian streetfighter taking on key role in Labour campaign". Guardian. 14 November 2014. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
  14. ↑ "Election 2015 Results: Conservatives win 12 seat majority". BBC News. Archived from the original on 10 May 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  15. ↑ Wintour, Patrick (3 June 2015). "The undoing of Ed Miliband: and how Labour lost the election". The Guardian. GMG. Archived from the original on 6 June 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  16. ↑ "Lucy Powell denies doubts over Labour's election pledges". 5 May 2015. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  17. ↑ "Lucy Powell: the campaign genius behind the 'Milibrand' interview". The Spectator. The Spectator Magazine. June 2015. Archived from the original on 3 June 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  18. ↑ Gold, Tanya (31 May 2015). "It's all about the Brand". The Sunday Times. London. Archived from the original on 6 August 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2015. (subscription required)
  19. ↑ Fitzgerald, Todd (10 May 2015). "Lucy Powell: I'll share the blame for Labour's poor election result". Manchester Evening News. MEN Media. Archived from the original on 20 July 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  20. ↑ "Labour's leadership contest – The Labour Party". Labour.org.uk. Archived from the original on 3 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  21. ↑ The Independent, 26 September 2015.
  22. ↑ Thomas, Joe (26 June 2016). "Jeremy Corbyn leadership crisis LIVE". Archived from the original on 26 June 2016.
  23. ↑ Syal, Rajeev; Perraudin, Frances; Slawson, Nicola (27 June 2016). "Shadow cabinet resignations: who has gone and who is staying". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 July 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  24. ↑ Smith, Mikey; Bloom, Dan (20 July 2016). "Which MPs are nominating Owen Smith in the Labour leadership contest?". Mirror. Archived from the original on 10 November 2018. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  25. ↑ "Lucy Powell: we were 'wrong about Corbyn'". BBC News. Archived from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
  26. ↑ Dale, Iain (25 September 2017). "The 100 Most Influential People On The Left: Iain Dale's 2017 List". LBC. Archived from the original on 25 September 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  27. ↑ Powell, Lucy (10 September 2018). "Why I am seeking to stamp out online echo chambers of hate". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  28. ↑ "British Lawmaker Wants to Ban Your Private Facebook Groups Because She Worries You're Using Hate Speech". Archived from the original on 20 September 2018. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  29. ↑ "LFI Supporters in Parliament". Labour Friends of Israel. Archived from the original on 2 October 2019. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  30. ↑ Rodgers, Sienna (9 April 2020). "Shadow ministers appointed as Starmer completes frontbench". LabourList. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  31. ↑ Norwood, Graham (9 May 2021). "New Labour shadow housing minister revealed". Estate Agent Today. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  32. ↑ Rodgers, Sienna. "Big reshuffle sees Cooper, Streeting, Lammy, Reynolds, Phillipson promoted". LabourList. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  33. ↑ Dickson, Annabelle (23 March 2023). "Britain's Labour Party used to hate Big Tech. Not any more". POLITICO. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  34. ↑ "Interview: 'Hackgate hero' Tom Watson & Labour's Lucy Powell on the Manchester Central by-election campaign trail". Mancunian Matters. 7 July 2012. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  35. ↑ Powell, Lucy (7 February 2008). "About Lucy Powell | Politics | guardian.co.uk". Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
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