Claire Ward
Encyclopedia
Claire Margaret Ward is a British
Labour Party
politician
. She served as the Member of Parliament
(MP) for the constituency of Watford
from 1997
to 2010, and was a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Ministry of Justice from 2009 to 2010.
, Northumberland
, the daughter of Frank and Cathy Ward. Both her parents were Labour Party councillors and her father stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate for Hertsmere
in the 1987 general election
. She was brought up in Elstree
, Borehamwood
, Hertfordshire
, where she attended the Loreto College
, an all-girls Roman Catholic school in St Albans
, and studied at the newly-created University of Hertfordshire
(Hatfield Polytechnic until 1992) where she earned an LLB
in Law in 1993. She then did an MA
in Britain and the European Union at Brunel University
, before qualifying as a solicitor
at the College of Law
in London
. From 1995-98, she was a trainee solicitor.
Ward joined the Labour Party, the Co-operative Party
and the Transport and General Workers' Union
at the age of 15, becoming an active member of Young Labour
. In 1990 she won the South East TUC Mike Perkins Memorial Award for Young Trade Unionists before being elected as the Youth Representative on Labour's National Executive Committee
(NEC) the following year.
She was elected as a Councillor on Elstree and Borehamwood Town Council in 1994, where she served as Mayor from 1996-97. She stepped down from the Labour Party NEC in 1995 upon her selection as the party's candidate for Watford.
Deputy Chief Whip
Tristan Garel-Jones
who retired, and defeating Conservative candidate Robert Gordon by 5,792 votes, thereby becoming MP for Watford. Her election was notable in that she was aged 24, although she was not quite the youngest MP
, being 50 days older than Chris Leslie, the new MP for Shipley
.
After her election, Ward became a member of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee. From 2000 to 2002, she was the Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary
Chocolate and Confectionery Industry Group. In the 2001 general election
she retained her seat by 5,555 votes and was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary
to John Hutton
.
The increasing dominance of local politics in Watford Borough council
by the Liberal Democrats, including the election of a Liberal Democrat Mayor, led to speculation that Ward would find re-election extremely difficult. Ward even accused staff from the council of harassment during the 2005 general election
campaign. However, she managed to hold off a strong Liberal Democrat challenge from Sal Brinton
; despite a 12% swing against her, Ward held the seat with a majority of 1,148 votes, approximately 2.3% of the electorate. The Conservative candidate was narrowly forced into third place with 793 fewer votes than Brinton, making Watford a three way marginal seat.
Upon her re-election in May 2005, Ward was appointed an Assistant Government Whip
before being promoted to full Whip, as a Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury, on 5 May 2006. She was promoted again in October 2008 to Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
, the lowest of the senior Whips. At the June 2009 Cabinet reshuffle, she replaced Shahid Malik
as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Justice.
She claimed over £90,000 in second home allowance between 2004 and 2009, despite living less than 30 miles from Westminster. Upon publication of MP's expenses in 2009, Ward defended her choice to fund a second home in Westminster from her parliamentary allowance, citing her need to balance her public duties with her duties as a mother of small children. Ward was one of 98 MPs who voted in favour of legislation which would have kept MPs expense details secret.
She lost her seat at the 2010 general election when she finished third in the election in Watford with 14,750 votes, behind the Conservative Party candidate Richard Harrington (19,291 votes) and the Liberal Democrat
Sal Brinton (17,866 votes).
In her period as a backbench MP
, Ward made speeches about age discrimination, secondary school
admissions, against electoral reform
, the European Union
, Eurostar
, transport safety, in favour of lowering the voting age
,
the Millennium Dome
, pensions, Football hooliganism
, defence procurement, the economy
, education
, broadcasting
regulation, Religious schools, chocolate
production, home safety, female prisoners, the National Lottery
, licencing laws
, tree management
by Network Rail
, school closures in Leavesden, asylum seekers, Normandy Landings, and fox hunting
.
According to the TheyWorkForYou
website, Ward asked many Parliamentary questions about the Croxley Rail Link
, VAT
, the Middle East
, Anti-Social Behaviour Order
s and the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service
.
How Claire Ward voted on key issues (They Work For You):
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
. She served as the Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for the constituency of Watford
Watford (UK Parliament constituency)
Watford is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
from 1997
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
to 2010, and was a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Ministry of Justice from 2009 to 2010.
Early life and career
Ward was born in North ShieldsNorth Shields
North Shields is a town on the north bank of the River Tyne, in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in North East England...
, Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
, the daughter of Frank and Cathy Ward. Both her parents were Labour Party councillors and her father stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate for Hertsmere
Hertsmere (UK Parliament constituency)
-Elections in the 2000s:-Elections in the 1990s:- Notes and references :...
in the 1987 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1987
The United Kingdom general election of 1987 was held on 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the British House of Commons. The election was the third consecutive election victory for the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the 2nd...
. She was brought up in Elstree
Elstree
Elstree is a village in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire on the A5 road, about 10 miles north of London. In 2001, its population was 4,765, and forms part of the civil parish of Elstree and Borehamwood, originally known simply as Elstree....
, Borehamwood
Borehamwood
-Film industry:Since the 1920s, the town has been home to several film studios and many shots of its streets are included in final cuts of 20th century British films. This earned it the nickname of the "British Hollywood"...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, where she attended the Loreto College
Loreto College, St.Albans
Loreto College is an 11–18 voluntary aided comprehensive Roman Catholic school for girls located near the centre of St Albans, Hertfordshire, which achieved Specialist Status in the Humanities in 2005....
, an all-girls Roman Catholic school in St Albans
St Albans
St Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...
, and studied at the newly-created University of Hertfordshire
University of Hertfordshire
The University of Hertfordshire is a new university based largely in Hatfield, in the county of Hertfordshire, England, from which the university takes its name. It has more than 27,500 students, over 2500 staff, with a turnover of over £181m...
(Hatfield Polytechnic until 1992) where she earned an LLB
Bachelor of Laws
The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...
in Law in 1993. She then did an MA
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
in Britain and the European Union at Brunel University
Brunel University
Brunel University is a public research university located in Uxbridge, London, United Kingdom. The university is named after the Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel....
, before qualifying as a solicitor
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
at the College of Law
The College of Law
The College of Law of England and Wales is a private educational institution in England and a registered charity which provides legal education for students and professionals.-20th century:...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. From 1995-98, she was a trainee solicitor.
Ward joined the Labour Party, the Co-operative Party
Co-operative Party
The Co-operative Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom committed to supporting and representing co-operative principles. The party does not put up separate candidates for any UK election itself. Instead, Co-operative candidates stand jointly with the Labour Party as "Labour...
and the Transport and General Workers' Union
Transport and General Workers' Union
The Transport and General Workers' Union, also known as the TGWU and the T&G, was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland - where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union - with 900,000 members...
at the age of 15, becoming an active member of Young Labour
Young Labour
Young Labour can refer to three youth organizations of Labour Parties.*Young Labour , youth wing of the Labour Party*Young Labour , youth wing of the New Zealand Labour Party...
. In 1990 she won the South East TUC Mike Perkins Memorial Award for Young Trade Unionists before being elected as the Youth Representative on Labour's National Executive Committee
National Executive Committee
The National Executive Committee or NEC is the chief administrative body of the UK Labour Party. Its composition has changed over the years, and includes representatives of affiliated trade unions, the Parliamentary Labour Party and European Parliamentary Labour Party, Constituency Labour Parties,...
(NEC) the following year.
She was elected as a Councillor on Elstree and Borehamwood Town Council in 1994, where she served as Mayor from 1996-97. She stepped down from the Labour Party NEC in 1995 upon her selection as the party's candidate for Watford.
Parliamentary career
Ward was elected to Parliament in 1997, succeeding the former Conservative PartyConservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Deputy Chief Whip
Chief Whip
The Chief Whip is a political office in some legislatures assigned to an elected member whose task is to administer the whipping system that ensures that members of the party attend and vote as the party leadership desires.-The Whips Office:...
Tristan Garel-Jones
Tristan Garel-Jones
William Armand Thomas Tristan Garel-Jones, Baron Garel-Jones, PC is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as the Member of Parliament for Watford from 1979–97, before being made a life peer in 1997....
who retired, and defeating Conservative candidate Robert Gordon by 5,792 votes, thereby becoming MP for Watford. Her election was notable in that she was aged 24, although she was not quite the youngest MP
Baby of the House
Baby of the House is the unofficial title given to the youngest member of a parliamentary house. The term is most often applied to members of the British parliament.-Australia:In Australia the term is rarely used...
, being 50 days older than Chris Leslie, the new MP for Shipley
Shipley (UK Parliament constituency)
-Elections in the 2000s:-Elections in the 1990s:-Elections in the 1980s:-Elections in the 1970s:-Elections in the 1910s:...
.
After her election, Ward became a member of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee. From 2000 to 2002, she was the Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary
All-Party Parliamentary Group
An all-party parliamentary group is a grouping in the UK parliament that is composed of politicians from all political parties.-All-party parliamentary groups:...
Chocolate and Confectionery Industry Group. In the 2001 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2001
The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...
she retained her seat by 5,555 votes and was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary
Parliamentary Private Secretary
A Parliamentary Private Secretary is a role given to a United Kingdom Member of Parliament by a senior minister in government or shadow minister to act as their contact for the House of Commons; this role is junior to that of Parliamentary Under-Secretary, which is a ministerial post, salaried by...
to John Hutton
John Hutton (Labour MP)
John Matthew Patrick Hutton, Baron Hutton of Furness is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Barrow and Furness in Cumbria from 1992 to 2010, and has served in a number of Cabinet offices, including Defence Secretary and Business Secretary...
.
The increasing dominance of local politics in Watford Borough council
Watford
Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.Watford was created as an urban...
by the Liberal Democrats, including the election of a Liberal Democrat Mayor, led to speculation that Ward would find re-election extremely difficult. Ward even accused staff from the council of harassment during the 2005 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
campaign. However, she managed to hold off a strong Liberal Democrat challenge from Sal Brinton
Sal Brinton
Sarah Virginia Brinton, Baroness Brinton is a member of the British Liberal Democrats. She contested the Watford constituency at the 2005 and 2010 General Elections...
; despite a 12% swing against her, Ward held the seat with a majority of 1,148 votes, approximately 2.3% of the electorate. The Conservative candidate was narrowly forced into third place with 793 fewer votes than Brinton, making Watford a three way marginal seat.
Upon her re-election in May 2005, Ward was appointed an Assistant Government Whip
Whip (politics)
A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy...
before being promoted to full Whip, as a Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury, on 5 May 2006. She was promoted again in October 2008 to Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
The Vice-Chamberlain of the Household is usually a junior government whip in the British House of Commons and is an officer of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. He or she is the Deputy to the Lord Chamberlain of the Household. The Vice-Chamberlain's main role is to compile...
, the lowest of the senior Whips. At the June 2009 Cabinet reshuffle, she replaced Shahid Malik
Shahid Malik
Shahid Rafique Malik is a British Labour Party politician who became the Member of Parliament for Dewsbury in 2005 after defeating Conservative Sayeeda Warsi, now Conservative Chair Baroness Warsi and remained so till 2010 when Conservative candidate Simon Reevell won Dewsbury...
as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Justice.
She claimed over £90,000 in second home allowance between 2004 and 2009, despite living less than 30 miles from Westminster. Upon publication of MP's expenses in 2009, Ward defended her choice to fund a second home in Westminster from her parliamentary allowance, citing her need to balance her public duties with her duties as a mother of small children. Ward was one of 98 MPs who voted in favour of legislation which would have kept MPs expense details secret.
She lost her seat at the 2010 general election when she finished third in the election in Watford with 14,750 votes, behind the Conservative Party candidate Richard Harrington (19,291 votes) and the Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
Sal Brinton (17,866 votes).
Activity in Parliament
The Labour Party was in Government throughout Ward's time in Parliament. As of the end of 2009, Ward has rebelled against the Government's stated or majority position 19 times out of 2,629 votes she has attended, a rebelling rate of 0.72%. She has on occasion voted against her party line on changes to the schedule of the House of Commons, and the Government's position on reform of the House of Lords. In 2004, she voted with the Conservatives in favour of introducing a ban on the "reasonable chastisement" of children. In 2008, in a free vote, On a free vote, Ward voted against her party's majority position on abortion, where she unsuccessfully voted in several separate bills for a reduction in the time when an abortion can be carried out from 24 weeks.In her period as a backbench MP
Backbencher
In Westminster parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a Member of Parliament or a legislator who does not hold governmental office and is not a Front Bench spokesperson in the Opposition...
, Ward made speeches about age discrimination, secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
admissions, against electoral reform
Electoral reform
Electoral reform is change in electoral systems to improve how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of:...
, the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, Eurostar
Eurostar
Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between England and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel....
, transport safety, in favour of lowering the voting age
Voting age
A voting age is a minimum age established by law that a person must attain to be eligible to vote in a public election.The vast majority of countries in the world have established a voting age. Most governments consider that those of any age lower than the chosen threshold lack the necessary...
,
the Millennium Dome
Millennium Dome
The Millennium Dome, colloquially referred to simply as The Dome or even The O2 Arena, is the original name of a large dome-shaped building, originally used to house the Millennium Experience, a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millennium...
, pensions, Football hooliganism
Football hooliganism
Football hooliganism, sometimes referred to by the British media as the English Disease, is unruly and destructive behaviour—such as brawls, vandalism and intimidation—by association football club fans...
, defence procurement, the economy
Economy
An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...
, education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
, broadcasting
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
regulation, Religious schools, chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
production, home safety, female prisoners, the National Lottery
National Lottery (United Kingdom)
The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man.It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the then...
, licencing laws
Licensing laws of the United Kingdom
Licensing laws of the United Kingdom regulate the sale and consumption of alcohol, with separate legislation for England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland being passed, as necessary, by the UK parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly, and the Scottish Parliament respectively.Throughout the...
, tree management
Arboriculture
Arboriculture is the cultivation, management, and study of individual trees, shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody plants. It is both a practice and a science....
by Network Rail
Network Rail
Network Rail is the government-created owner and operator of most of the rail infrastructure in Great Britain .; it is not responsible for railway infrastructure in Northern Ireland...
, school closures in Leavesden, asylum seekers, Normandy Landings, and fox hunting
Fox hunting
Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase, and sometimes killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds, and a group of followers led by a master of foxhounds, who follow the hounds on foot or on horseback.Fox hunting originated in its current...
.
According to the TheyWorkForYou
TheyWorkForYou
TheyWorkForYou is a website run by mySociety, a project of registered charity UK Citizens Online Democracy, and is a tool for political campaigners and those interested in the Parliamentary activities of UK MPs, Lords, and Northern Ireland MLAs....
website, Ward asked many Parliamentary questions about the Croxley Rail Link
Croxley Rail Link
The Croxley Rail Link is a railway engineering proposal to re-route part of a London Underground line in Hertfordshire, outside London, UK. The project would divert Metropolitan line Watford branch services after station away from station to via intermediate stations using a reopened section of...
, VAT
Vat
Vat or VAT may refer to:* A type of container such as a barrel, storage tank, or tub, often constructed of welded sheet stainless steel, and used for holding, storing, and processing liquids such as milk, wine, and beer...
, the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, Anti-Social Behaviour Order
Anti-Social Behaviour Order
An Anti-Social Behaviour Order or ASBO is a civil order made against a person who has been shown, on the balance of evidence, to have engaged in anti-social behaviour. The orders, introduced in the United Kingdom by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998, were designed to correct minor incidents that...
s and the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service
Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service
The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service is a non-departmental public body for England and Wales set up to safeguard and promote the welfare of children involved in family court proceedings...
.
How Claire Ward voted on key issues (They Work For You):
- Voted for introducing a smoking ban.
- Voted for introducing ID cards.
- Voted for introducing foundation hospitals.
- Voted for introducing student top-up fees.
- Voted for Labour's anti-terrorism laws.
- Voted for the Iraq war.
- Voted against investigating the Iraq war.
- Voted for replacing Trident.
- Voted for the hunting ban.
- Voted for equal gay rights.