Hazel Blears
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Hazel Anne Blears MP (born May 14, 1956) is a British politician and is the Labour Member of Parliament for Salford. She has been Chair of the Labour Party and Minister without Portfolio since May 5, 2006.
Hazel Blears was born in Salford in 1956, the daughter of a maintenance fitter, and was educated at The Wardley Grammar School in Swinton, The Eccles Sixth Form College; Trent Polytechnic; and the Chester College of Law, where she received a degree in law in 1977.
Hazel Blears started her career in Salford as a trainee solicitor with the City of Salford Council in 1978. After two years, she went into private practice for a year, before joining Rossendale Borough Council as a solicitor in 1981 and in the same year was elected as a Branch Secretary in NALGO. In 1983 she became a solicitor for the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan Council. In the following year, 1984 she was elected as a councillor to the Salford City Council and she served on the council until 1992.
At the 1997 general election she was chosen to contest her home town seat. Stan Orme, the local MP for over 30 years, retired with a Peerage. She was duly elected as the Labour MP for Salford.
After the election she became the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Minister of State at the Department of Health Alan Milburn until 1998. She spent ten months in 1999 as PPS to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury Andrew Smith. As a keen supporter of Tony Blair, after the 2001 General Election, Hazel Blears entered Tony Blair's government as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health, and she was promoted in 2003 as Minister of State at the Home Office and was responsible for policing and crime reduction. She was elected to the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party in 2003. After the 2005 General Election, on June 7, 2005 she became a Member of the Privy Council. In a cabinet reshuffle following Council Elections on May 5th 2006 she was promoted to Party Chairman replacing Ian McCartney.
She has been married to Michael Halsall since 1989 and is a keen supporter of the Lowry Centre.
[edit] External links
- Hazel Blears MP Official site
- Home Office - Hazel Blears MP Official biography
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Hazel Blears MP
- TheyWorkForYou.com - Hazel Blears MP
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Stan Orme |
Member of Parliament for Salford 1997 – present |
Incumbent |
| Political Offices | ||
| Preceded by: Ian McCartney |
Chairman of the Labour Party 2006 – present |
Incumbent |
| Preceded by: Ian McCartney |
Minister without Portfolio 2006 – present |
Incumbent |
Categories: 1956 births | Living people | Current British MPs | Members of the United Kingdom Parliament from English constituencies | Labour MPs (UK) | British female MPs | Councillors in North West England | Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom | People from Salford | Alumni of Nottingham Trent University | UK MPs 1997-2001 | UK MPs 2001-2005 | UK MPs 2005-
