Barbara Mary Keeley (born 26 March 1952) is a British
Labour Party politician who has served as the
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP) for
Worsley and Eccles South
Worsley and Eccles South is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The seat is currently held by Barbara Keeley MP of the Labour Party. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the ...
, previously
Worsley
Worsley () is a village in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, which in 2014 had a population of 10,090. It lies along Worsley Brook, west of Manchester.
Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county ...
, since
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
. A member of the
Labour Party, she has served as
Shadow Minister for Arts and Civil Society since 2022. She previously served as
Deputy Leader of the House of Commons
The leader of the House of Commons is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom whose main role is organising government business in the House of Commons. The leader is generally a member or attendee of the cabinet of th ...
from 2009 to 2010 and served in
Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...
’s
Shadow Cabinet as
Shadow Minister for Mental Health and Social Care from 2016 to 2020.
Early life
Keeley was educated at
Mount St Mary's College
Mount St Mary's College is an independent, co-educational, day and boarding school situated at Spinkhill, Derbyshire, England. It was founded in 1842 by the Society of Jesus (better known as the Jesuits), and has buildings designed by notable ar ...
in
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
and the
University of Salford
, caption = Coat of ArmsUniversity of Salford
, mottoeng = "Let us seek higher things"
, established = 1850 - Pendleton Mechanics Institute 1896 – Royal Technical Institute, Salford 1967 – gained ...
, gaining a
BA in Politics and Contemporary History.
Her early career was with
IBM, first as a Systems Engineer and then as a Field Systems Engineering Manager. Later she became an independent consultant, working on community regeneration issues across
North West England
North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...
.
She was elected as a Labour councillor on
Trafford Council
Trafford Council is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford in Greater Manchester, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of ten in Greater Manchester and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, and pr ...
in 1995 on which Keeley served as a member for
Priory
A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of mon ...
ward until 2004. She was Cabinet member for Children and Young People, Early Years and Childcare and Health and Wellbeing. From 2002 to 2004, she was Cabinet member for Education, Children's Social Services and all services for children and young people and Director of a
Pathfinder Children's Trust. She is a member of the
GMB Union
The GMB is a general trade union in the United Kingdom which has more than 460,000 members. Its members work in nearly all industrial sectors, in retail, security, schools, distribution, the utilities, social care, the National Health Service (N ...
, the
Co-operative Party
The Co-operative Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom, supporting co-operative values and principles. Established in 1917, the Co-operative Party was founded by co-operative societies to campaign politically for the fair ...
and the
Fabian Society
The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. The Fa ...
.
From 2002 to 2005, she worked as a consultant to the charity, the
Princess Royal
Princess Royal is a substantive title, style customarily (but not automatically) awarded by a United Kingdom, British monarch to their eldest daughter. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of th ...
Trust for Carers, researching carers' issues — particularly those related to primary health care. She is co-author of the reports ''Carers Speak Out'' and ''Primary Carers''.
Parliamentary career
In the House of Commons, Keeley served as a member of the Constitutional Affairs
Select committee Select committee may refer to:
*Select committee (parliamentary system), a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues
*Select or special committee (United States Congress)
*Select ...
and from February 2006, the Finance and Services Committee. On 8 February 2006, she was appointed as
Parliamentary Private Secretary
A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...
(PPS) to the
Cabinet Office
The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government objecti ...
, working with the Cabinet Office Minister,
Jim Murphy
James Francis Murphy (born 23 August 1967) is a Scottish former politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2014 to 2015 and Secretary of State for Scotland from 2008 to 2010. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for East Ren ...
MP. In June 2006, she moved to be PPS to Jim Murphy as Minister of State at the
Department for Work and Pensions
, type = Department
, seal =
, logo = Department for Work and Pensions logo.svg
, logo_width = 166px
, formed =
, preceding1 =
, jurisdiction = Government of the United Kingdom
, headquarters = Caxton House7th Floor6–12 Tothill Stree ...
.
On 16 December 2006, she won the nomination to be the Labour Party candidate for the constituency of
Worsley and Eccles South
Worsley and Eccles South is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The seat is currently held by Barbara Keeley MP of the Labour Party. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the ...
, following boundary changes affecting
Worsley
Worsley () is a village in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, which in 2014 had a population of 10,090. It lies along Worsley Brook, west of Manchester.
Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county ...
.
In 2007, she served as the Parliamentary Champion for Carers Week (11 – 17 June). She introduced a
Private Members Bill
A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...
— The Carers (Identification and Support) Bill — into the House of Commons on 24 April that year. The Bill would have required health bodies to identify patients who are carers or who have a carer and would make provision in relation to the responsibilities of local authorities and schools for the needs of young carers.
In June 2007, Keeley was appointed as PPS to
Harriet Harman
Harriet Ruth Harman (born 30 July 1950) is a British politician and solicitor who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Camberwell and Peckham, formerly Peckham, since 1982. A member of the Labour Party, she has served in various Cabi ...
as Secretary of State for Women and Equality and appointed by
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...
to chair the Labour Party's manifesto group on Social Care. In October 2008 she became an Assistant Government Whip, and in June 2009 was promoted to Deputy Leader of the House of Commons. In June 2010, she was appointed as a member of the Shadow Health Team and as the Shadow Deputy Leader of the House.
She stood in the
2010 Shadow Cabinet elections, coming 23rd. She was shadow minister for the
Department of Communities and Local Government
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), formerly the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for housing, communities, local government in ...
until October 2011.
Keeley endorsed
Andy Burnham
Andrew Murray Burnham (born 7 January 1970) is a British politician who has served as Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017. He served in Gordon Brown's Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2007 to 2008, Culture Secretary from 2008 ...
in the
2015 Labour Party leadership election, which was subsequently won by
Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...
, who appointed her in September 2015 as Shadow Minister for Older People, Social Care and Carers.
In June 2016, Keeley was among the dozens of shadow ministers who resigned from Corbyn's frontbench team following the
EU referendum
This is a list of referendums related to the European Union, or referendums related to the European Communities, which were predecessors of the European Union. Since 1972, a total of 48 referendums have been held by EU member states, candidate st ...
. She subsequently supported
Owen Smith
Owen Smith (born 2 May 1970) is a former Labour Party politician and subsequently a British lobbyist, who has been the UK government relations director for pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb since 2020. Smith was Member of Parliamen ...
in the
2016 Labour Party leadership election. Following Corbyn's re-election as Labour leader in October 2016, Keeley was appointed to the
Shadow Cabinet as
Shadow Minister for Mental Health and Social Care.
Following Labour's defeat in the
2019 general election, Keeley endorsed
Keir Starmer
Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (; born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and barrister who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras ...
and
Angela Rayner
Angela Rayner (' Bowen; born 28 March 1980) is a British politician serving as Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Shadow Secretary of State for the Future of Work since 2021. She has been Shad ...
in the
2020 Labour Party leadership and
deputy leadership elections. When Starmer was elected Labour leader in April 2020, Keeley left the Shadow Cabinet and returned to the backbenches.
Keeley rejoined the frontbench in March 2022 when she was appointed
Shadow Minister for Arts and Civil Society, replacing
Rachael Maskell
Rachael Helen Maskell (born 5 July 1972) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for York Central since 2015. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, she was Shadow Environment Secretary from 2016 to 2017 and Sh ...
, who resigned 3 months prior following her opposition to mandatory
COVID-19 vaccinations
A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19).
Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an es ...
for NHS staff.
Views
In 2018, Keeley expressed concerned about a fall in the number of psychiatrists treating children and young people in England.
In November 2018, Keeley criticised poor standards of care in many private care homes after an investigation by ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' found that elderly residents were being neglected. She stated, "This investigation has exposed the appalling standards of care being provided by some of the largest providers of outsourced residential care which has left large numbers of vulnerable people in need of care suffering terrible indignity and neglect."
In December 2018, Keeley expressed concern about care workers having their wages docked when they are sick. She said: "Good care quality depends on workers with good terms and conditions, but in hollowing out our social care system through relentless cuts to council budgets, this government has empowered irresponsible providers that are driving down workers’ conditions and at the same time damaging the quality of care."
Personal life
She is married to Colin Huggett.
References
External links
*
Barbara Keeleyon
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
Barbara Keeleyon
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
*
Meet the MPBBC Politics
*
, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keeley, Barbara
1952 births
Living people
Alumni of the University of Salford
Computer systems engineers
Councillors in Greater Manchester
Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Greater Manchester
Politicians from Leeds
Social Democratic Party (UK) politicians
UK MPs 2005–2010
UK MPs 2010–2015
UK MPs 2015–2017
UK MPs 2017–2019
UK MPs 2019–present
21st-century British women politicians
People educated at Mount St Mary's Catholic High School, Leeds
21st-century English women
21st-century English people
Women councillors in England