Christina Rees (born 21 February 1954) is a Member of Parliament who served as

Shadow Secretary of State for Wales The Shadow Secretary of State for Wales or Shadow Welsh Secretary is a member of the UK Shadow Cabinet responsible for the scrutiny of the Secretary of State for Wales and his/her department, the Wales Office , agency_type = Ministerial ...

in the

Shadow Cabinet of Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Corbyn assumed the position of Leader of the Opposition after being elected as leader of the Labour Party on 12 September 2015; the election was triggered by Ed Miliband's resignation following the Labour Party's electoral defeat at th ...

from 2017 to 2020. She has been MP for

Neath Neath (; cy, Castell-nedd) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a po ...

since 2015. Rees was elected as a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

Labour Co-operative Party Labour and Co-operative Party (often abbreviated Labour Co-op; cy, Llafur a'r Blaid Gydweithredol) is a description used by candidates in United Kingdom elections who stand on behalf of both the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party. Candidat ...

MP, but was suspended from the party on 13 October 2022 due to allegations of bullying.

Early life

Rees was born in the village of

Kenfig Hill Kenfig Hill ( cy, Mynydd Cynffig) is a village in Bridgend County Borough, South Wales. It is bordered by Pyle to the south-west, Cefn Cribwr to the north-east, North Cornelly to the south and Moel Ton-Mawr mountain to the north. The nearest tr ...

in south Wales. Her father died when she was a young teenager and she was brought up by her mother. Rees became head girl of Cynffig Comprehensive School and excelled at a number of sports. Speaking as an adult, she stated: "I was very shy when I was a child and was bullied, so my mother sent me to judo classes to strengthen me up. I got a black belt first dan when I was 13." Rees represented Wales Schools at

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

, and

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

. Rees was also a member of the Great Britain Youth Team that competed at the

Munich Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

. Rees was most successful at

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

, a sport for which she has represented

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

over 100 times.

Career

Rees is a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

. Rees stood as the Labour candidate for Arfon in the

National Assembly for Wales The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English language, English and () in Welsh language, Welsh, is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes ...

elections in May 2011, and was placed fourth on Labour's Wales-wide list for the 2014 European Elections. Rees became MP for

following the UK general election of 2015. Rees was appointed Shadow Minister for Courts and Legal Aid in January 2016, but quit her position during the mass resignation of Shadow ministers 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 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 (UK) leadership election The 2016 Labour Party leadership election was called when a challenge to Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party arose following criticism of his approach to the Remain campaign in the referendum on membership of the European Union and q ...

. She later became one of 33 Labour MPs to return to the front bench, taking the Courts and Legal Aid portfolio once again. In February 2017, she was appointed to the position of

. Rees was re-elected at the

2019 United Kingdom general election The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 12 December 2019. It resulted in the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party receiving a Landslide victory, landslide majority of 80 seats. The Conservatives made a net gain of 4 ...

but with a majority half of that she had in 2017. In the 2020 Labour Party leadership election, Rees 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 ...

for

Labour Leader The ''Labour Leader'' was a British socialist newspaper published for almost one hundred years. It was later renamed ''New Leader'' and ''Socialist Leader'', before finally taking the name ''Labour Leader'' again. 19th century The origins of the ...

. She also endorsed

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 ...

for deputy leader. In April 2020, Rees announced that she would not be returning to the Official Opposition frontbench under

. Rees was replaced in the new Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Welsh Secretary by

Nia Griffith Dame Nia Rhiannon Griffith (born 4 December 1956) is a Welsh politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Llanelli since 2005. A member of the Labour Party, she has been a Shadow Minister for International Trade since 2021. Grif ...

. Rees was suspended from Labour on 13 October 2022, following allegations of bullying. She sits as an independent MP.

Personal life

Rees was married to fellow Welsh politician and former

Secretary of State for Wales The secretary of state for Wales ( cy, ysgrifennydd gwladol Cymru), also referred to as the Welsh secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Wales Office. The incumbent is a member ...

, Ron Davies. The couple divorced in 1999 and have one daughter. Rees is a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Di ...

References

External links

* * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rees, Christina 1954 births Living people Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Welsh constituencies Labour Co-operative MPs for Welsh constituencies UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present Welsh Labour councillors 21st-century British women politicians People from Bridgend People from Neath Welsh barristers Welsh female athletes British female athletes Women councillors in Wales Politicians affected by a party expulsion process Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom