Christine Margaret Russell (''née'' Carr, born 25 March 1945) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Labour Party politician who was 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 the City of Chester from

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

to 2010. She lost her seat to the Conservative

Stephen Mosley Stephen James Mosley (born 22 June 1972) is a British Conservative Party politician and former Member of Parliament. He represented the City of Chester from 2010 to 2015. Education Stephen Mosley was educated at King Edward's School in Bir ...

at the 2010 general election.

Early life

Russell was born at

Holbeach Holbeach is a market town and civil parish in the South Holland District in Lincolnshire, England. The town lies from Spalding; from Boston; from King's Lynn; from Peterborough; and by road from Lincoln. It is on the junction of the ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

, a farmer's daughter from

South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...

. She was educated at the single-sex Spalding High School. She studied at the Polytechnic of North West London (became the

University of North London The University of North London (UNL) was a university in London, England, formed from the Polytechnic of North London (PNL) in 1992 when that institution was granted university status. PNL, in turn, had been formed by the amalgamation of the No ...

), then went to the London School of Librarianship. She gained the Professional Librarianship Qualification. She worked as a librarian for the Borough of Camden from 1967 to 1970, the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

from 1970 to 1971, and

Dunbartonshire Dunbartonshire ( gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann) or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders P ...

County Council from 1971 to 1973. From 1989 to 1994, she worked for some MEPs, then for

MIND The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for various m ...

from 1994 to 1997.

Parliamentary career

From 1992 to 1993, Russell served as Sheriff of Chester. She was one of three councillors for College Ward on

Chester City Council Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

, until she resigned after her victory at the 1997 general election. She was expected to be elected as Lord Mayor of Chester had she not been elected to parliament. At the 1997 general election in an

all-women shortlist All-women shortlists (AWS) is an affirmative action practice intended to increase the proportion of female Members of Parliament (MPs) in the United Kingdom, allowing only women to stand in particular constituencies for a particular political p ...

as the Labour candidate for City of Chester. She was elected as

in that election, unseating

Gyles Brandreth Gyles Daubeney Brandreth (born 8 March 1948) is an English broadcaster, writer and former politician. He has worked as a television presenter, theatre producer, journalist, author and publisher. He was a presenter for TV-am's '' Good Morning ...

. In Parliament she became

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

Beverley Hughes Beverley June Hughes, Baroness Hughes of Stretford (born 30 March 1950) is a British politician serving as Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, Hughes was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stretford an ...

. She had a majority of 915. Russell lost her seat in 2010 to the Conservative

Personal life

She married Dr James Russell in 1971 in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

. They have a son and daughter, and divorced in 1991.

References

External links

Chester Labour

* ttps://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/christine_russell/chester,_city_of TheyWorkForYou.com - Christine Russell MP*
BBC Politics page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Christine 1945 births Living people Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies People from Holbeach Councillors in Manchester Alumni of the University of North London 20th-century British women politicians 21st-century British women politicians 20th-century English women 20th-century English people 21st-century English women 21st-century English people Women councillors in England