Diana Mary Organ (née Pugh; born 21 February 1952) is a British Labour Party politician who served as

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 o ...

(MP) for

Forest of Dean The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and northwest, Herefordshire to ...

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 ...

to 2005.

Early life

Her father was Finance Controller of GKN. She went to the independent Edgbaston Church of England College for Girls in

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family a ...

, Birmingham (which became the co-ed St. Georges School, Birmingham in 1999). At (then all female) St Hugh's College, Oxford, she gained a BA in Geography in 1973. At the School of Education at the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

, she gained a PGCE in 1974. From

Bristol Polytechnic The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a public research university, located in and around Bristol, England. The institution was know as the Bristol Polytechnic in 1970; it received university status in 1992 and ...

in 1981, she gained a Diploma in Special Education. From 1974–77, she was an assistant special needs teacher. She was deputy head of St Germans primary school near

Saltash Saltash (Cornish: Essa) is a town and civil parish in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It had a population of 16,184 in 2011 census. Saltash faces the city of Plymouth over the River Tamar and is popularly known as "the Gateway to Corn ...

, Cornwall from 1977–9. From 1979–82, she was Head of a Special Needs Unit in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. She worked on supply in special schools in

from 1982–8. She was an assistant English teacher in Somerset from 1988–92. She worked as a political researcher for Oxfordshire County Council from 1992–5.

Parliamentary career

Organ contested West Gloucestershire at the 1992 general election, but was not successful. In 1995 she was again selected to stand for Labour, this time through an all-women shortlist. She was Labour Party

for the re-created seat of

from the 1997 election until she stepped down at the 2005 election, citing changing family circumstances. During her time in Parliament, she voted against the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

. During the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal, Organ was required to repay £15,964.01 in respect of falsely claimed expenses relating to mortgage interest payments.

Personal life

She married Richard in 1975. The couple have two daughters.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Organ, Diana Mary 1952 births Living people Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 Alumni of the University of Bath Alumni of the University of the West of England, Bristol Alumni of St Hugh's College, Oxford 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