Eleanor Claire Reeves (born 11 December 1980) is a British politician who has 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 of ...

(MP) for

Lewisham West and Penge Lewisham West and Penge is a constituency in Greater London created in 2010 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Ellie Reeves of the Labour Party. History Following the adoption of the Boundary Commissi ...

since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she was Shadow Solicitor General for England and Wales from April 2020 to December 2021. She has been Shadow Minister for Prisons and Probation since 2021.

Early life and career

Ellie Reeves was born in

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...

, the daughter of teachers, Graham and Sally Reeves, and the sister of fellow Labour MP,

Rachel Reeves Rachel Jane Reeves (born 13 February 1979) is a British politician and economist serving as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer since 2021. A member of the Labour Party, she has been Member of Parliament for Leeds West since 2010. Born in Lewis ...

. Reeves grew up in

Sydenham Sydenham may refer to: Places Australia * Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Sydenham railway station, Sydney * Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne ** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne ...

and was educated at Adamsrill Primary School and Cator Park Secondary School. She has a bachelor's degree in law from

St Catherine's College, Oxford St Catherine's College (colloquially called St Catz or Catz) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford and is the newest college admitting both undergraduate and graduate students. Tracing its roots back to 1868 (although th ...

. Before entering Parliament, Reeves worked as an employment law barrister representing trade unions.

Political career

Reeves joined the Labour Party at 15, chaired the

Oxford University Labour Club Oxford University Labour Club (OULC) was founded in 1919 to promote democratic socialism and is today the home of the Labour Party and of social democracy at Oxford University. OULC is the largest and oldest university Labour club in the count ...

in 2001 and was National Chair of

Labour Students Labour Students is a student organisation within the Labour Party of the United Kingdom. It is a network of affiliated college and university clubs, known as Labour Clubs, who campaign in their campuses and communities for Labour's values of e ...

from 2002 to 2003. In 2006, she was first elected as a constituency party representative on Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC), supported by

Progress Progress is the movement towards a refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. In the context of progressivism, it refers to the proposition that advancements in technology, science, and social organization have resulted, and by extension wi ...

and

Labour First Labour First is a British political organisation associated with the Labour Party. It was originally founded in 1980 but refounded in 1988. Born out of the political right wing of the Labour Party's struggles with its left wing, it sees itself as ...

. Reeves was returned to the governing body in subsequent elections, and served as Vice-Chair from 2015 to 2016, until she was defeated by

Momentum In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. If is an object's mass an ...

in 2016. She later served as vice-chair of the

London Labour Party London Labour is the devolved, regional part of the Labour Party in Greater London. It is the largest political party in London, currently holding a majority of the executive mayoralties, a majority of local councils, council seats and parli ...

. Reeves was selected as the Labour candidate for

in April 2017, chosen over left-wing Momentum activists.

Parliamentary career

Reeves was elected for the Labour-held seat of Lewisham West and Penge at the 2017 general election, almost doubling the party's majority. She was appointed to the opposition front bench 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 ...

Kate Osamor Ofunne Kate Osamor (; born 15 August 1968) is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Edmonton since 2015. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, she was Shadow Secretary of State for International Developm ...

Shadow International Development Secretary The shadow cabinet minister for international development is the lead spokesperson for the United Kingdom's Official Opposition on issues related to international aid, most notably to the third world. The shadow cabinet minister holds the Minist ...

, in March 2018. On 13 June 2018, Reeves and five other MPs resigned as frontbenchers to vote in favour of remaining in the single market, defying the party whip. After signing a letter criticising the decision to re-admit Chris Williamson into Labour, a heavily pregnant Reeves was threatened with deselection by a party member in July 2019. Following backlash, Party Leader

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 ...

wrote that pregnant MPs wouldn't face deselection and the member withdrew their plans to challenge her. On 9 April 2020, Reeves was re-appointed to the opposition front bench as Shadow Solicitor General for England and Wales. She served as Labour's political lead for the 2021 Old Bexley and Sidcup by-election, in which there was a 7.4% increase in the party's vote share and 10.2% swing from the Conservatives to Labour, however the Conservatives held the seat with a 20.6% majority.

Personal life

She is married to

John Cryer John Robert Cryer (born 11 April 1964) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leyton and Wanstead since the general election in May 2010. He was previously MP for Hornchurch from 1997 until his d ...

MP, Parliamentary Labour Party Chair. She had a son with Cryer in 2015, and another in late 2019.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Reeves, Ellie 1980 births Living people Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present British women lawyers Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Labour lawyers People from Lewisham 21st-century British lawyers 21st-century British women politicians Alumni of University College, Oxford 21st-century women lawyers 21st-century English women 21st-century English people