Helen Rosemary Clark (''née'' Dyche; born 23 December 1954) is an English politician.Dod's parliamentary companion
/ref> She was the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

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 ...

for the Peterborough constituency 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 ...

until the 2005 general election, when she lost her seat to

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

Stewart Jackson Stewart James Jackson, Baron Jackson of Peterborough (born 31 January 1965) is a British politician and adviser. Jackson served as a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Peterborough from 2005 to 2017. After being ousted by Labour's Fio ...

. She was elected to Parliament under the name Helen Brinton.

Early life

Clark was born in

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

. She went to Spondon Park Grammar School (became Spondon School in 1971 when merged with Spondon House School, and became West Park Community School in 1989) in

Spondon Spondon is a ward of the city of Derby. Originally a small village, Spondon dates back to the Domesday Book and it became heavily industrialised in the 19th and early 20th centuries, with companies such as British Celanese. History The n ...

. Clark was educated at the

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

gaining a Hons 2/1 in English Literature, then an MA in Medieval Literature and a PGCE. She worked as a teacher for several years as an assistant English teacher at Katherine Lady Berkeley Comprehensive in

Wotton-under-Edge Wotton-under-Edge is a market town within the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, England. Located near the southern fringe of the Cotswolds, the Cotswold Way long-distance footpath passes through the town. Standing on the B4058, Wotton is ab ...

from 1979–82, then Deputy Head of English at

Harrogate Ladies' College Harrogate Ladies' College is an independent boarding and day school located in the town of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. Founded as a girls' senior school in 1893, the college includes Highfield Prep School and educates girls from ages 2 ...

from 1983–88. She was a lecturer at North Thanet FIE College from 1992–93, then an English teacher and Head of Year 8 at the

Rochester Grammar School for Girls Rochester Grammar School (known as Rochester Grammar School for Girls until 2006) often abbreviated to RGS is a grammar school for the education of girls between the ages of 11 and 18. It has academy status. It is now known as just "Rochester Gr ...

from 1993 until her election in 1997. From 1985–87 she worked as an Examiner, Assessor, Moderator and Team Leader in English Literature for the Northern, Southern, London and Cambridge Examination Boards.

Parliamentary career

Clark had previously stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate for

Faversham Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British t ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

in the 1992 general election. For the subsequent 1997 general election she was selected, from 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

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

. She was elected to parliament with a majority of 7,323, defeating; two future

Members of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Commu ...

;

Jacqueline Foster Jacqueline Foster, Baroness Foster of Oxton, (''née'' Renshaw) is a British Conservative politician and a former Member of the European Parliament for the North West England region. In October 2019 she was appointed Dame Commander of the Mos ...

and

David Howarth David Ross Howarth (born 10 November 1958) is a British academic and politician who was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Cambridge from 2005–10. He served as an Electoral Commissioner between 2010 and 2018. He is Professor of L ...

. Whilst in Parliament, Clark had an interest in wildlife issues and was a leading Labour voice in opposition to violent animal rights protests. She was a member of the

Environmental Audit Select Committee The Environmental Audit Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine how government departments' policies and programmes will affect both the envir ...

and Broadcasting Select Committees; completed the NCVO parliamentary scheme with secondments to ASBAH and MIND and founded the All Party Wildlife Group. The Bill committees she sat on included Finance Bill, Water Bill and Countryside & Rights of Way Bill. Early on in her parliamentary career, Clark was considered loyal to her party leaders, but later opposed the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

. She was defeated for re-election in the 2005 general election by

candidate

. Three days after her defeat, she resigned from the Labour Party. In a letter to Labour Leader

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

, she was critical of policies such as

top-up fees Tuition fees were first introduced across the entire United Kingdom in September 1998 under the Premiership of Tony Blair, Labour government of Tony Blair to fund tuition for undergraduate and postgraduate certificate students at universities; s ...

and the

. Clark suggested that were

Kenneth Clarke Kenneth Harry Clarke, Baron Clarke of Nottingham, (born 2 July 1940), often known as Ken Clarke, is a British politician who served as Home Secretary from 1992 to 1993 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1993 to 1997 as well as serving as de ...

to win the

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

leadership she might be tempted to switch sides. However, it was subsequently reported she had not joined the Conservative Party, and did not intend to. She re-joined the Labour Party in 2010 and is a member of

UNISON In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm. Definition Unison or per ...

After parliament

In April 2007, Clark was interviewed by ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

''. This was for an article about the female Labour MP's elected in the 1997 general election, known as Blair's Babes. She criticised the treatment of newly elected MPs by the

Parliamentary Labour Party In UK politics, the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is the parliamentary group of the Labour Party in Parliament, i.e. Labour MPs as a collective body. Commentators on the British Constitution sometimes draw a distinction between the Labour P ...

. Since 2005 she has worked as Head of Policy & Campaigns for the Multiple Sclerosis Society; Interim Climate Change Advisor for the

Association of British Insurers The Association of British Insurers or ABI is a trade association made up of insurance companies in the United Kingdom. History The ABI began in 1985 after several specialised insurance industry trade associations joined to form one trade associa ...

; Associate Consultant for the

National Youth Agency The National Youth Agency (NYA) is an educational charity in England and Wales that works in partnership with a wide range of public, private and voluntary sector organizations to support and improve services for young people. The NYA's particul ...

and Assessor for the OCR examination board in addition to writing. Clark campaigns of availability of

Alzheimers Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As t ...

Drugs on the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Assessors. Clark was involved in an incident in 2008 when video footage of her complaining to bar staff about their refusal to serve her was posted on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. After Clark threatened legal action over the availability of the video, she was charged with

public order offence In criminology, public-order crime is defined by Siegel (2004) as "crime which involves acts that interfere with the operations of society and the ability of people to function efficiently", i.e., it is behaviour that has been labelled criminal ...

s. Clark was found guilty of using threatening words and behaviour. However, the conviction was quashed upon appeal.

Personal life

She married Alan Clark, a political journalist with

Meridian television ITV Meridian (previously Meridian Broadcasting) is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station was launched at 12:00 am on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadcaster Television South, and is owned ...

, in August 2001. Clark has two children from her previous marriage.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Helen 1954 births Living people Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Brinton, Helen UK MPs 2001–2005 Alumni of the University of Bristol Politicians from Derby People from Peterborough 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 British schoolteachers