Helen Mary Southworth (born 13 November 1956) is a former Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom who is the Chief Executive of Age Concern Isle of Man. She is the former Member of Parliament (MP) for Warrington South, and was first elected at the 1997 general election. She retained the Warrington South seat at the 2001 and 2005 general elections, each time with a reduced majority. On 15 June 2009, she announced that she would be retiring at the next general election. The seat that she vacated was subsequently won for the Conservative Party by

David Mowat David John Mowat (born 20 February 1957) is a former Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Warrington South, and was first elected at the 2010 general election. He was appointed as Pa ...

. She was the only person to have won successive elections in the constituency until Mowat retained the seat at the 2015 general election with an increased majority.

Early life

Born in Preston, Southworth was educated at the former Larkhill Convent Grammar School (now called Cardinal Newman College, a

sixth form college A sixth form college is an educational institution, where students aged 16 to 19 typically study for advanced school-level qualifications, such as A Levels, Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) and the International Baccalaureate Di ...

) on Larkhill Road in Frenchwood, Preston. In 1978, she graduated with a BA in English literature from Lancaster University. Before entering Parliament, Southworth was a councillor on St Helens Borough Council, on which she became chairperson of the Leisure Committee. She unsuccessfully contested the

Wirral South Wirral South is a constituency in Merseyside, England represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Alison McGovern of the Labour Party since 2010. Constituency profile Wirral South covers the central part of the Wirral peninsu ...

constituency at the 1992 general election. Southworth was a Director at

Age Concern Age Concern is the banner title used by a number of charitable organizations ( NGOs) specifically concerned with the needs and interests of all older people (defined as those over the age of 50) based chiefly in the four countries of the United Kin ...

in St Helens.

Parliamentary career

Southworth served as a member of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

select committees Select or SELECT may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Select'' (album), an album by Kim Wilde * ''Select'' (magazine), a British music magazine * ''MTV Select'', a television program * ''Select Live'', New Zealand's C4 music program ...

on Trade and Industry (1998–2001) and Procedure (1997–1999). She was Parliamentary Private Secretary to

Paul Boateng Paul Yaw Boateng, Baron Boateng (born 14 June 1951) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brent South from 1987 to 2005, becoming the UK's first Black Cabinet Minister in May 2002, when he was appoi ...

, the former

Chief Secretary to the Treasury The chief secretary to the Treasury is a ministerial office in the government of the United Kingdom. The office is the second most senior in the Treasury, after the chancellor of the Exchequer. The office was created in 1961, to share the burde ...

, from 2001 to 2005. In 2005 she was appointed a member of the

Culture, Media and Sport select committee The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, formerly the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, is one of the select committees of the British House of Commons, established in 1997. It oversees the operations of the Department for ...

, which scrutinised the implementation of the

London 2012 Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. She has served as a

non-executive director A non-executive director (abbreviated to non-exec, NED or NXD), independent director or external director is a member of the board of directors of a corporation, such as a company, cooperative or non-government organization, but not a member of th ...

on a number of bodies, including the charity

, Grosvenor

Housing association In Ireland and the United Kingdom, housing associations are private, Non-profit organization, non-profit making organisations that provide low-cost "Public housing in the United Kingdom, social housing" for people in need of a home. Any budge ...

and

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wi ...

and Knowsley

Health Authority Between 1996 and 2002 the English National Health Service was organised under the following health authorities. In 2002 the health authorities were reorganised and their boundaries changed to constitute 28 strategic health authorities, which were ...

. At Dods Women in Public Life Awards in 2008 Southworth was named MP of the year for her work involving missing and runaway children. On 16 June 2009, Southworth announced her intention to stand down at the next general election, citing her desire to spend more time with her family.

Isle of Man

After completing her term as an MP, Southworth moved with her husband to the Isle of Man. In 2014 she became CEO of Age Isle of Man having previously been CEO of

in St Helens for thirteen years before she stepped down in 2010.

Personal life

She is the sister of science writer Gabrielle Walker, well known for her radio shows on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

and also her Antarctic studies. She married Edmund Southworth, who graduated from Lancaster University in 1977 where he studied Archaeology. Her husband has been on the North West Committee of the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

and was the County Museums Officer for Lancashire County Council from 2001. He became Director of

Manx National Heritage Manx National Heritage ( gv, Eiraght Ashoonagh Vannin) is the national heritage organisation for the Isle of Man. The organisation manages a significant proportion of the island’s physical heritage assets including over 3,000 acres of coastlin ...

in 2009 and retired in 2021.

References

External links

Helen Southworth official website

The Labour Party – Helen Southworth MP official biography

* ttps://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/helen_southworth/warrington_south TheyWorkForYou.com – Helen Southworth MP
BBC 1997 General Election – candidate biography

BBC Politics page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Southworth, Helen 1956 births Living people Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Politicians from Preston, Lancashire Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Alumni of Lancaster University Alumni of Lonsdale College, Lancaster UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 British disability rights activists 20th-century English women politicians 20th-century English politicians 21st-century English women politicians 21st-century English politicians