Janet Elizabeth Ann Dean (''
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
'' Gibson; born 28 January 1949) 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
Burton 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
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
.
Early life
Born Janet Gibson in
Crewe
Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...
, she was educated at the Verdin Grammar School in
Winsford
Winsford is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the River Weaver south of Northwich and west of Middlewich. It grew around the salt mining industry ...
.
On leaving school in 1965 she became a clerk at
Barclays Bank
Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services.
Barclays traces ...
, before moving to
Bass Charrington in 1969.
Politics
She was elected as a councillor to the
Staffordshire County Council
Staffordshire County Council is the top-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Staffordshire, England.
62 councillors sit on Staffordshire County Council. Staffordshire operates a cabinet-style council
In England, local auth ...
in 1981 and to the
East Staffordshire District Council
East Staffordshire is a local government district with borough status in Staffordshire in England. It has two main towns: Burton upon Trent and Uttoxeter.
Villages in the area include Abbots Bromley, Stretton, Tutbury, Barton-under-Needwoo ...
in 1991, becoming its mayor in 1996. She was also elected to the
Uttoxeter
Uttoxeter ( , ) is a market town in the East Staffordshire district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is near to the Derbyshire county border. It is situated from Burton upon Trent, from Stafford, from Stoke-on-Trent, from De ...
Town Council in 1995. She stepped down from all three councils on her election to
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
.
Dean was selected to stand for election for Labour through 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 ...
. She was elected to 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. ...
in the
1997 general election,
winning Burton from the sitting
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 ...
MP,
Ivan Lawrence, by 6,330 votes. She made her maiden speech on 30 July 1997.
In Parliament, Dean was a member of the Catering
Select committee from her election until 2005. Dean was a member of the
Home Affairs
An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs.
Lists of current ministries of internal affairs
Named "ministry"
* Ministry ...
Select Committee from 1999, and since the
2005 general election, she has also been a member of the
Speaker's Panel of Chairmen.
She was a loyal
backbencher
In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...
although rebelling against the
privatisation
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
of air traffic control in 2000, a local issue given the proximity of her constituency to the
East Midlands Airport
East Midlands Airport is an international airport in the East Midlands of England, close to Castle Donington in northwestern Leicestershire, between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is () to the south and Lincoln () nort ...
. She was the chairperson of the
All-Party Parliamentary Group
An all-party parliamentary group (APPG) is a grouping in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that is composed of members of parliament from all political parties, but have no official status within Parliament.
Description and functions
All-party ...
for
Lupus
Lupus, technically known as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue in many parts of the body. Symptoms vary among people and may be mild to severe. Comm ...
– an issue close to her heart, as both her mother and husband died from it.
On 20 June 2007, Dean announced her intention to stand down at the
next general election.
Her seat was gained by
Andrew Griffiths of the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
.
Personal life
She married Alan Dean in 1968
and became a full-time mother in 1970 following the birth of the first of their two daughters. She was widowed in 1994.
References
External links
*
Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Janet Dean MPTheyWorkForYou.com - Janet Dean MP
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dean, Janet
1949 births
Living people
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
People from Crewe
UK MPs 1997–2001
UK MPs 2001–2005
UK MPs 2005–2010
Councillors in Staffordshire
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