Judith Vivienne Blake, Baroness Blake of Leeds (born 23 July 1953, née Parsons) is a British

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 ...

politician serving as a life peer in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

since 2021. She serves on the opposition front bench as a Shadow Spokesperson for Housing, Communities and Local Government and an

Opposition Whip A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology ...

. Blake served as the leader of

Leeds City Council Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in West Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, and provides the majority of l ...

from 2015 to 2021, becoming the first woman to hold the position.

Personal life

Blake was born on 23 July 1953 into a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

family in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

. Both of her parents were doctors. She attended Leeds Girls High School until 1971 and then studied History at the

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

. After university, she began her career in education and social policy, living in London and then Birmingham in the 1980s. She taught English to refugees whilst living in Birmingham. In 1992, she returned to live in Otley.https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/the-next-best-thing-1-2045707 Blake has four children. Her youngest child,

Olivia Blake Olivia Frances Blake (born 10 March 1990) is a British Labour politician. She was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Hallam at the 2019 general election. Early life Blake grew up in Otley, a market town north of Leeds, W ...

was elected as 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 o ...

for Sheffield Hallam in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Political career

Blake was elected as an Otley town councillor, and, except for a two-year gap after losing her seat in

Weetwood Weetwood is an area between Headingley and Meanwood in north-west Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is bounded on the north by the A6120 (Outer Ring Road), on the west by the A660 (Otley Road), on the east by Meanwood Beck and to the sout ...

at the 2000 city council election, has been an elected member of

since 1996. She has twice contested the

Leeds North West Leeds North West is a constituency in the City of Leeds which has been represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Alex Sobel, of Labour Co-op. Boundaries 1950–1955: The County Borough of Leeds wards of Far He ...

constituency in 2005 and 2010 as the Labour Party's prospective parliamentary candidate, losing on both occasions to

Greg Mulholland Gregory Thomas Mulholland (born 31 August 1970) is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom who was the MP for Leeds North West. He was first elected at the 2005 general election, winning the seat from Labour and was re-elected wi ...

. Following her selection as deputy leader of the Leeds Labour group in 2003, once the party regained control of Leeds in 2010, Blake served as the Deputy Leader of the Council for five years to 2015. She was the Executive Cabinet Member for Children & Families during this period, overseeing the city's Children's Services' Ofsted rating change from "inadequate" to "good overall". She has been involved in a number of national legal campaigns, worked with education authorities in Yorkshire to raise school standards in the area, and worked on crises and issues with student grades and school placements throughout her career. She voted for

Yvette Cooper Yvette Cooper (born 20 March 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Home Secretary since 2021, and previously from 2011 to 2015. She served in Gordon Brown's Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2008 to 2009 and Work and Pen ...

in the 2015 Labour Party leadership election and supported

Keir Starmer Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (; born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and barrister who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras s ...

in the 2020 leadership election.

Leader of Leeds City Council

Following the stepping down of then-leader Keith Wakefield, Blake was elected as the first woman leader of Leeds City Council in May 2015. She chaired the Council's Executive Board, having also served on the boards for NHS Leeds and the West Yorkshire Police Authority. In April 2019, Blake was appointed to the board of

Northern Ballet Northern Ballet, formerly Northern Ballet Theatre, is a dance company based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a strong repertoire in theatrical dance productions where the emphasis is on story telling as well as classical ballet. The company ...

. In December 2015, she expressed the frustration of city residents in feeling that Prime Minister David Cameron was giving greater attention to more affluent southern counties during a period of severe flooding. She was awarded a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours.

House of Lords

In December 2020, it was announced Blake would be conferred a

Life Peerage In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages A ...

after a

nomination Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list. Political office In the ...

by Labour Party Leader

. In February 2021, she was created Baroness Blake of Leeds, of Gledhow in the City of Leeds. Blake joined the opposition front bench in May 2021, as a Shadow Spokesperson for Housing, Communities and Local Government and an

Electoral history

References

External links

Judith Blake
page at Leeds City Council {{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Judith Living people Alumni of the University of Kent Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Councillors in Leeds Labour Party (UK) councillors Labour Party (UK) life peers People educated at Leeds Girls' High School Leaders of local authorities of England 1953 births Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Women councillors in England