Catherine Malloy Hollern (born 12 April 1955) is a British Labour Party politician serving 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

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

since

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

. A member of the opposition front bench under the leadership of both

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 ...

and

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 ...

, she previously served as the

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 ...

(PPS) to the former from 2017 to 2020, a Shadow Minister for Local Government from 2020 until her resignation in 2021, and briefly a shadow defence minister in 2016. Prior to her election to Parliament, she served as the leader of

Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council is the local authority of Blackburn with Darwen in Lancashire. It is a unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performin ...

Early life and career

Hollern moved to

in the late 1970s. She worked as a supervisor at Newman's Footwear, before becoming the contracts manager at

Blackburn College Blackburn College may refer to: * Blackburn College (Blackburn with Darwen), United Kingdom * Blackburn College (Illinois) Blackburn College is a private college in Carlinville, Illinois. It was established in 1837 and named for the Gideon Blac ...

. She has two daughters. Hollern led the Labour Group on the

from 2004 to 2015, serving as council leader from 2004 to 2007, and again from 2010 to 2015.

Parliamentary career

In March 2014, Hollern was selected, using 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 ...

, to succeed former cabinet minister

Jack Straw John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretary ...

as Labour's candidate for the constituency of

. She was elected in the 2015 general election. Hollern served as Shadow Minister for the Armed Forces from January 2016 to October 2016, following the reshuffle of the Shadow Cabinet, and resignation of

Kevan Jones Kevan David Jones (born 25 April 1964) is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Durham since 2001. He served as a defence minister under Gordon Brown, and resigned as a shadow defence minister ...

. She supported

Owen Smith Owen Smith (born 2 May 1970) is a former Labour Party politician and subsequently a British lobbyist, who has been the UK government relations director for pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb since 2020. Smith was Member of Parliamen ...

in the failed attempt to replace

in the

leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...

. On 10 October 2016, she was appointed Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government. In July 2017, Hollern was appointed Corbyn's Parliamentary Private Secretary. Following Keir Starmer's election as Labour leader, Hollern served as Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government from 2020. She resigned on 12 May 2021 after being accused of trying to "isolate a parliamentary worker who had made allegations of sexual harassment" against former Labour MP Mike Hill.

Personal life

Her partner was Labour Party councillor John Roberts, until his death in February 2017.

References

External links

*
Kate Hollern profile
''Blackburn with Darwen Council'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Hollern, Kate 1955 births Living people 21st-century British women politicians 21st-century Scottish women Councillors in Lancashire Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) councillors Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Lancashire People from Dumbarton Politics of Blackburn with Darwen UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present Women councillors in England