Dame Louise Joyce Ellman ( Rosenberg; born 14 November 1945) is a British politician who served 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
Liverpool Riverside 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 2019. She is a member of the
Labour Party.
Ellman was elected as a councillor on the
Lancashire County Council
Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. It consists of 84 councillors. Since the 2017 election, the council has been under Conservative control.
Prior to the 2009 La ...
in 1970, becoming the Labour group leader in 1977 and leader of the council from 1981 until her election to
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 1997. She was Vice-Chair of Lancashire Enterprises, and served as Chair of the Transport Select Committee from 2008 to 2017. She was Chair of
Labour Friends of Israel
Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) is a group in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that promotes support for a strong bilateral relationship between Britain and Israel, and seeks to strengthen ties between the British Labour Party and the Isra ...
until February 2020 and was Honorary President of the
Jewish Labour Movement
{{Infobox organization
, name = Jewish Labour Movement
, pronounce =
, nickname =
, named_after =
, logo = JewishLabourMovementLogo.png
, image_border =
, size ...
.
She was appointed a
Dame 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 o ...
(DBE) in the
2018 Queen's Birthday Honours List,
and is a Vice President of the
Jewish Leadership Council
The Jewish Leadership Council (previously known as the Jewish Community Leadership Council) is an organisation in the United Kingdom, founded in 2003, whose declared aim is to forward the interests of the organised Jewish community in Britain. ...
.
Ellman resigned from the Labour Party in October 2019, expressing concern over allegations of
antisemitism in the Labour Party
Allegations of antisemitism in the Labour Party of the United Kingdom (UK) have been made since Jeremy Corbyn was elected as leader of the party in September 2015. After comments by Naz Shah in 2014 and Ken Livingstone in 2016 resulted in t ...
and a potential
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 ...
-led government. She rejoined the party in 2021.
Early life and career
Louise Joyce Rosenberg was born in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
to an observant
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family. Her father had a
Lithuanian
Lithuanian may refer to:
* Lithuanians
* Lithuanian language
* The country of Lithuania
* Grand Duchy of Lithuania
* Culture of Lithuania
* Lithuanian cuisine
* Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...
background.
She was educated at the independent
Manchester High School for Girls
Manchester High School for Girls is an English independent day school for girls and a member of the Girls School Association. It is situated in Fallowfield, Manchester.
The head mistress is Helen Jeys who took up the position in September 2020 ...
, before studying at the
University of Hull
The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hull ...
where she received a
BA in Sociology and History in 1967, and then studied Social Administration at the
University of York
, mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £8.0 million
, budget = £403.6 million
, chancellor = Heather Melville
, vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery
, students ...
where she was awarded a
MPhil
The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...
in 1972.
As a teenager, she was involved in the
Labour Zionist
Labor Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת סוֹצְיָאלִיסְטִית, ) or socialist Zionism ( he, תְּנוּעָת הָעַבוֹדָה, label=none, translit=Tnuʽat haʽavoda) refers to the left-wing, socialist variation of Zionism. ...
movement,
Habonim and, following university, spent a year in Israel at an
Ulpan
An ulpan ( he, אולפן), plural ''ulpanim'', is an institute or school for the intensive study of Hebrew. Ulpan is a Hebrew word meaning "studio", "teaching", or "instruction".
The ulpan is designed to teach adult immigrants to Israel the b ...
studying Hebrew, where she met her husband.
From 1970 to 1976, she was a lecturer for the
Open University
The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...
.
She was elected as a councillor on the
Lancashire County Council
Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. It consists of 84 councillors. Since the 2017 election, the council has been under Conservative control.
Prior to the 2009 La ...
in 1970, becoming the Labour group leader in 1977 and council leader from 1981 until 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 ...
. She was Vice-Chair of Lancashire Enterprises.
She unsuccessfully contested the
Darwen
Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners".
The A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to the sout ...
constituency at the
1979 general election, being defeated by 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
Charles Fletcher-Cooke
Sir Charles Fletcher Fletcher-Cooke, QC (5 May 1914 – 24 February 2001) was a British politician.
Early life
Fletcher-Cooke was born into a professional London family, though one that was financially diminished because of his father's death ...
by 13,026 votes.
Parliamentary career
She was elected to Parliament at the
1997 general election for the safe seat of Liverpool Riverside. She held the seat with a majority of 21,799 and has held the seat comfortably at successive general elections. When she was re-elected in 2001, the turnout was the lowest in the country at 34.1%.
Positions and voting
She was a member of the
Transport Committee
The Transport 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 the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Transport and its asso ...
and its predecessor,
Transport, Local Government and the Regions, since she was first elected. On 21 May 2008, she was selected to become the Chair of the Commons Transport Select Committee after the death of
Gwyneth Dunwoody
Gwyneth Patricia Dunwoody (née Phillips; 12 December 1930 – 17 April 2008) was a British Labour Party politician, who was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Exeter from 1966 to 1970, and then for Crewe (later Crewe and Nantwich) from February 1 ...
MP, being returned unopposed after the 2015 general election.
According to website
Public Whip
The Public Whip is a parliamentary informatics project that analyses and publishes the voting history of MPs in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
It was developed by Francis Irving and Julian Todd following the 18 March 2003 Parliamentary App ...
, Ellman repeatedly voted for the Iraq War, against an investigation into that war, and for renewal of
Trident
A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm.
The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other marine ...
, Britain's nuclear weapons programme. She very rarely voted against the Party line.
In the
2015 Labour Party leadership election, she nominated
Liz Kendall
Elizabeth Louise Kendall (born 11 June 1971) is a British Labour Party politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester West since 2010.
Kendall was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, where she read history. From 2011 to ...
.
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
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 ...
in the
2016 leadership election.
Israel
Ellman was Chair of the Jewish Labour Movement from 2006 to 2016, after which she became its Honorary President.
She was also Vice Chair of Labour Friends of Israel and succeeded
Joan Ryan as Chair in August 2019. She said that she intended to remain a member of LFI following her resignation from the Labour Party. She was the chair of the All-Party Britain-Israel Parliamentary Group.
The ''
Times of Israel
''The Times of Israel'' is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist David Horovitz, who is also the founding editor, and American billionaire investor Seth Klarman. '' called her "tough-as-nails" and "an unabashed friend of Israel". According to one biographer in the ''
Jewish Chronicle
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
'', "Ellman can always be called on to defend Israel on the green benches" (i.e. in Parliament). The ''
Jewish Telegraph
The ''Jewish Telegraph'' is a British Jewish newspaper. It was founded in December 1950 by Frank and Vivienne Harris, the parents of the current editor, Paul Harris.
Founding
Frank and Vivienne Harris founded the newspaper in their dining ro ...
'' said "Doughty Labour MP Louise Ellman is never scared to openly proclaim her Jewish identity and fight for Israel and against Islamic extremism at every Parliamentary opportunity". In September 2019, Ellman said she "shared the fears" of other Jews living in the UK about the prospect of a Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn and understood why they "would seriously consider leaving the country". In October 2019, she said "I'm not absolutely convinced he will bring great danger to the Jewish community but I'm very concerned it is possible he could".
Constituency party
In 2016, Ellman said that a small number among the members who joined her constituency Labour party after Corbyn's election as leader seemed "obsessed on Middle East issues", that there had been a "very unpleasant atmosphere" in constituency meetings and that remarks which she considered were antisemitic had been made to her.
She also alleged that the local
Momentum
In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. If is an object's mass an ...
group was acting as a "party within a party" and asked for her constituency party to be suspended and investigated. A leading local Momentum member rejected the allegations.
Resignation
In early October 2019, a motion of no confidence in Ellman, scheduled to take place on
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day's ...
, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, was submitted for discussion at a branch of her constituency Labour Party. The timing of the motion was criticised by Ellman herself, who called it "particularly insidious"; and by
Marie van der Zyl
Marie Sarah van der Zyl (née Kaye; born November 1965) is the 48th president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews. When she was elected in May 2018, she was only the second female president in the 258-year history of the organisation. She w ...
, President of the
Board of Deputies of British Jews
The Board of Deputies of British Jews, commonly referred to as the Board of Deputies, is the largest and second oldest Jewish communal organisation in the United Kingdom, after only the Initiation Society which was founded in 1745. Established ...
, who said it meant that Ellman would have "no opportunity even to respond".
A Labour Party spokesperson said that no confidence motions "had no formal standing", with another source intimating that the motion was unlikely to be taken to a vote.
Two further motions of no confidence were later submitted for debate at other branches of the Liverpool Riverside CLP. The North-West Labour Party office later advised local branches that none of the motions should be discussed, citing the potential prejudicial effect that such discussion may have on the upcoming
trigger ballot.
On 16 October 2019, Ellman resigned from the Labour Party, citing her worries about
antisemitism in the party, and her belief that anti-Semitism in the Labour Party had prospered under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. She wrote that "under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, antisemitism has become mainstream in the Labour Party. Jewish members have been bullied, abused and driven out. Antisemites have felt comfortable and vile conspiracy theories have been propagated ... the overwhelming majority of the Jewish community is fearful of what a Corbyn government might mean for Britain's Jews ...
e is a manwho spent three decades on the backbenches consorting with, and never confronting, antisemites, Holocaust deniers and terrorists".
Labour responded that "Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party are fully committed to the support, defence and celebration of the Jewish community and continue to take robust action to root out antisemitism in the party and wider society".
Her CLP later said: "The Labour Party recognises the hard work and commitment Louise has shown to her constituents over the past 22 years. Unfortunately she made it very clear at the last CLP meeting that she could not support a Jeremy Corbyn led government. This inevitably meant that Louise would be triggered and was very unlikely to win any reselection process". The CLP, in a further statement, explained the desire of many local members for a reselection contest as due to longstanding political differences over Ellman's support for the Iraq War, her lack of support for Corbyn's policies and criticisms of the leadership, and her recent expression of concern over a future Labour government. The CLP condemned antisemitism directed at Ellman or otherwise but characterised her as misrepresenting the local party and said that many of their Jewish members did not recognise or accept her views.
On 27 September 2021, Ellman announced she was rejoining the Labour Party. She expressed her satisfaction with
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 leadership, saying he has “shown a willingness to confront both the anti-Jewish racists and the toxic culture which allowed antisemitism to flourish” in the party.
Personal life and recognition
Ellman has been married since 16 July 1967 to Geoffrey Ellman, a pharmacist
A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...
. She lived 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 populati ...
, then moved to Skelmersdale
Skelmersdale is a town in Lancashire, England, on the River Tawd, west of Wigan, northeast of Liverpool and southwest of Preston. In 2006, it had a population of 38,813. The town is known locally as Skem .
While the first record of the tow ...
in 1969. The couple have a son, Sean, and a daughter, Yvonne, and five grandchildren.
(Her son Sean has repeatedly come to public attention for selling so-called 'legal highs' in his chain of 'head shops' across the northwest of England. In 2010 he was given an ASBO by a St Helens court to prevent such sales; in 2012 he was taken to court by authorities in Chester. Two years after his judge-directed acquittal on a legal technicality, the Sunday People newspaper exposed two more Ellman head shops in Manchester and Leeds, one for allegedly selling "synthetic cocaine".)
She was made a Dame 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 o ...
(DBE) in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours
The 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as p ...
for parliamentary and political services.
In 2019, the ''Jerusalem Post
''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...
'' ranked her as the 23rd most influential Jew worldwide, calling her 'Labour's lady who opposes Corbyn' and noting that 'she has been a strong advocate for Israel in the House of Commons'. She was the sole Briton on the 50-strong list.
She is a Vice President of the Jewish Leadership Council.
References
External links
* – official site
*
Louise Ellman
''Ask Aristotle'' - article at Guardian
Guardian usually refers to:
* Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another
* ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper
(The) Guardian(s) may also refer to:
Places
* Guardian, West Virginia, Unite ...
Unlimited Politics
Louise Ellman
parliamentary biography from DodOnline
at Skelmersdale Heritage Society
Louise Ellman
page on BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
Politics
Audio clips
Mobile phones
(2002)
Middle East Road Map
(October 2004)
Ken Livingstone
(February 2005)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellman, Louise
1945 births
Living people
Members of Lancashire County Council
People educated at Manchester High School for Girls
Alumni of the University of Hull
Alumni of the University of York
British Zionists
Labour Friends of Israel
English Jews
Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
Academics of the Open University
Politicians from Manchester
UK MPs 1997–2001
UK MPs 2001–2005
UK MPs 2005–2010
UK MPs 2010–2015
UK MPs 2015–2017
UK MPs 2017–2019
Jewish British politicians
Jewish women politicians
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Liverpool constituencies
20th-century British women politicians
21st-century British women politicians
Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom
20th-century English women
20th-century English people
21st-century English women
21st-century English people
Women councillors in England