Sarah Hayward is a British Labour Party politician who was Leader of the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and St ...

from 2012 to 2017. She successfully challenged Nasim Ali for leadership of the Labour group in 2012.

Early life and career

Hayward grew up in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

in a single-parent family, in which her mother worked in low paid jobs and she worked as a 12-year-old to supplement her mother's earnings. She describes this as a defining moment attracting her to socialism. She graduated from 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 ...

with a degree in law and politics. She then moved to London and worked at

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company wa ...

for two years, before joining a publishing company. She joined the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

before resigning in protest over the

Invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Ba'athist Iraq, Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one mont ...

. Hayward says she was drawn to Camden by a "love of grungy pubs and even grungier music".

Political career

Before being elected, she worked for the

London Labour Party London Labour is the devolved, regional part of the Labour Party in Greater London. It is the largest political party in London, currently holding a majority of the executive mayoralties, a majority of local councils, council seats and parli ...

and the

Fawcett Society The Fawcett Society is a membership charity in the United Kingdom which campaigns for women's rights. The organisation dates back to 1866, when Millicent Garrett Fawcett dedicated her life to the peaceful campaign for women's suffrage. Originall ...

. She has represented the King's Cross ward since 2010 and entered Cabinet as Member for Communities, Regeneration and Equalities. She currently serves as a member of the Health and Wellbeing Board and a number of sub-committees. In 2013 she strongly defended the council against a report by the Taxpayers Alliance on Channel 5 News. In 2014, she sought to be selected as Labour candidate to replace retiring incumbent

Frank Dobson Frank Gordon Dobson (15 March 1940 – 11 November 2019) was a British Labour Party politician. As Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St. Pancras from 1979 to 2015, he served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Health from 1997 ...

; however, Keir Starmer was selected instead. She has written a number of articles for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. Hayward supported Liz Kendall during the 2015 Labour Party leadership election despite the

Holborn and St Pancras Holborn and St Pancras () is a parliamentary constituency in Greater London that was created in 1983. It has been represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom since 2015 by Sir Keir Starmer, the current Leade ...

Labour Party endorsing

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 ...

. Corbyn was the eventual winner, with Kendall coming last with less than 5% of the vote. In 2016, she saw off an unsuccessful leadership challenge by cabinet colleague

Sally Gimson Sally Gimson (née Malcolm-Smith) is a British Labour Party politician, ex-councillor in the Highgate ward of Camden Council. Career Gimson graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1987 with a degree in Modern Languages, before traini ...

. Hayward announced she was standing down from the leadership of Camden Council in April 2017 and did not stand for re-election as a councillor at the May 2018 council elections. She was succeeded as leader of Camden Council by Georgia Gould, the daughter of the late Lord Gould.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayward, Sarah Living people British socialists British feminists British socialist feminists People from Kentish Town Labour Party (UK) councillors Councillors in the London Borough of Camden Year of birth missing (living people) Leaders of local authorities of England Women councillors in England