Sarah Louise McCarthy-Fry (' Macaree; born 4 February 1955) 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 Co-operative politician. She 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 ...

for

Portsmouth North Portsmouth North is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Penny Mordaunt, the current Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council. She is a Conservative MP. Boundaries 191 ...

from the 2005 general election 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 ...

. She was

Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury is a junior ministerial post in His Majesty's Treasury, ranked below the First Lord of the Treasury, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Paymaster General and the Fina ...

in the last phase of the

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 ...

government of

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...

Early life

McCarthy-Fry is the daughter of a defence worker of Scottish descent. Fry is the surname of her first husband, McCarthy of her second. She was educated at Portsmouth High School. She worked for the multinational defence engineering company GKN Westland at Portsmouth, and later as financial controller for GKN Aerospace at

Cowes Cowes () is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes Floa ...

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

Political career

McCarthy-Fry attempted selection as the

candidate for the seat of

in 1997, and later became Syd Rapson's campaign manager. Her main political interests are trade and industry, defence and the social economy. She campaigned in favour of

identity cards An identity document (also called ID or colloquially as papers) is any documentation, document that may be used to prove a person's identity. If issued in a small, standard credit card size form, it is usually called an identity card (IC, ID c ...

after a constituency survey indicated a large majority were in favour of them, and stressed her support for their introduction in her maiden speech after her election in 2005. In 2006, McCarthy-Fry was made PPS to John Healey, the

Financial Secretary to the Treasury The financial secretary to the Treasury is a mid-level ministerial post in HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. It is nominally the fifth most significant ministerial role within the Treasury after the First Lord of the Treasury, first lord of th ...

. In Prime Minister

's cabinet reshuffle in 2007, she was made PPS to

Geoff Hoon Geoffrey William Hoon (born 6 December 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashfield in Nottinghamshire from 1992 to 2010. He is a former Defence Secretary, Transport Secretary, Leader of ...

, the

Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom ...

. On 5 October 2008, she was promoted to become a

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (or just Parliamentary Secretary, particularly in departments not led by a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), Secretary of State) is the lowest of three tiers of Minister (government), government minist ...

in the

Department for Children, Schools and Families Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) was a department of the UK government, between 2007 and 2010, responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including child protection and education. DCSF was replac ...

replacing

Lord Adonis Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, (born Andreas Adonis; 22 February 1963) is a British Labour Party politician and journalist who served in HM Government for five years in the Blair ministry and the Brown ministry. He served as Secretary of State ...

, who was moved from Education to Transport. This was a controversial move that brought about much speculation in the press afterward; Adonis was seen to be a key education reformer and it was assumed that the government no longer had education as a priority. McCarthy-Fry was moved to the

Department for Communities and Local Government The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), formerly the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for housing, communities, local government ...

in the June 2009 reshuffle. However, on 17 June 2009 she was appointed

, replacing

Kitty Ussher Katharine Anne Ussher (born 18 March 1971) is a British economist, former Labour Party MP and Treasury minister, and former Chief Executive of the Demos think tank, who is now chief economist at the Institute of Directors. She is also a Non E ...

after the latter resigned. She was at the Department for Communities and Local Government for just one week. At the general election on 6 May 2010, McCarthy-Fry lost her seat to the

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 ...

candidate

Penny Mordaunt Penelope Mary Mordaunt (; born 4 March 1973) is a British politician who has been Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council since September 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) ...

. Along with

Anne Snelgrove Anne Christine Snelgrove (born 7 August 1957) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Swindon South from 2005 to 2010; from June 2009 to May 2010, she was a Parliamentary Private Secretary to Prime Minis ...

, she co-ordinated

Ed Balls Edward Michael Balls (born 25 February 1967) is a British broadcaster, writer, economist, professor and former politician who served as Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families from 2007 to 2010, and as Shadow Chancellor of the Ex ...

's campaign in the Labour party leadership election which followed.

Expenses controversy

In May 2009 ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' revealed that McCarthy-Fry had attempted to claim on her expenses for a £100 set of hair straighteners, though the claim was refused. Items the taxpayer did fund included £333 worth of bedding and a sewing box.MPs’ expenses: Sarah McCarthy-Fry claimed for £100 GHD hair straighteners
Telegraph, 21 May 2009

Later career

Soon after leaving parliament, McCarthy-Fry joined

GKN Aerospace GKN Ltd is a British multinational automotive and aerospace components business headquartered in Redditch, England. It is a long-running business known for many decades as Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds. It can trace its origins back to 1759 an ...

and was the company’s Financial Controller for Cowes, Isle of Wight, from 2010 to 2012, and then its Finance Director for Cowes, Isle of Wight, and Western Approach, Bristol, from 2012 to 2020, when she retired at the age of 65.

Personal life

McCarthy-Fry married her first husband, Roger Fry, in 1973, and her second, Tony McCarthy, in 1997; she has four grown-up children.”McCarthy-fry, Sarah, (born 4 Feb. 1955), Finance Director, Cowes, Isle of Wight and Western Approach, Bristol, GKN Aerospace Services, 2012–20 (Financial Controller, Cowes, Isle of Wight, 2010–12)” in

Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biography, biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a gr ...

online edition

References

External links

They Work For You

Kaupthing Involvement

Voting record at the Public Whip

BBC Politics page

Meet the MP at the BBC

News items

Concern over Royal Navy ships
BBC News
Upset over Boris Johnson
BBC News {{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy-Fry, Sarah 1955 births Living people Labour Co-operative MPs for English constituencies Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 2005–2010 Councillors in Hampshire English people of Scottish descent People educated at Portsmouth High School (Southsea) Politicians from Portsmouth Labour Party (UK) councillors 21st-century English women politicians 21st-century English politicians Women councillors in England