Teresa Jane Kingham (born 4 May 1963) is a British Labour Party politician. She was

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 ...

(MP) for

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

from 1997 to 2001. Kingham was educated at Dartford Grammar School for Girls, and gained a BA from

Royal Holloway Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

, University of London, a PGCE from the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

and a master's degree in Egyptian Archaeology from

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. She is currently studying for a PhD in Biological Anthropology 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'' ...

. She ran as the Labour candidate for the European Parliament seat of the Cotswolds in 1994, but lost to the long-serving Conservative incumbent MEP, Lord Henry Plumb, however she succeeded in cutting Plumb's majority from 45,678 in 1989 to just 4,268 at that election. Kingham was elected as MP for Gloucester in 1997, but retired from Parliament in disillusionment after just one term, having complained publicly about the antiquated ways of working in the Palace of Westminster. She later expressed dissatisfaction with the old boys network in the

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. T ...

, accusing various members of "endlessly thrusting their groins around the Chamber in mock combat" and "indulging in yah-boo nonsense, point-scoring and silly games". Whilst in Parliament, Kingham successfully campaigned to change laws to protect firefighters and to get a nationwide cystic fibrosis screening programme for newborn babies. She was a Member of the International Development Select Committee. Kingham is married to Mark Luetchford, a civil servant, trustee of War on Want and author of "Waging the War on Want", the official history of the organisation. They have three children.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kingham, Tess 1963 births Living people People educated at Dartford Grammar School for Girls Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London Alumni of the University of East Anglia Alumni of University College London UK MPs 1997–2001 Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Members of Parliament for Gloucester 20th-century British women politicians 21st-century British women politicians 20th-century English women 20th-century English people 21st-century English women 21st-century English people