Christine Margaret Butler (''née'' Smith; 14 December 1943 – 19 September 2017) was 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 o ...

for

Castle Point Castle Point is a local government district with borough status in south Essex, east of central London. The borough comprises the towns and villages of Canvey Island, Hadleigh, South Benfleet, and Thundersley. The borough council is situated ...

, representing the Labour Party, between 1997 and 2001.

Early life

She attended Nelson Grammar School (became Walton High School in 1972) on ''Oxford Road'' in

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

, then

Middlesex Polytechnic Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated MDX) is a public research university in Hendon, northwest London, England. The name of the university is taken from its location within the historic county boundaries of ...

, where she gained a BA. She worked in the pharmaceutical industry then the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

Political career

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

she was elected to

Essex County Council Essex County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Essex in England. It has 75 councillors, elected from 70 divisions, and is currently controlled by the Conservative Party. The council meets at County Hall ...

Parliamentary career

She was elected Labour Party

for

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

in 1997, but lost her seat in the 2001 election, to Robert Spink, the man she had defeated, by under 1,000 votes.

Personal life

Butler married Robert Butler in 1964 in

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxb ...

, with whom she had three sons. She died in September 2017 at the age of 73 after suffering from dementia.

External links

They Work For You

Voting Record

Electoral history

References

1943 births 2017 deaths Alumni of Middlesex University Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of Essex County Council People educated at Walton High School, Nelson People from Nelson, Lancashire UK MPs 1997–2001 20th-century British women politicians 21st-century British women politicians 20th-century English women 20th-century English politicians 21st-century English women 21st-century English people Women councillors in England {{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub