Janet Elizabeth Ann Dean (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

'' Gibson; born 28 January 1949) 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 Party politician who 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 ...

(MP) for Burton 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 ...

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 ...

Early life

Born Janet Gibson in

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...

, she was educated at the Verdin Grammar School in

Winsford Winsford is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the River Weaver south of Northwich and west of Middlewich. It grew around the salt mining industry ...

. On leaving school in 1965 she became a clerk at

Barclays Bank Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

, before moving to Bass Charrington in 1969.

Politics

She was elected as a councillor to the

Staffordshire County Council Staffordshire County Council is the top-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Staffordshire, England. 62 councillors sit on Staffordshire County Council. Staffordshire operates a cabinet-style council In England, local auth ...

in 1981 and to the

East Staffordshire District Council East Staffordshire is a local government district with borough status in Staffordshire in England. It has two main towns: Burton upon Trent and Uttoxeter. Villages in the area include Abbots Bromley, Stretton, Tutbury, Barton-under-Needwoo ...

in 1991, becoming its mayor in 1996. She was also elected to the

Uttoxeter Uttoxeter ( , ) is a market town in the East Staffordshire district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is near to the Derbyshire county border. It is situated from Burton upon Trent, from Stafford, from Stoke-on-Trent, from De ...

Town Council in 1995. She stepped down from all three councils on 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 ...

. Dean was selected to stand for election for Labour through an

all-women shortlist All-women shortlists (AWS) is an affirmative action practice intended to increase the proportion of female Members of Parliament (MPs) in the United Kingdom, allowing only women to stand in particular constituencies for a particular political p ...

. She was elected to 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. ...

in the 1997 general election, winning Burton from 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, Ivan Lawrence, by 6,330 votes. She made her maiden speech on 30 July 1997. In Parliament, Dean was a member of the Catering Select committee from her election until 2005. Dean was a member of the

Home Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

Select Committee from 1999, and since the 2005 general election, she has also been a member of the Speaker's Panel of Chairmen. She was a loyal

backbencher In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

although rebelling against the

privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

of air traffic control in 2000, a local issue given the proximity of her constituency to the

East Midlands Airport East Midlands Airport is an international airport in the East Midlands of England, close to Castle Donington in northwestern Leicestershire, between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is () to the south and Lincoln () nort ...

. She was the chairperson of the

All-Party Parliamentary Group An all-party parliamentary group (APPG) is a grouping in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that is composed of members of parliament from all political parties, but have no official status within Parliament. Description and functions All-party ...

for

Lupus Lupus, technically known as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue in many parts of the body. Symptoms vary among people and may be mild to severe. Comm ...

– an issue close to her heart, as both her mother and husband died from it. On 20 June 2007, Dean announced her intention to stand down at the next general election. Her seat was gained by Andrew Griffiths of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

Personal life

She married Alan Dean in 1968 and became a full-time mother in 1970 following the birth of the first of their two daughters. She was widowed in 1994.

References

External links

*
Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Janet Dean MPTheyWorkForYou.com - Janet Dean MP
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dean, Janet 1949 births Living people Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies People from Crewe UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 Councillors in Staffordshire 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 Women councillors in England