Ruth Margaret Cadbury (born 14 May 1959) is a British politician serving as 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 Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

(MP) for

Brentford and Isleworth Brentford and Isleworth () is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It forms the eastern part of the London Borough of Hounslow. Since 2015, it has been represented by Ruth Cadbury of the Labour Party. Bound ...

since

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

. A member of the Labour Party, she has been Shadow Minister for International Trade since 2021. A former planning consultant, Cadbury previously served on the opposition front bench as Shadow Minister for Housing from 2016 to 2017 and Shadow Minister for Planning in 2021.

Early life and career

Cadbury is the eldest child of Charles Lloyd Cadbury and Jillian Stafford Ransome. She was privately educated at

The Mount School, York , motto_translation = Faithfulness in small things , established = 1785 , closed = , type = Independent day and boarding school , religious_affiliation = Religious Society of Fr ...

Bournville College Bournville College is a further education college based in Longbridge, Birmingham, England. The college offers courses that include A Levels, BTECs, NVQs, apprenticeships, and bespoke qualifications. History The college was established in 1913 ...

, and graduated from the

University of Salford , caption = Coat of ArmsUniversity of Salford , mottoeng = "Let us seek higher things" , established = 1850 - Pendleton Mechanics Institute 1896 – Royal Technical Institute, Salford 1967 – gained ...

with a

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in social sciences in 1981. Having worked from 1983 to 1989 for Covent Garden Community Association, she was a Planning Advisor at Planning Aid for London for the next seven years, before working as a Policy Planner at the

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in southwest London forms part of Outer London and is the only London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London ...

for five years, and then working as a freelance planning consultant from 2006 to 2014. Cadbury was first elected as a Labour Party councillor for the Gunnersbury ward of

Hounslow Borough Council Hounslow London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Hounslow in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. History There have previously been a number ...

in 1986, before being elected for the Brentford Clifden ward in 1998 and the Brentford ward in 2002. She was Deputy Leader of the Council from 2010 to 2012 and stood down as a councillor in May 2015.

Career

At the

2015 general election This national electoral calendar for 2015 lists the national/Federation, federal elections held in 2015 in all List of sovereign states, sovereign states and their Dependent territory, dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though na ...

, she defeated the sitting Conservative MP,

Mary Macleod Mary Macleod (born 4 January 1969) is a British Conservative Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brentford and Isleworth from the 2010 general election until the 2015 general election, when she was defeated by Ruth Cad ...

. In her

maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention ...

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. ...

on 2 June 2015, Cadbury made much of her

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

background and its relevance to social justice. Her speech also referenced her distant ancestor, the chocolate producer and Quaker

George Cadbury George Cadbury (19 September 1839 – 24 October 1922) was the third son of John Cadbury, a Quaker who founded Cadbury's cocoa and chocolate company in Britain. He was the husband of Dame Elizabeth Cadbury. Background He worked at the sch ...

(whose name lent itself to the

Cadbury Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Mar ...

chocolate brand). In December 2015, she voted against military intervention in Syria. In October 2016, she was appointed by Labour Party leader

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the pol ...

as a Shadow Housing Minister. She supported

Owen Smith Owen Smith (born 2 May 1970) is a former Labour Party politician and subsequently a British lobbyist, who has been the UK government relations director for pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb since 2020. Smith was Member of Parliamen ...

in the failed attempt to replace

in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election. Cadbury was ousted as Shadow Housing Minister on 29 June 2017 for contravening a whipped vote on an amendment to the

Queen's speech A speech from the throne, or throne speech, is an event in certain monarchies in which the reigning sovereign, or a representative thereof, reads a prepared speech to members of the nation's legislature when a session is opened, outlining th ...

calling for the UK to remain in the European Single Market; whilst the Labour position was to abstain, she voted to support the motion. She voted in the unsuccessful no ('Noes') lobby in a key House of Commons division of 25 June 2018 for the National Policy Statement on Airports, which laid out government support for a third runway, and she was among 28 of the 46 London Labour MPs opposing the runway. In the

she sits on the Transport Committee and previously sat on the Justice Committee and the Women and Equalities Committee. Cadbury re-joined the Labour front bench in the May 2021 as the Shadow Minister for Planning, receiving half of

Mike Amesbury Michael Lee Amesbury (born 7 May 1969) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Weaver Vale since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, he was Shadow Minister for Local Government until 2022. He previously served as Shadow ...

's former brief as the Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning. In Keir Starmer's front bench reshuffle of November 2021, Cadbury was appointed Shadow Trade Minister.

Personal

Cadbury is a

. She was one of three Quakers elected at the 2015 general election (the others being Labour's

Catherine West Catherine Elizabeth West (born 14 September 1966) is a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. She was first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hornsey and Wood Green in May 2015. Early life and education West was born on 14 ...

and the

Conservatives 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 ...

Tania Mathias Tania Wyn Mathias (born 21 June 1964) is a British ophthalmologist and Conservative Party politician. She served as the Member of Parliament for Twickenham from May 2015 to June 2017. Early life and career Mathias was born in Kensington, Lond ...

). In 2022, she became a Vice Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group, which meets to discuss issues of relevance to

humanists Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

. She is an honorary associate of the

National Secular Society The National Secular Society (NSS) is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of it. It was ...

. Cadbury is married to Nick Gash, a non-executive director of the Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust and former chair of West Middlesex Hospital (Cadbury's constituency local hospital).

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cadbury, Ruth 1959 births Living people People educated at The Mount School, York Alumni of the University of Salford Councillors in the London Borough of Hounslow English Quakers Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) councillors Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Place of birth missing (living people) UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present 21st-century British women politicians 21st-century English women 21st-century English people Women councillors in England