Dame Rosalie Winterton, (born 10 August 1958) is a British
Labour Party politician who has been 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 o ...
(MP) for
Doncaster Central since
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 ...
. In June 2017, Winterton became one of three
Deputy Speakers in the
House of Commons.
She served under Prime Minister
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of t ...
as a minister in the
Department for Health, then under
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 from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony ...
as the
Minister of State for Transport from 2007 to 2008,
Minister for Work and Pensions from 2008 to 2009, and the
Minister for Local Government from 2009 to 2010, making her the only one of the current Speaker and Deputy Speakers to have served as a minister in government. She later entered the
Shadow Cabinet in May 2010 as the
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons.
In September 2010, Winterton was nominated and elected unopposed as
Labour Chief Whip
The Chief Whip of the Labour Party oversees the whipping system in the party, which is responsible for ensuring that Labour MPs or members of the House of Lords attend and vote in parliament in the desired way of the party leadership. Chief W ...
and served in the post until October 2016. She was elected as one of three deputy speakers of the House of Commons on 28 June 2017 and re-elected unopposed on 7 January 2020,
On 27 February 2022, Winterton announced she would not contest the next UK general election.
Early life
Winterton was educated at St Mary's (now
Hill House School, Doncaster),
Ackworth School (an independent school) and Doncaster Grammar School on Thorne Road (now
Hall Cross Academy). She then read for a
BA in history at the
University of Hull
, mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status
, type = Public
, endowment = £18.8 million (2016)
, budget = £190 million ...
,
which she graduated with in 1979. She first worked as
John Prescott's Constituency Personal Assistant from 1980 until 1986,
and then Parliamentary Officers, first for
Southwark Council for two years until 1988 and then for a further two for the
Royal College of Nursing until 1990.
After working for four years in the private sector, as Managing Director o
Connect Public Affairs she returned to politics to assist John Prescott in 1994; Prescott had been elected as the
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, and Winterton worked as Head of Office for the Deputy Party Leader until 1997.
Parliamentary career
Winterton became an
MP in the
1997 election, serving the safe
Labour seat of
Doncaster Central constituency with a vote share exceeding 50% in each general election until 2010, where her vote share fell to 39.7%.
She entered government in 2001, serving as a
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the
Lord Chancellor's Department
The Lord Chancellor's Department was a United Kingdom government department answerable to the Lord Chancellor with jurisdiction over England and Wales.
Created in 1885 as the Lord Chancellor's Office with a small staff to assist the Lord Chancel ...
, and became a
Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. I ...
at the
Department for Health in June 2003; in January 2006 her responsibilities were changed to Health Services, including responsibility for
NHS dentistry. She presided over the introduction of the new NHS dental contract of April 2006.
In June 2007, she was appointed Minister of State at the
Department for Transport
The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The ...
by the new Prime Minister,
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 from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony ...
. Winterton was subsequently appointed Minister for Yorkshire and the Humber in addition to her DfT responsibilities on 24 January 2008. She was promoted to
Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. I ...
for Pensions at the
Department for Work and Pensions in the October 2008 reshuffle, retaining her Ministerial brief for Yorkshire and the Humber.
In the June 2009 reshuffle, Winterton was moved to
Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. I ...
for Regional Economic Development and Co-ordination at the
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the
Department for Communities and Local Government and, in that role, was invited to attend cabinet when her responsibility was on the agenda.
In September 2010, she was nominated and elected unopposed as
Labour Chief Whip
The Chief Whip of the Labour Party oversees the whipping system in the party, which is responsible for ensuring that Labour MPs or members of the House of Lords attend and vote in parliament in the desired way of the party leadership. Chief W ...
and served until October 2016, when she was replaced by
Nick Brown.
In June 2017, Winterton was elected to serve as
Second Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means
In the United Kingdom, the Chairman of Ways and Means is a senior member of the House of Commons who acts as one of the Speaker's three deputies. The incumbent is Dame Eleanor Laing, MP for Epping Forest, who was first elected to the office on ...
.
She is a member of
Labour Friends of Israel.
On 27 February 2022, Winterton announced her intention to stand down at the
next general election.
Expenses scandal
Winterton was one of a number of Government Ministers who secretly repaid back some of expenses money which they had wrongly claimed. In the row over MPs' expenses, it was claimed she used taxpayers' cash to soundproof the bedroom of her south London flat. According to ''
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 f ...
'', the minister claimed a total of £86,277 over four years in additional costs allowance – close to the total allowed under Parliament's green book.
Honours
In June 2006, she was appointed a member of
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council
The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of e ...
, and she was sworn in on 19 July 2006.
She was appointed
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
in the
2016 New Year Honours.
Notes
References
External links
Rosie Winterton MP''official constituency website''
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Winterton, Rosie
1958 births
Living people
People educated at Hill House School, South Yorkshire
People educated at Ackworth School
Alumni of the University of Hull
Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Labour Friends of Israel
Politics of Doncaster
UK MPs 1997–2001
UK MPs 2001–2005
UK MPs 2005–2010
UK MPs 2010–2015
UK MPs 2015–2017
UK MPs 2017–2019
UK MPs 2019–present
20th-century British women politicians
21st-century British women politicians
Deputy Speakers of the British House of Commons
20th-century English women
20th-century English people
21st-century English women
21st-century English people
Women legislative deputy speakers