Celia Anne Barlow (born 28 September 1955) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Hove Hove ( ) is a seaside resort in East Sussex, England. Alongside Brighton, it is one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove. Originally a fishing village surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th century in respon ...

from

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. She also worked as home news editor at the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Early life

Barlow was born in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, and attended King Edward High School for Girls in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. She read Archaeology and Anthropology at

New Hall, Cambridge New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

, then studied for a postgraduate diploma in journalism at

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

. She began her career as a

reporter A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

on the ''

Bradford Telegraph and Argus The ''Telegraph & Argus'' is the daily newspaper for Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is published six times each week, from Monday to Saturday inclusive. The newspaper has offices in Newhall Way, Bradford, from where its journalists work ...

'' in 1979. She was appointed assistant editor at

Asia Television Asia Television Limited (, also known as ATV) is a digital media and broadcasting company in Hong Kong. Established as the first television service in Hong Kong as Rediffusion Television () on 29 May 1957, it shifted to terrestrial televis ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

in 1982. She returned to Britain in 1983 to become home news editor at the

. She left the BBC in 1995. She became a

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

video producer Video production is the process of producing video content. It is the equivalent of filmmaking, but with video recorded either as analog signals on videotape, digitally in video tape or as computer files stored on optical discs, hard drives, SSDs, ...

in 1998 before

lecturing A lecture (from ) is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical information, history, background, theor ...

in video production at the Chichester College of Art and Design from 2000.

Parliamentary career

She was elected secretary of the Chelsea

Constituency Labour Party A constituency Labour Party (CLP) is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular parliamentary constituency. In England and Wales, CLP boundaries coincide with those for UK parliamentary constituencies. In Sc ...

in 1993, and became the chairman of the

Chichester Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...

Constituency Labour Party in 1998. In 2000, she was selected to contest the safe

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

seat of Chichester at the 2001 General Election and finished third, behind the winner

Andrew Tyrie Andrew Guy Tyrie, Baron Tyrie, (born 15 January 1957) is a British politician and former chair of the Competition and Markets Authority. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Chichester from 1997 to 2017. T ...

. In November 2004

Ivor Caplin Ivor Keith Caplin (born 8 November 1958) is a British former Labour Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hove from 1997 to 2005. Early life Caplin was born in Brighton into a Jewish family and educated at the independen ...

, the Labour MP for the very marginal

constituency, announced his retirement at the next election and Celia Barlow was chosen to fight the seat through a controversial

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 ...

. Barlow had not supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, as opposed to Coplin who was a prominent supporter causing him difficulties in the constituency. It was widely assumed that she would be defeated by

Nicholas Boles Nicholas Edward Coleridge Boles (born 2 November 1965) is a British politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Grantham and Stamford from 2010 to 2019. He was a member of the Conservative Party until 2019. Before entering parliament, ...

, considered a rising star of the Conservative Party, but she was elected at the 2005 General Election with a majority of just 420 votes. She became the first of the new MPs elected in 2005 to make their

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 th ...

in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

. Barlow was a member of the

Procedure Committee The Procedure Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom ...

and previously served on the

Environmental Audit Select Committee The Environmental Audit Select Committee is a Select committee (United Kingdom), select committee of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine ho ...

. After May 2006 she served as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to

Ian Pearson Ian Phares Pearson (born 5 April 1959) is a British Labour Party politician who was a member of parliament (MP) from 1994 until 2010, representing Dudley West from 1994 until 1997, and then Dudley South from 1997 until his retirement from the ...

, Economic Secretary in HM Treasury and Parliamentary Under-Secretary in the

Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) was a Departments of the United Kingdom Government, United Kingdom government department. The department was created on 28 June 2007 on the disbanding of the Department of Trade ...

. She is a member of parliamentary group EURIM. Barlow was defeated at the 2010 General Election by Conservative candidate Mike Weatherley.

2009 Parliamentary expenses scandal

She was one of many UK MPs to be implicated in the 2009 Expenses Scandal, claiming more than £28,000 in expenses on her second home, then 'flipping' it and using it as her main residence. The expense claims included the cost of a whirlpool bath and a high lustre silver shower screen Barlow later made political capital out of the fact she failed to claim for a second home in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. She was also forced to repay £635 for a mortgage valuation on her main home; a breach of the expenses rules. She later offered to apologise for her expense claims.

Personal life

Barlow married the former

North America foreign correspondent and

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

-educated Sam Jaffa in August 1988 in

Bromsgrove Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about north-east of Worcester and south-west of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 34,755 in at the 2021 census. It gives its name to the wider Bromsgrove District, of which it is ...

. Her husband stood for the

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the United Kingdom 2011 census, 2011 census. The town ...

seat in 2001 as a Labour candidate coming third. They have two sons and one daughter together. They divorced in 2011.

References

External links

Celia Barlow official website

Celia Barlow MySpace

Brighton & Hove Labour Party

TheyWorkForYou.com - Celia Barlow MP

The Public Whip - Celia Barlow MP - Voting record

BBC Politics page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barlow, Celia 1955 births Living people Alumni of Murray Edwards College, Cambridge Alumni of Cardiff University Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Male actors from Cardiff UK MPs 2005–2010 BBC newsreaders and journalists People educated at King Edward VI High School for Girls, Birmingham 21st-century British women politicians British women television journalists British women radio presenters British women television presenters Politicians from Brighton and Hove 21st-century English women 21st-century English politicians