Claire Curtis-Thomas (formerly Curtis-Tansley; born 30 April 1958) is a British
Labour Party politician who was the
Member of Parliament (MP) for
Crosby from
1997
Events January
* January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States.
* January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis.
* January 1 ...
to
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 ...
. Curtis-Thomas' time as an MP was most notable for her involvement in matters related to the challenges faced by the construction sector, supporting the expansion of apprenticeship schemes, and increasing the number of women in science, engineering and technology careers. In addition to challenging the legal processes involved in sex abuse cases. She had the highest amount of MP expenses claimed in the 2003-04 period.
Early life
Curtis-Thomas was educated at Mynyddbach Comprehensive School (since September 2001 known as
Daniel James Community School after merging with the Penlan Boys School) on Heol Ddu,
Treboeth, Swansea, and studied at
University College, Cardiff where she was awarded a
BSc degree in
mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...
, and at
Aston University
Aston University (abbreviated as ''Aston'' for post-nominals) is a public university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK's first College of a ...
, where she obtained an
MBA
A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...
. She was awarded an honorary
PhD
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
in
Technology
Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...
in 1999.
She became a researcher at University College of Wales in Cardiff in 1984, before joining
Shell Chemicals
Shell Chemicals is the petrochemicals arm of Shell plc. The name "Shell Chemicals" refers to the nearly seventy companies engaged in chemicals businesses for Shell, which together make up one of the largest petrochemical producers in the world. T ...
, initially as a site mechanical engineer, moving internally in 1988 as the Head of UK Supply and Distribution, and after 1990 was head of environmental strategy until leaving Shell in 1992. She became a research head and development laboratory at with the
Birmingham City Council
Birmingham City Council is the local authority for the city of Birmingham in the West Midlands, England. Birmingham has had an elected local authority since 1838, which has been reformed several times. Since 1974 the council has been a metropo ...
in 1992, before moving internally to be the strategy and business planning head in 1993, leaving the council in 1995. In 1996 she was appointed as a Business and Engineering Dean at the
University of Wales, Newport
The University of Wales, Newport (), was a public university based in Newport, Wales, Newport, South Wales, before the merger that formed the University of South Wales in April 2013. The university was founded as a mechanics' institute in 1841 ...
, and remained there until the following year when she was elected to
Westminster
Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...
. She was elected as a councillor to the
Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council in 1995, stepping down in 1997. Also in 1995, she was elected the secretary of the
Eddisbury 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 ...
.
Parliamentary career
She was elected to 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 ...
at her first attempt at the
1997 general election for the parliamentary constituency of Crosby. She defeated the sitting
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 ...
MP
Malcolm Thornton by 7,182 votes, although her majority declined in the 2005 general election, standing at 5,840, holding approximately 69% of the vote in her constituency. She made 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 th ...
, during a debate on the adjournment which she secured on the subject of engineering, on 31 July 1997.
On being elected to parliament she changed her name to Claire Curtis-Thomas, which was a combination of her mother's maiden name of 'Curtis' and her mother's second husband's surname, 'Thomas'. After her election, she became a member of the Science and Technology Select Committee, on which she sat for the entirety of her first parliament. In 2003 she became a member of the
Home Affairs
An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a Ministry (government department), government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law e ...
Select Committee, and after the
2005 General Election she has been a member of the
Trade and Industry Committee.
She was one of the few engineers in Parliament and started an all-party parliamentary group Women in Science, Engineering and Design (WISED).
She was also involved with the
Waterloo Partnership, a charity based in her constituency which raises money for
Waterloo, Sierra Leone
Waterloo is a city in the Western Area of Sierra Leone and the capital of the Western Area Rural District, which is one of the sixteen districts of Sierra Leone. Waterloo is located about twenty miles east of Freetown. Waterloo is the second la ...
.
In June 2006, she introduced the Regulation of Sale and Display of Sexually Explicit Material Bill to stop newsagents selling certain men's magazines. Because of a lack of parliamentary time, it never became law.
Her Crosby constituency disappeared under constituency boundary changes and was succeeded by
Sefton Central, which is a Labour safe seat.
On 7 October 2009 Curtis-Thomas announced her decision to stand down at the
2010 general election.
Curtis-Thomas stated that her decision to stand down was due to the difficulty of continuing to represent her constituents and continue with family life given parliamentary hours.
Personal life
Claire married Philip Tansley in December 1984 in South Glamorgan, she was then divorced in 1995. She married Michael Lewis Jakub in December 1996 in
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
; they have a son together.
Curtis-Thomas stood for the 1997 election as Claire Curtis-Tansley.
She was baptised and confirmed in the Roman Catholic faith in November 2003.
She is the chief executive of the
British Board of Agrément.
References
External links
*
Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Claire Curtis-Thomas MPTheyWorkForYou.com - Claire Curtis-Thomas MPBBC Politics Profile
News items
Trying to limit the sale of men's magazines in June 2006Bill contested in Parliament in June 2006''Telegraph'' article June 2006Highlighting in the ''Independent on Sunday'' her views on men's magazinesin June 2006
Husband given a fixed penalty for defacing Conservative posters in the 2005 election campaignThe link between cancer and abortions in January 2004MP resigns over 'ludicrous hours'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curtis-Thomas, Claire
1958 births
Living people
Academics of the University of Wales, Newport
Alumni of Aston University
Alumni of Cardiff University
Alumni of Staffordshire University
20th-century British women engineers
Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
Converts to Roman Catholicism
Councillors in Cheshire
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
People from Neath
Politics of the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton
UK MPs 1997–2001
UK MPs 2001–2005
UK MPs 2005–2010
Welsh mechanical engineers
Welsh politicians
Welsh Roman Catholics
20th-century British women politicians
21st-century British women politicians
21st-century Welsh women politicians
Women councillors in England
20th-century Welsh engineers
21st-century Welsh engineers
Welsh women engineers
20th-century Welsh women politicians
21st-century British women engineers