Joan Humble (born Jovanka Piplica; 3 March 1951) 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. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Blackpool North and Fleetwood 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 ...

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 ...

Early life

Humble's first job was working in a

delicatessen A delicatessen or deli is a grocery that sells a selection of fine, exotic, or foreign prepared foods. Delicatessens originated in Germany (contemporary spelling: ) during the 18th century and spread to the United States in the mid-19th centur ...

. Humble was educated at Keighley Girls (now known as Greenhead High School) and

Lancaster University Lancaster University (officially The University of Lancaster) is a collegiate public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several new univer ...

where she received a BA degree in History in 1972. She worked as a

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

in the

Department of Health and Social Security The Department of Health and Social Security (commonly known as the DHSS) was a Ministry (government department), ministry of the Her Majesty's Government, British government in existence for twenty years from 1968 until 1988, and was headed b ...

from 1972, before moving to the

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ta ...

in 1973. She left the civil service in 1977 to raise her two daughters. She served as a

school governor In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, school governors are the overseers of a school. In state schools, they have three main functions: *Giving the school a clear vision, ethos and strategic direction *Holding the headteacher to account for th ...

for fifteen years from 1982. In 1985, she was elected as a councillor to

Lancashire County Council Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashire is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes Blackburn with Dar ...

where she served until 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 ...

Parliamentary career

She was elected at the 1997 general election for the new

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

seat of Blackpool North and Fleetwood. She defeated

Harold Elletson Harold Daniel Hope Elletson (8 December 1960 – 23 June 2023) was a British politician. Elletson unsuccessfully contested Burnley for the Conservative Party in the 1987 general election, before becoming Member of Parliament (MP) for Black ...

, 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 for Blackpool North, by 8,946 votes. From 1998 to 2001 she served on select committees for

social security Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...

, and from 2001 its replacement Work and Pensions. She was the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Childcare, Social Care, Myodil & Army Deaths. Although selected as the Labour Party candidate to contest the new constituency of Blackpool North and Cleveleys at the 2010 general election, Humble announced on 27 February 2010 that she would stand down at the election. At the election, the Conservative

Paul Maynard Paul Maynard (born 16 December 1975) is a British politician who served from 2010 until 2024 as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Blackpool North and Cleveleys. A member of the Conservative Party, he served Parliamentary Under-Secretary of ...

won the seat on a 6.9% swing.

Personal life

She married Paul Humble in 1972 in Halifax. She is a

Christian socialist A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words ''Christ'' and ''Chr ...

References

External links

Joan Humble MP

TheyWorkForYou.com - Joan Humble MP

News items

Consulting local people about wind farms in March 2007

TVR closes in December 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Humble, Joan 1951 births Living people Members of Lancashire County Council Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Labour Friends of Israel Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Lancashire People from Skipton People from Keighley Alumni of Lancaster University Alumni of Lonsdale College, Lancaster Labour Party (UK) councillors UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 20th-century British women politicians 21st-century British women politicians 20th-century English women 20th-century English politicians 21st-century English women 21st-century English politicians Women councillors in England