Rachel Anne Squire (13 July 1954 – 5 January 2006) was a British Labour politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dunfermline West in Scotland from 1992 general election to

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 ...

, and then for Dunfermline and West Fife from 2005 until her death after a long series of illnesses.

Background

Squire was born in

Carshalton Carshalton ( ) is a town, with a historic village centre, in south London, England, within the London Borough of Sutton. It is situated around southwest of Charing Cross and around east by north of Sutton town centre, in the valley of the Rive ...

, Surrey. She attended the all-female Godolphin and Latymer School in Hammersmith and then proceeded to a degree in Archaeology and Anthropology at

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

, and a social work qualification at

Birmingham University The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

. After university, Squire became a social worker, also working in factories and other manual jobs. She became a full-time official with

National Union of Public Employees The National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) was a British trade union which existed between 1908 and 1993. It represented public sector workers in local government, the Health Service, universities, and water authorities. History The union w ...

, the public sector union, later part of

UNISON Unison (stylised as UNISON) is a Great Britain, British trade union. Along with Unite the Union, Unite, Unison is one of the two largest trade unions in the United Kingdom, with over 1.2 million members who work predominantly in public servic ...

. Working for the union took her to

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

and then to Scotland, where she became the union's education officer. She served on the Labour Scottish Executive Committee, and was chair of the Linlithgow Constituency Labour Party. In 1984, Squire married Allan Mason, and they had two children.

Member of Parliament

Squire was elected MP for Dunfermline West in 1992, replacing Dick Douglas, who had defected to the SNP two years prior. According to a profile on the BBC website, Rachel Squire was "one of the most committed and successful constituency advocates in Parliament". She worked to get regeneration funds for her constituency, campaigned for the

Rosyth Dockyard Rosyth Dockyard is a large Royal Navy Dockyard, naval dockyard on the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, owned by Babcock Marine, which formerly undertook refitting of Royal Navy surface vessels and submarines. Before its privatisation i ...

and secured funds to put off the closure of the Longannet coal mine. In Parliament, Squire was a member of the

Defence Select Committee The Defence Select Committee is one of the Select Committees of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, having been established in 1979. It examines the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Ministry of Defence and its associated pu ...

and served as PPS to Education ministers

Stephen Byers Stephen John Byers (born 13 April 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wallsend between 1992 and 1997, and North Tyneside from 1997 to 2010. He served in the Cabinet from 1998 to 2002, and w ...

and

Estelle Morris Estelle Morris, Baroness Morris of Yardley, (born 17 June 1952), is a British politician and life peer who served as Secretary of State for Education and Skills from 2001 to 2002. A member of the Labour Party, she was Member of Parliament (MP ...

from 1997 to 2001. Squire was a patron for Brain Tumour Action, a cancer charity. She was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 1993, and a second one in 2003. On 2 June 2005, she was admitted to hospital after suffering a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

, thought to have been caused by bleeding stemming from the second brain tumour. She did not recover, and died from cancer at her home in Saline, Fife, on 5 January 2006. Her death prompted the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election, held on 9 February 2006, in which her former seat was won by

Willie Rennie William Cowan Rennie (born 27 September 1967) is a Scottish politician who served as the Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 2011 to 2021. He has served as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for North East Fife since 2016, ...

for the Liberal Democrats.

References

External links

*
BBC - Labour MP dies after cancer fight
6 January 2006.

* ttps://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/rachel_squire/dunfermline_and_fife_west TheyWorkForYou.com - Rachel Squire MPbr>BBC News - Labour MP in hospital with stroke
3 June 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Squire, Rachel 1954 births 2006 deaths 20th-century Scottish politicians 20th-century Scottish women politicians 21st-century Scottish politicians 21st-century Scottish women politicians Alumni of Trevelyan College, Durham Alumni of the University of Birmingham British social workers Deaths from brain cancer in Scotland Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Fife constituencies People educated at Godolphin and Latymer School People from Carshalton Politicians from the London Borough of Sutton Scottish Labour MPs UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 Unison (trade union)