Lynda Ellen Waltho is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 politician who was the Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for Stourbridge

Stourbridge (UK Parliament constituency)

Stourbridge is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...

 from 2005 to 2010 elected after sitting Labour MP Debra Shipley

Debra Shipley

Debra Ann Shipley is a politician in the United Kingdom. She was Labour Party Member of Parliament for Stourbridge from 1997 until the 2005 general election, when she stood down for reasons of ill health...

 had stepped down due to ill-health just days before the 2005 election

United Kingdom general election, 2005

The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....

 was called. In the 2010 election she lost to Conservative

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 Margot James

Margot James

Margot James MP is a British politician and entrepreneur. She is currently a Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party with responsibility for women, and the Member of Parliament for the consituency of Stourbridge. She is the first openly lesbian MP in the Conservative Party...

.

Waltho was born in London and educated at Keele University

Keele University

Keele University is a campus university near Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as an experimental college dedicated to a broad curriculum and interdisciplinary study, Keele is most notable for pioneering the dual honours degree in Britain...

. She is married with two children and her husband Steve is a Labour member of Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. She worked as principal advisor to Neena Gill

Neena Gill

Neena Gill was a Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands for the Labour Party from 1999 to 2009. Prior to becoming a Member of the European Parliament, she was Chief Executive of ASRA and the Newlon Housing Group...

 MEP. She is a member of the GMB (trade union). Her special interests include education, childcare and the economy.

Waltho won the seat with a slim majority of just 407 over Conservative candidate, Diana Coad, reduced from her predecessor's 3812 at the 2001 general election

United Kingdom general election, 2001

The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...

.
In November 2005, she was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary

Parliamentary Private Secretary

A Parliamentary Private Secretary is a role given to a United Kingdom Member of Parliament by a senior minister in government or shadow minister to act as their contact for the House of Commons; this role is junior to that of Parliamentary Under-Secretary, which is a ministerial post, salaried by...

 to David Hanson

David Hanson (politician)

David George Hanson is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Delyn since 1992. He was the Minister of State for Security, Counter-Terrorism, Crime and Policing from 2009 to 2010...

 MP, Minister of State

Minister of State

Minister of State is a title borne by politicians or officials in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a "minister of state" is a junior minister, who is assigned to assist a specific cabinet minister...

 in the Northern Ireland Office

Northern Ireland Office

The Northern Ireland Office is a United Kingdom government department responsible for Northern Ireland affairs. The NIO is led by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and is based in Northern Ireland at Stormont House.-Role:...

 and later to the Ministry of Justice

Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom)

The Ministry of Justice is a ministerial department of the UK Government headed by the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, who is responsible for improvements to the justice system so that it better serves the public...

. This made her the first Labour member first elected in 2005 to hold any government role. She became a member of the Children, Schools and Skills Select Committee. In September 2008 Lynda joined the Government as Assistant Regional Minister for the West Midlands.

She served as an important member of several All Party Parliamentary Groups:

• Chairman: Alcohol Misuse
• Chairman: Animal Welfare
• Chairman: Libraries, Literacy and Information Management
• Vice Chairman: Heart Disease
• Treasurer: Waterways Group.

External links

• Lynda Waltho - Official website