Margaret Hodge
Encyclopedia
Margaret Hodge MBE MP
, also known as Lady Hodge by virtue of her husband's knighthood, (born 8 September 1944) is a British
Labour politician
, who has been the Member of Parliament
for Barking
since 1994. She was the first Minister for Children
in 2003 and was Minister of State for Culture and Tourism at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
. On 9 June 2010 she was elected Chair of the Public Accounts Committee.
in 1944 to Hans and Lisbeth Oppenheimer, a refugee multi-millionaire German
Jewish steel trader and his Austria
n Jewish wife. The family's company Stemcor
is the world's largest privately owned steel-trading corporation, with an annual turnover of £6.28 billion in 2008. After World War II, the family settled in London. Her mother died when Margaret was 10. She was educated at Bromley High School, Oxford High School and the London School of Economics
where she obtained a third class BSc
Economics degree in 1966. She worked in market research
from 1966 to 1973.
She married Andrew Watson in 1968. They had a son and daughter. The couple divorced in 1978 and that same year she married Henry Hodge
(later Sir Henry), going on to have two daughters. Henry Hodge was a fellow Labour borough councillor and Chairman of the National Council for Civil Liberties who went on to become a High Court judge
; he died in 2009. From 1992 to 1994, she was a senior consultant for Price Waterhouse.
She has four children and one grandchild.
in 1973. She was associated with a group of newly elected, activist, largely middle-class councillors who were viewed with varying degrees of antagonism by some established Labour Party councillors.
She rapidly became Chairman of the Housing Committee (opting to use "chairman" rather than "chair"). This was a critical post in an authority with one of the worst sets of housing statistics in London and in a period when London Boroughs were expected to be housing providers and managers. Hodge's tenure as Housing Chairman saw the continuation of a large new housing programme. There was a change of emphasis to the refurbishment of sound, older buildings (e.g. Charteris Road, Alexander Road areas), in response to a paper published by the local Islington Housing Action Group. At one point, Hodge's deputy chairman was Jack Straw
, subsequently a Cabinet member of Prime Minister Tony Blair
's administrations.
The Islington Labour Parties were badly affected by the defection of members and elected public representatives to the Social Democratic Party
but, when the dust had settled, Hodge had emerged as council leader, in 1982, a post which she held until 1992. During her 10 years as leader of Islington Council she was referred to as "Enver Hodge", after the Albania
n despot, Enver Hoxha
("Hoxha" is pronounced similarly to "Hodge": "Hodge-a"). She had become the focus of antagonism from "old-guard", former Labour Party members who felt that their party had been "taken over" by middle-class incomers.
The end of her period at Islington, before taking up her Parliamentary career, was marred by criticism of her response (in 1985) to serious child abuse allegations.
In 1990 Liz Davies, a senior social worker employed by the borough and her manager David Cofie, raised concerns about sexual abuse
of children in Islington Council Care. Correspondence between Hodge and the Director of Social Work indicates that she declined a request for extra resources to investigate. In early 1992, Liz Davies (not to be confused with the barrister and former Islington councillor
) resigned from her post and requested that Scotland Yard
investigate the allegations. The Evening Standard
then began reporting on the allegations of abuse in Islingtons children's homes, shortly after which Hodge resigned to pursue a career with Price Waterhouse
. In 1995, the White Report into sexual abuse in Islington Care homes reported that the council had failed adequately to investigate the allegations.
In 2003, following Hodge's appointment as Minister for Children, Demetrious Panton went public with his allegation that he was abused in Islington Council care and had repeatedly raised this issue with no effect. He accused Hodge of being ultimately responsible for the abuse that he suffered. Davies also went public with the issues that she had raised concerns about while working for the council.
Following a media campaign conducted by several national newspapers calling for her to resign from her new post, she responded to Panton by letter, in which she referred to him as 'extremely disturbed'. Panton then passed the letter to the press which planned to publish it, only to be judicially restrained from doing so at the instruction of Hodge. The letter was eventually published, mainly on the grounds that the blocking of the letter was seen as disproportionate. Hodge was forced to publicly apologise and offered to contribute to a charity of the man's choosing as recompense.
caused by the death of Jo Richardson
. As a new MP, she co-nominated the candidature of Tony Blair
, a former neighbour, to be the new leader of the Labour Party
after the sudden death of John Smith
.
She became a junior minister in 1998 and was made Minister for Universities in 2001, where she sponsored the controversial Higher Education Act 2004
, and remained there until 2003 when she was made Children's Minister. She was appointed to the Privy Council on 22 June 2003.
Hodge endorses Fair Spend
, a new student discount initiative set up in 2010.
She was later transferred to less visible posts. Usually viewed as a strong supporter of Tony Blair
, she appeared to have retained his support despite the hostility of the press.
Privacy International
awarded Margaret Hodge the 2004 Big Brother Award for "Worst Public Servant" for her backing of controversial initiatives including the Universal Child Database
. At a keynote speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research
on 26 November 2004, Hodge strongly defended the idea of greater state regulation of individuals' choices, stating that "some may call it the nanny state
but I call it a force for good".
In the same year Fathers 4 Justice
campaigner Jonathan Stanesby handcuffed Hodge, stating he was arresting her for child abuse. Fathers 4 Justice targeted Hodge because she was the "bogeywoman of family law, who doesn't even believe in equal parenting". Stanesby and colleague Jason Hatch were later cleared of a charge false imprisonment after claiming that it was part of a reasonable political protest.
In 2005 she was appointed Minister of State at the Department for Work and Pensions
with responsibility for Work. On 17 June 2005 was criticised for saying that the former workers of MG Rover would be able to obtain jobs at Tesco
, a local supermarket. Later, she claimed that this was not what she meant, rather that she had empathy for those losing their jobs, and pointed to a new Tesco supermarket as an example of new jobs being created in the face of the redundancies at the car manufacturing plant.
voters in her constituency might be tempted to vote for the British National Party
(BNP) in the local elections
on 4 May 2006 because "no one else is listening to them" about their concerns over unemployment, high house prices, and the housing of asylum seekers in the area. She said the Labour Party must promote "very, very strongly the benefits of the new, rich multi-racial society which is part of this part of London for me".
There was wide media coverage of her remarks, and she was strongly criticised for giving the BNP publicity in the local election campaign. The BNP went on to gain 11 seats in the election out of a total of 51, making them the second largest party. Local Labour activists blamed Hodge, and it was reported that moves were under way to deselect her. The GMB wrote to Hodge in May 2006, asking for her to resign as a result of the election.
Later, the then Mayor of London
, Ken Livingstone
, accused Hodge of "magnifying the propaganda of the British National Party" after she said that British residents should get priority in council house allocation. In November 2009, the leader of the BNP, Nick Griffin
, announced that he intended to stand for election in Barking against Hodge at the next General Election, in 2010.
Hodge retained her seat at the May 2010 general election, doubling her majority to over 16,000, following a hugely unsuccessful campaign by the BNP which saw Nick Griffin come third behind the Conservatives, and his party lose all 12 of its seats on Barking and Dagenham Council.
The BNP announced on 2 December 2010 its intention to launch a court action to have the Barking election result overturned under section 106 of the Representation of the People Act
1983, using the precedent set in the Oldham and Saddleworth constituency of Phil Woolas
who was ejected from his seat for lying about his opponents during the election campaign.
The BNP alleges that Hodge's claim that the BNP wants to expel all non-whites and drop them into the sea from aircraft makes "Mr Woolas’s lies look tame, and are a clear and obvious breach of the same law which saw the Oldham and Saddleworth MP struck down."
on 20 May 2007 Hodge argued that established families should take priority in the allocation of social housing
over new economic migrants. These comments were condemned by the Refugee Council
and other bodies working in this field.
and Bushy Park
in the borough of Richmond on Thames, would be allowed to charge drivers £2 per visit. This announcement caused mass protests across the borough and was deplored by local political figures such as Vince Cable, Susan Kramer
and Zac Goldsmith
.
, having signed an early day motion in support of its continued funding on the National Health Service
.
by the new Prime Minister
, Gordon Brown
. As Minister for Culture, Creative Industries and Tourism, she criticised the UK's foremost classical music festival, the Proms, for being insufficiently inclusive, instead praising television shows such as Coronation Street
.
Following the cabinet reshuffle of 3 October 2008, it was announced that Hodge was "temporarily leaving Government on compassionate grounds of family illness and will return to Government in the spring". While she was caring for her terminally ill husband, she was replaced as Minister of State by Barbara Follett. On 22 September 2009, Hodge was reappointed Minister of State, as Minister for Culture and Tourism.
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,...
, also known as Lady Hodge by virtue of her husband's knighthood, (born 8 September 1944) 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 politician
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...
, who has been 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,...
for Barking
Barking (UK Parliament constituency)
Barking is a 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. It has elected Labour MPs since its creation in 1945, usually with strong majorities.- Boundaries :The...
since 1994. She was the first Minister for Children
Minister for Children
The Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families is a Minister of State for Department for Children, Schools and Families in the Government of the United Kingdom. Beverley Hughes held the position from 2006 until May 2010.-History:...
in 2003 and was Minister of State for Culture and Tourism at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is a department of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for culture and sport in England, and some aspects of the media throughout the whole UK, such as broadcasting and internet....
. On 9 June 2010 she was elected Chair of the Public Accounts Committee.
Early life
Margaret Eve Oppenheimer was born in EgyptEgypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
in 1944 to Hans and Lisbeth Oppenheimer, a refugee multi-millionaire German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Jewish steel trader and his Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n Jewish wife. The family's company Stemcor
Stemcor
Stemcor is a British steel trading company. The company is based in London, UK, and has 80 offices in 40 countries around the world, employing more than 1400 people....
is the world's largest privately owned steel-trading corporation, with an annual turnover of £6.28 billion in 2008. After World War II, the family settled in London. Her mother died when Margaret was 10. She was educated at Bromley High School, Oxford High School and the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
where she obtained a third class BSc
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
Economics degree in 1966. She worked in market research
Market research
Market research is any organized effort to gather information about markets or customers. It is a very important component of business strategy...
from 1966 to 1973.
She married Andrew Watson in 1968. They had a son and daughter. The couple divorced in 1978 and that same year she married Henry Hodge
Henry Hodge
Sir Henry Egar Garfield Hodge, OBE , styled The Hon. Mr Justice Hodge, was an English solicitor and judge of the High Court of England and Wales....
(later Sir Henry), going on to have two daughters. Henry Hodge was a fellow Labour borough councillor and Chairman of the National Council for Civil Liberties who went on to become a High Court judge
High Court judge
A High Court judge is a judge of the High Court of Justice, and represents the third highest level of judge in the courts of England and Wales. High Court judges are referred to as puisne judges...
; he died in 2009. From 1992 to 1994, she was a senior consultant for Price Waterhouse.
She has four children and one grandchild.
Islington Council
Hodge was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of IslingtonLondon Borough of Islington
The London Borough of Islington is a London borough in Inner London. It was formed in 1965 by merging the former metropolitan boroughs of Islington and Finsbury. The borough contains two Westminster parliamentary constituencies, Islington North and Islington South & Finsbury...
in 1973. She was associated with a group of newly elected, activist, largely middle-class councillors who were viewed with varying degrees of antagonism by some established Labour Party councillors.
She rapidly became Chairman of the Housing Committee (opting to use "chairman" rather than "chair"). This was a critical post in an authority with one of the worst sets of housing statistics in London and in a period when London Boroughs were expected to be housing providers and managers. Hodge's tenure as Housing Chairman saw the continuation of a large new housing programme. There was a change of emphasis to the refurbishment of sound, older buildings (e.g. Charteris Road, Alexander Road areas), in response to a paper published by the local Islington Housing Action Group. At one point, Hodge's deputy chairman was Jack Straw
Jack Straw
Jack Straw , British politician.Jack Straw may also refer to:* Jack Straw , English* "Jack Straw" , 1971 song by the Grateful Dead* Jack Straw by W...
, subsequently a Cabinet member of Prime Minister Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
's administrations.
The Islington Labour Parties were badly affected by the defection of members and elected public representatives to the Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party (UK, 1979)
The Social Democratic Party was a minor centre left political party founded in Manchester in 1979 by Donald Kean. The party stood one candidate in Warrington at the 1979 UK general election, who received only 144 votes and came bottom of the poll....
but, when the dust had settled, Hodge had emerged as council leader, in 1982, a post which she held until 1992. During her 10 years as leader of Islington Council she was referred to as "Enver Hodge", after the Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
n despot, Enver Hoxha
Enver Hoxha
Enver Halil Hoxha was a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary andthe leader of Albania from the end of World War II until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania...
("Hoxha" is pronounced similarly to "Hodge": "Hodge-a"). She had become the focus of antagonism from "old-guard", former Labour Party members who felt that their party had been "taken over" by middle-class incomers.
The end of her period at Islington, before taking up her Parliamentary career, was marred by criticism of her response (in 1985) to serious child abuse allegations.
Child abuse controversy
In 1985, Demetrious Panton complained about abuse that he had suffered while in the council's care in the 1970s and 1980s. He did not receive an official reply until 1989, in which the council denied responsibility.In 1990 Liz Davies, a senior social worker employed by the borough and her manager David Cofie, raised concerns about sexual abuse
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
of children in Islington Council Care. Correspondence between Hodge and the Director of Social Work indicates that she declined a request for extra resources to investigate. In early 1992, Liz Davies (not to be confused with the barrister and former Islington councillor
Liz Davies
Liz Davies is a British barrister and political activist. She is the daughter of retired Oxford academic and historian of Tudor England, C. S. L. Davies....
) resigned from her post and requested that Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
investigate the allegations. The Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
then began reporting on the allegations of abuse in Islingtons children's homes, shortly after which Hodge resigned to pursue a career with Price Waterhouse
PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest professional services firm measured by revenues and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms....
. In 1995, the White Report into sexual abuse in Islington Care homes reported that the council had failed adequately to investigate the allegations.
In 2003, following Hodge's appointment as Minister for Children, Demetrious Panton went public with his allegation that he was abused in Islington Council care and had repeatedly raised this issue with no effect. He accused Hodge of being ultimately responsible for the abuse that he suffered. Davies also went public with the issues that she had raised concerns about while working for the council.
Following a media campaign conducted by several national newspapers calling for her to resign from her new post, she responded to Panton by letter, in which she referred to him as 'extremely disturbed'. Panton then passed the letter to the press which planned to publish it, only to be judicially restrained from doing so at the instruction of Hodge. The letter was eventually published, mainly on the grounds that the blocking of the letter was seen as disproportionate. Hodge was forced to publicly apologise and offered to contribute to a charity of the man's choosing as recompense.
Parliamentary career
Hodge has been member for Barking since a by-election on 9 June 1994Barking by-election, 1994
The Barking by-election was held on 9 June 1994, following the death of Labour Party Member of Parliament for Barking Jo Richardson. Richardson had represented the seat since the February 1974 general election, following Tom Driberg....
caused by the death of Jo Richardson
Jo Richardson
Josephine Richardson was a British Labour Party politician. At the time of her death she was Member of Parliament for Barking, a post she had held since 1974.-Early life:She was born in Newcastle upon Tyne...
. As a new MP, she co-nominated the candidature of Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, a former neighbour, to be the new leader of the 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...
after the sudden death of John Smith
John Smith (UK politician)
John Smith was a British Labour Party politician who served as Leader of the Labour Party from July 1992 until his sudden death from a heart attack in May 1994...
.
She became a junior minister in 1998 and was made Minister for Universities in 2001, where she sponsored the controversial Higher Education Act 2004
Higher Education Act 2004
The Higher Education Act 2004 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which introduced several changes to the higher education system in the United Kingdom, the most important and controversial being a major change to the funding of universities, and the operation of tuition fees, which...
, and remained there until 2003 when she was made Children's Minister. She was appointed to the Privy Council on 22 June 2003.
Hodge endorses Fair Spend
Fair Spend
Fair Spend are a non profit organisation founded in 2010 which lobbies for students in the UK. The organisation advocates for concessions for students in state funded education, particularly in regards to products and services such as study material, transport and other miscellaneous costs...
, a new student discount initiative set up in 2010.
First Children's Minister and after
Hodge was the first person to be Children's Minister when the post was created in 2003 but suffered difficulties after the Islington controversy; her resignation was called for on several occasions by the press and parliamentary opposition.She was later transferred to less visible posts. Usually viewed as a strong supporter of Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, she appeared to have retained his support despite the hostility of the press.
Privacy International
Privacy International
Privacy International is a UK-based non-profit organisation formed in 1990, "as a watchdog on surveillance and privacy invasions by governments and corporations." PI has organised campaigns and initiatives in more than fifty countries and is based in London, UK.-Formation, background and...
awarded Margaret Hodge the 2004 Big Brother Award for "Worst Public Servant" for her backing of controversial initiatives including the Universal Child Database
Universal Child Database
ContactPoint was a government database that held information on all children under 18 in England. It was created in response to the abuse and death of eight-year-old Victoria Climbié in 2000 in England; in which it was found that various agencies involved in her care had failed to prevent her death...
. At a keynote speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research
Institute for Public Policy Research
The IPPR is the leading progressive think-tank in the UK. It produces research and policy ideas committed to upholding values of social justice, democratic reform and environmental sustainability. IPPR is based in London and IPPR North has branches in Newcastle and Manchester.It was founded in...
on 26 November 2004, Hodge strongly defended the idea of greater state regulation of individuals' choices, stating that "some may call it the nanny state
Nanny state
A nanny state is the perception of a situation characterised by governmental policies of over-protectionism, economic interventionism, or heavy regulation of economic, social or other nature....
but I call it a force for good".
In the same year Fathers 4 Justice
Fathers 4 Justice
Fathers 4 Justice began as a fathers’ rights organisation in the United Kingdom. It became prominent and frequently discussed in the media following a series of high-visibility stunts and protests often in costume. It was temporarily disbanded in January 2006, following allegations of a plot by...
campaigner Jonathan Stanesby handcuffed Hodge, stating he was arresting her for child abuse. Fathers 4 Justice targeted Hodge because she was the "bogeywoman of family law, who doesn't even believe in equal parenting". Stanesby and colleague Jason Hatch were later cleared of a charge false imprisonment after claiming that it was part of a reasonable political protest.
In 2005 she was appointed Minister of State at the Department for Work and Pensions
Department for Work and Pensions
The Department for Work and Pensions is the largest government department in the United Kingdom, created on June 8, 2001 from the merger of the employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security and headed by the Secretary of State for Work and...
with responsibility for Work. On 17 June 2005 was criticised for saying that the former workers of MG Rover would be able to obtain jobs at Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
, a local supermarket. Later, she claimed that this was not what she meant, rather that she had empathy for those losing their jobs, and pointed to a new Tesco supermarket as an example of new jobs being created in the face of the redundancies at the car manufacturing plant.
Hodge and the BNP
In April 2006 she commented in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph that eight out of ten white working classWorking class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
voters in her constituency might be tempted to vote for the British National Party
British National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
(BNP) in the local elections
Local government
Local government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...
on 4 May 2006 because "no one else is listening to them" about their concerns over unemployment, high house prices, and the housing of asylum seekers in the area. She said the Labour Party must promote "very, very strongly the benefits of the new, rich multi-racial society which is part of this part of London for me".
There was wide media coverage of her remarks, and she was strongly criticised for giving the BNP publicity in the local election campaign. The BNP went on to gain 11 seats in the election out of a total of 51, making them the second largest party. Local Labour activists blamed Hodge, and it was reported that moves were under way to deselect her. The GMB wrote to Hodge in May 2006, asking for her to resign as a result of the election.
Later, the then Mayor of London
Mayor of London
The Mayor of London is an elected politician who, along with the London Assembly of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. Conservative Boris Johnson has held the position since 4 May 2008...
, Ken Livingstone
Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstone is an English politician who is currently a member of the centrist to centre-left Labour Party...
, accused Hodge of "magnifying the propaganda of the British National Party" after she said that British residents should get priority in council house allocation. In November 2009, the leader of the BNP, Nick Griffin
Nick Griffin
Nicholas John "Nick" Griffin is a British politician, chairman of the British National Party and Member of the European Parliament for North West England....
, announced that he intended to stand for election in Barking against Hodge at the next General Election, in 2010.
Hodge retained her seat at the May 2010 general election, doubling her majority to over 16,000, following a hugely unsuccessful campaign by the BNP which saw Nick Griffin come third behind the Conservatives, and his party lose all 12 of its seats on Barking and Dagenham Council.
The BNP announced on 2 December 2010 its intention to launch a court action to have the Barking election result overturned under section 106 of the Representation of the People Act
Representation of the People Act
Representation of the People Act is a short title for legislation of the Parliament of the United Kingdom dealing with the electoral system.-List:*The Representation of the People Act 1832*The Representation of the People Act 1832...
1983, using the precedent set in the Oldham and Saddleworth constituency of Phil Woolas
Phil Woolas
Philip James Woolas was a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Oldham East and Saddleworth from his election in 1997 to 2010. He was the Minister of State for Borders and Immigration in the Home Office, as well as being the Minister of State for the Treasury...
who was ejected from his seat for lying about his opponents during the election campaign.
The BNP alleges that Hodge's claim that the BNP wants to expel all non-whites and drop them into the sea from aircraft makes "Mr Woolas’s lies look tame, and are a clear and obvious breach of the same law which saw the Oldham and Saddleworth MP struck down."
Remarks on Tony Blair's foreign policy
On 17 November 2006 it was reported in the Islington Tribune that she described the Iraq war as a "big mistake in foreign affairs". The newspaper, whose content was reported on BBC news, claimed that Hodge had doubts about Blair's "moral imperialism" and had doubted Blair's attitude to foreign affairs since 1998.Housing policy
In an article for The ObserverThe Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
on 20 May 2007 Hodge argued that established families should take priority in the allocation of social housing
Council house
A council house, otherwise known as a local authority house, is a form of public or social housing. The term is used primarily in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Council houses were built and operated by local councils to supply uncrowded, well-built homes on secure tenancies at...
over new economic migrants. These comments were condemned by the Refugee Council
Refugee Council
The Refugee Council is the United Kingdom's leading organisation working with refugees and asylum seekers. The organisation provides support and advice to refugees and asylum seekers, as well as support for other refugee and asylum seeker organisations...
and other bodies working in this field.
Richmond and Bushy Parks controversy
In January 2010, Margaret Hodge announced that Royal Parks, who manage Richmond ParkRichmond Park
Richmond Park is a 2,360 acre park within London. It is the largest of the Royal Parks in London and Britain's second largest urban walled park after Sutton Park, Birmingham. It is close to Richmond, Ham, Kingston upon Thames, Wimbledon, Roehampton and East Sheen...
and Bushy Park
Bushy Park
- External links :***...
in the borough of Richmond on Thames, would be allowed to charge drivers £2 per visit. This announcement caused mass protests across the borough and was deplored by local political figures such as Vince Cable, Susan Kramer
Susan Kramer
Susan Veronica Kramer, Baroness Kramer is a British Liberal Democrat politician. She was Member of Parliament for Richmond Park from 2005 to 2010, having been an unsuccessful candidate in the London mayoral election in 2000....
and Zac Goldsmith
Zac Goldsmith
Frank Zacharias Robin "Zac" Goldsmith, MP is an English environmental journalist, entrepreneur and Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament for Richmond Park since winning the seat at the 2010 general election.Goldsmith is the middle child of the late financier Sir...
.
Alternative medicine
She is a supporter of homeopathyHomeopathy
Homeopathy is a form of alternative medicine in which practitioners claim to treat patients using highly diluted preparations that are believed to cause healthy people to exhibit symptoms that are similar to those exhibited by the patient...
, having signed an early day motion in support of its continued funding on the National Health Service
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
.
Gordon Brown's government
On 27 June 2007, Hodge was appointed Minister of State at the Department for Culture, Media and SportDepartment for Culture, Media and Sport
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is a department of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for culture and sport in England, and some aspects of the media throughout the whole UK, such as broadcasting and internet....
by the new Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
, Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
. As Minister for Culture, Creative Industries and Tourism, she criticised the UK's foremost classical music festival, the Proms, for being insufficiently inclusive, instead praising television shows such as Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
.
Following the cabinet reshuffle of 3 October 2008, it was announced that Hodge was "temporarily leaving Government on compassionate grounds of family illness and will return to Government in the spring". While she was caring for her terminally ill husband, she was replaced as Minister of State by Barbara Follett. On 22 September 2009, Hodge was reappointed Minister of State, as Minister for Culture and Tourism.
External links
- Margaret Hodge MP official constituency website
- Barking Labour Party