Rachel Anne Squire (July 13, 1954 – January 5, 2006) was a British politician. She was
LabourThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
Member of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
for
Dunfermline WestDunfermline West was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1983 until 2005.- Boundaries:...
and then
Dunfermline and West FifeDunfermline and West Fife is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 2005 general election from all of the old Dunfermline West and parts of the old Dunfermline East constituencies....
in
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
from
1992The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party.John Major had won the leadership election in November 1990 succeeding the outgoing PM Margaret Thatcher....
until her death after a long series of illnesses.
Squire was born in
SurreySurrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire, and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. She attended the private all-female
Godolphin and Latymer SchoolThe Godolphin and Latymer School is an independent school for 700 girls aged eleven to eighteen in London. Miss Margaret Rudland was the head mistress of the school for over 20 years, but she has now been replaced by Mrs Ruth Mercer.-History:...
, in Hammersmith and then proceeding to a degree in Anthropology at
Durham UniversityDurham University is a university in Durham, England. It was founded as the University of Durham by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837...
, and a social work qualification at Birmingham University.
Rachel Anne Squire (July 13, 1954 – January 5, 2006) was a British politician. She was
LabourThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
Member of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
for
Dunfermline WestDunfermline West was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1983 until 2005.- Boundaries:...
and then
Dunfermline and West FifeDunfermline and West Fife is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 2005 general election from all of the old Dunfermline West and parts of the old Dunfermline East constituencies....
in
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
from
1992The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party.John Major had won the leadership election in November 1990 succeeding the outgoing PM Margaret Thatcher....
until her death after a long series of illnesses.
Squire was born in
SurreySurrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire, and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. She attended the private all-female
Godolphin and Latymer SchoolThe Godolphin and Latymer School is an independent school for 700 girls aged eleven to eighteen in London. Miss Margaret Rudland was the head mistress of the school for over 20 years, but she has now been replaced by Mrs Ruth Mercer.-History:...
, in Hammersmith and then proceeding to a degree in Anthropology at
Durham UniversityDurham University is a university in Durham, England. It was founded as the University of Durham by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837...
, and a social work qualification at Birmingham University. After university, Squire became a social worker, also working in factories and other manual jobs. She became a full-time official with
NupeThe Nupe, tradititionally called the Tapa by the neighbouring Yoruba, are an ethnic group located primarily in the middle belt and northern Nigeria and are the dominant group in Niger and an important minority in Kwara State.-History:...
, the public sector union, later part of
UNISONUNISON is the second largest trade union in the United Kingdom with over 1.3 million members.The union was formed in 1993 when three public sector trade unions, the National Association of Local Government Officers , the National Union of Public Employees and the Confederation of Health Service...
. Working for the union took her to
MerseysideMerseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. Taking its name from the River Mersey, Merseyside came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974, after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, and the county consists of five metropolitan...
, and then to Scotland where she became the union's education officer. She served on the Labour Party's Scottish Executive.
Work in Parliament
Rachel Squire was known as 'one of the most committed and successful constituency advocates in Parliament'. She worked to get regeneration funds for her constituency, campaigned for the
Rosyth DockyardRosyth Dockyard is a large naval dockyard in Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, which today primarily undertakes refitting of Royal Navy surface vessels. Rosyth Dockyard is owned by Babcock PLC.-History:...
and secured funds to put off the closure of the
Longannet coal mine-History:Longannet was the remnant of three mines, established in the 1960's. Built on the north side of the Firth of Forth, east of Kincardine, it connected with the Bogside, Castlehill and Solsgirth Collieries, forming a single, five miles long, tunnel...
.
In Parliament, Squire was a member of Defence Select Committee and served as
PPSPPS may refer to:In commerce and industry* Participating preferred stock or participating preferred share.* Purchasing Power Standard....
to Education ministers
Stephen ByersStephen John Byers is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Tyneside North since 1992 and has served in the Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the...
and
Estelle MorrisEstelle Morris, Baroness Morris of Yardley PC is a British Labour politician and member of the House of Lords. She was briefly a member of the Cabinet.-Early life:Morris was born in Manchester to a political family...
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 June 2, 2005, she was admitted to hospital after suffering a
strokeA stroke is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by thrombosis or embolism or due to a hemorrhage...
, thought to have been caused by bleeding stemming from the second brain tumor. She did not recover, and died on January 5, 2006.
In response to her death
Tony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair is a British politician who served as 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...
MPA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
,
Prime MinisterA prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. The position is usually held by, but need not always be held by, a politician. In many systems, the prime minister selects and can dismiss other members of the cabinet, and...
and leader of the
Labour PartyThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
, said:
"I am deeply saddened to learn of Rachel Squire’s death, Rachel was a fighter both politically and personally. She fought hard for her constituents, for our party but, above all, for the people who look to us to help them improve life for their families. She also won the respect of all who knew her for the brave and dignified way she fought her long illness. She will be greatly missed by her colleagues and many friends. All our thoughts are with Alan at this sad time. "
Her death prompted the
Dunfermline and West Fife by-electionThe Dunfermline and West Fife by-election, in Dunfermline and western Fife, Scotland, was held on 9 February 2006 following the death of sitting Labour MP Rachel Squire on 6 January. The by-election was the first seat to change hands in the 2005 Parliament when Willie Rennie won the seat for the...
, held on February 9 2006, in which her former seat was won by
Willie RennieWillie Rennie is the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Dunfermline and West Fife.-Early life:Rennie was born in Fife and grew up in Strathmiglo. His family ran the village shop and still live there...
for the
Liberal DemocratsThe Liberal Democrats, often shortened to Lib Dems or just Liberals, are a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom, formed in 1988 by a merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party; the two parties had been in alliance for seven years, from shortly after the formation of...
.
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