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Line 1: − '''Margaret Beckett''', born 15 January 1943, is a British [[Labour Party]] politician and the current Foreign Secretary of the [[United Kingdom]]. She is the first woman to hold the office of Foreign Secretary, and between May and July 1994 was also the first woman to serve as leader of the [[Labour Party]].<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/05/05/britain.beckett/index.html UK has first woman foreign secretary], CNN, 5 May 2006</ref><ref>[http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page1383.asp Margaret Beckett - Profile] at the 10 Downing Street official website</ref>+ − − ==Biography== − Beckett was born in 1943 in [[Ashton-under-Lyne]], [[England]]; her maiden name was Margaret Jackson. Her mother was a [[Roman Catholic]],<ref>[http://politics.guardian.co.uk/profiles/story/0,,457896,00.html Margaret Beckett], Guardian Unlimited</ref> and her sister is a Catholic nun. She attended Notre Dame High School, a state-funded Catholic school in [[Norwich]], [[England]]. − − She is married to Leo Beckett, who is 15 years her senior.<ref>[http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/article1215902.ece Margaret Beckett: Pack it in! Leave it alone!], The Independent, 22 June 2007</ref> − − ==Political career== − She was elected in 1974 to the [[House of Commons]], representing [[Lincoln]]. She served as a Labour Party [[Whip]] in the government of then-Prime Minister [[James Callaghan]]. However, she lost her seat in the 1979 general election. − − Elected again to Parliament representing [[Derby]] South in 1983, she was elected as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in 1992, the first woman to hold that position. On the death of former party leader [[John Smith]] in May 1994, she served as leader of the Labour Party between May and July 1994, when [[Tony Blair]] was elected as party leader. − − ===In government=== − After the Labour victory in the 1997 election, she held several posts in [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|Cabinet]]. Between 2001 and 2006, she was [[Secretary of State]] for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. − − During 2006, her department was blamed for a mismanagement of [[European Union]] farm subsidies which cost the British government £500 million in EU fines. A Parliamentary committee report published in March 2007 called on her to resign because of this failure.<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/29/nfarms29.xml Beckett should be sacked over farm payments fiasco, say MPs], Daily Telegraph, 30 March 2007</ref> − − ==References== − <references/> − − [[Category:United Kingdom Politics]]
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