Gisela Stuart
Birmingham Edgbaston | |
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In office 1 May 1997 – 3 May 2017 | |
Preceded by | Jill Knight |
Succeeded by | Preet Gill |
Personal details | |
Born | Gisela Gschaider 26 November 1955 Velden, Bavaria, West Germany |
Citizenship | British |
Political party |
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Spouses |
|
Children | 2 |
Alma mater |
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Occupation | First Civil Service Commissioner |
Website | Commission Website |
Gisela Stuart, Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston (
Born and raised in
After she had left Parliament, Stuart was appointed by the Conservative government as chair of
Baroness Stuart was appointed as the First Civil Service Commissioner in March 2022.[3]
Early life
Gisela Gschaider was born in
She graduated from the
In 1994, as Gisela Gschaider, Stuart contested the
Parliamentary career
In 1995, Stuart was selected as Labour's parliamentary candidate for the
During the First Blair ministry, Stuart served on the Social Security Select Committee and in 1998 as PPS to Home Office Minister of State Paul Boateng, before joining the government in 1999 as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health. Stuart left this post in the reshuffle that followed after the 2001 election.[10] Her election agent in that election was John Clancy, who became Leader of Birmingham City Council in 2015.[11]
In Blair's second ministry, Stuart was appointed as one of the UK Parliamentary Representatives to the European Convention, which was tasked with drawing up a new constitution for the European Union. In this capacity, Stuart also served as one of the thirteen members of the Convention's Presidium – the steering group responsible for managing the business of the Convention and which drafted the text of the constitution then approved by the full Convention.
After the draft Constitution emerged, Stuart became one of the most trenchant critics of the proposal, stating that it had been drawn up by a "self-selected group of the European political elite" determined to deepen European integration. She subsequently expounded these views in a 2004
In October 2004, she became the only Labour MP who openly supported the
Between 2001 and 2010, Stuart also served as a member of the House of Commons Select Committee on Foreign Affairs.[10]
She retained her seat at the 2005 election but her majority was halved in both percentage and numerical terms. Despite the predictions of the pundits, Stuart went on to retain the seat at the 2010 general election, against a national tide of Labour defeat. The election resulted in the first hung parliament in 36 years, with the Conservatives having the most seats.[16] It earned her the title of Survivor of the Year at The Spectator magazine's 2010 Parliamentarian of the Year awards, which was presented to her by the new Conservative Prime Minister, David Cameron.[17] She retained her seat at the 2015 election with a majority of 2,706 votes, more than double her majority from 2010.[18] She joined the Commons Select Committee on Defence.[10]
Stuart is a signatory of the Henry Jackson Society principles, which promote the spread of liberal democracy across the world and the maintenance of a strong military with global expeditionary reach.[19]
She was sworn in as a member of the
Since 2015, Stuart has been a Steering Committee member of the Constitution Reform Group (CRG), a cross-party pressure group of current and former politicians, academics, constitutional law experts, former officials in Parliament and government and ordinary citizens.
She announced on 19 April 2017 that she would not seek re-election at the
In 2019, Stuart announced she would vote for the Conservative Party in the 2019 general election.[25] She remained a member of the Labour Party after the election.[26]
In the 2019 Dissolution Honours, Stuart was given a life peerage; she initially sat as a non-affiliated peer before becoming a Crossbencher.[27]
Vote Leave
Stuart served as Chair of Vote Leave, the body which was designated by the Electoral Commission as the official campaign in favour of leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum on European Union membership. Other spokespersons for Vote Leave included Conservative MPs Boris Johnson and Michael Gove. There were various other groups advocating for Leave, officially working independently of Vote Leave, including UKIP and the Labour Leave.
In the BBC's two-hour televised debate on the EU referendum, Stuart appeared on the "Leave" panel, along with the Conservative MPs Andrea Leadsom and Boris Johnson.[28]
Stuart's own constituency of Birmingham Edgbaston voted to Remain in the EU.[29]
After stepping down at the
Outside of politics
In 2016, Stuart became the sixth President of the Birmingham Bach Choir.[32]
Stuart became the chair of Wilton Park, an executive agency of the UK Foreign Office dedicated to conflict resolution in international relations, on 1 October 2018.[33] From 2020-2022 Stuart was the lead non-executive board member of the Cabinet Office. She was appointed as First Civil Service Commissioner in March 2022.
Stuart was appointed an Honorary Captain in the Royal Naval Reserve in July 2021.[34]
In 2021, Stuart was appointed chair of the Royal Mint Advisory Committee for a term of five years from 1 March 2021 to 28 February 2026.[35]
Personal life
She is a
Notes
- ^ In the selective German education system, a "realschule" is a school for adolescents with average academic abilities.
References
- ^ a b C. K. Jones, The People's University (London, 2008), p. 33
- ^ "Parliamentary career for Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston". House of Lords.
- ^ "Appointment of Baroness Gisela Stuart to the post of First Civil Service Commissioner". gov.uk. 3 March 2022. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
- ^ Prince, Rosa (2 June 2017). "Why I'm standing down from Parliament: Gisela Stuart, MP for Birmingham, Edgbaston". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2019.(subscription required)
- ^ Chakelian, Anoosh (30 November 2016). ""There is more to write about": Labour eurosceptic Gisela Stuart accuses journalists of hamming up Brexit hate crime". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
- ^ "Vote2001: Candidates – Gisela Stuart". news.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 May 2004. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
- ^ "Gisela Stuart – graduated 1993 | University of London International Programmes". www.londoninternational.ac.uk. 27 September 2011. Archived from the original on 7 April 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- ^ "European Institute". Europeaninstitute.bg. 28 August 2007. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
- ^ a b c "Gisela Stuart Biography". Archived from the original on 15 September 2014. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- ^ Elkes, Neil (23 November 2015). "Find out all about the new leader of Birmingham City Council John Clancy". Birmingham Mail. Archived from the original on 25 November 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
- ^ "The Making of Europe's Constitution".
- ^ "Labour MP Gisela Stuart: UK should leave European Union". BBC News. Archived from the original on 11 January 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
- ^ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/mar/29/eu.politics.
- ^ Hennessy, Patrick (31 October 2004). "Anti-Kerry remarks by Labour MP put Blair on the spot". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 17 April 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
- ^ "Birmingham City Council: General Election 2010". GB-BIR: Birmingham.gov.uk. 6 May 2010. Archived from the original on 8 May 2010. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
- ^ "Gisela Stuart Survivor of the Year Award". Archived from the original on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
- ^ "Ms Gisela Stuart MP". UK Parliament. Archived from the original on 8 June 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
- ^ "Signatories to the Statement of Principles". The Henry Jackson Society. 28 November 2011. Archived from the original on 8 August 2010. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
- ^ "Privy Counsellors – Privy Council". privycouncil.independent.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 13 July 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
- ^ "Home". Constitution Reform Group. Archived from the original on 8 October 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
- ^ "Act of Union Bill [HL] 2017–19 — UK Parliament". services.parliament.uk.
- ^ D'Arcy, Mark (15 December 2019). "Ten names to keep an eye on in Parliament". BBC News.
- ^ Kirkham, David (29 April 2017). "Preet Gill Confirmed As Labour Candidate For Edgbaston". Redbrick (student newspaper). University of Birmingham. Archived from the original on 12 May 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
- ^ "Ex-Labour MP urges voters to back Boris Johnson to deliver Brexit". Evening Standard. 29 November 2019. Archived from the original on 11 December 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
- ^ Sparrow, Andrew (30 December 2019). "Brexit: Boris Johnson will have to break his promise not to extend transition, EU trade commissioner claims – as it happened" – via www.theguardian.com.
- ^ "Queen confers Peerages: 31 July 2020". GOV.UK. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
- ^ "EU referendum: Leave and Remain clash in BBC Great Debate". BBC News. 22 June 2016. Archived from the original on 4 February 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- ^ Brown, Graeme (28 June 2016). "Birmingham Leave MPs' constituencies voted Remain". birminghammail. Archived from the original on 29 March 2018. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
- ^ "Revealed: How a former Labour MP inadvertently laid the groundwork for Brexit". The Telegraph. 2 June 2017. Archived from the original on 7 June 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
- ^ "Article 50: May signs letter that will trigger Brexit". BBC News. 28 March 2017. Archived from the original on 27 July 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
- ^ Arts Professional, Arts People, published 11 Nov 2016, https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/faces/birmingham-mp-gisela-stuart-lead-chamber-choir Archived 1 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Foreign & Commonwealth Office announce new Chair of Wilton Park". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 25 November 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
- ^ "No. 63542". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 November 2021. p. 21618.
- ^ "Appointments made to the Royal Mint Advisory Committee". GOV.UK. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
- ^ Lee, Ceridwen (27 August 2015). "Fall in number of Catholic MPs in the House of Commons ahead of landmark debate on assisted dying". The Tablet. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
External links
- Gisela Stuart MP official site at the Wayback Machine (archived 22 January 2017)
- Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Gisela Stuart MP at the Wayback Machine (archived 6 February 2006)
- TheyWorkForYou.com – Gisela Stuart MP
- "Ms Gisela Stuart – Contributions". Hansard Online. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- "Spiegel Interview with UK Parliamentarian Gisela Stuart". Spiegel Online. 22 June 2005. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- "The health minister answers your questions". BBC News. 30 September 1999. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- Gisela Stuart page, BBC Politics at the Wayback Machine (archived 12 April 2009)
- Appearances on C-SPAN