Welcome to Labour Women's Network
Gordon Brown's new Cabinet
We are delighted
to welcome Harriet Harman MP in the role of Deputy Leader of the Labour
Party, Leader of the House of Commons and our Minister for Women. We
also congratulate one of our founders, Barbara Follett MP who is
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, and
Deputy Minister for Women. And, best of all, for the very first time, a
woman Home Secretary - Jacqui Smith MP. Congratulations to all the
women MPs in the Labour cabinet.
Congratulations
to our Winning Women
Since last year,
parliamentary selections have been taking place. Some of us might argue
that there were not enough All Women Shortlists as we know from
experience that ‘Open’ seats may look open but most of the
time aspirant men will outnumber women. Despite this, women should
still put themselves forward for the Open seats as members are more
astute than given credit, and will sometimes pick the best person for
the job! The same, sadly, cannot be said for the NEC’s
By-election Panel who so far have excelled themselves in not choosing a
female candidate in a winnable seat since 1994. Women should also go
for the less winnable seats as a ‘starter’ to get
experience and ‘rehearse’ the role of candidate. However,
all is not doom and gloom - party members in the following
constituencies have selected wonderful women candidates for the next
General Election. LWN and EMILY know very well what it costs, both
financially and in time and effort, to become a candidate and we
congratulate them all. And we are still in the lead over the Tories and
Lib-Dems for selecting more women in good seats. [Seats currently held
by Labour are indicated with an asterisk]:
| Basingstoke |
Funda Pepperell |
| Bath |
Harriet Ajderian |
| Bermondsey & Old Southwark |
Kirsty McNeill |
| Bethnal Green and Bow |
Rushanara Ali |
| Bolton South East * |
Yasmin Qureshi |
| Bournemouth West |
Sharon Carr-Brown |
| Brighton Pavilion * |
Nancy Platts |
| Broadland, Norfolk |
Allyson Barron |
| Camborne and Redruth |
Judith Robinson |
| Hemel Hempstead |
Ayfer Orhan |
| Hornsey and Wood Green |
Karen Jennings |
| Leeds West * |
Rachel Reeves |
| Manchester, Withington |
Lucy Powell |
| Mid Norfolk |
Elizabeth Hughes |
Training
and Support
LWN
has an ongoing Training Programme for all women in the Labour Party who
are interested in seeking selection to public office. This includes
local government, the Scottish Parliament, Welsh National Assembly, the
Greater London Assembly, European Parliament and Westminster
Parliament. If you are a LWN subscriber we provide a ‘CV Support
Service’ by email. Our subscription for Labour Party women
members is still only £15 for waged, and £5 low/unwaged
(press the button for JOIN US).
We also provide one day events, if enough women are interested in
taking part, in public speaking and presentation skills, and writing a
speech and, on request, training for other relevant skills. If you are
interested, please email LWN@Oaksey.com.
[Last updated October 2007].
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