Lynne Featherstone

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lynne Choona Featherstone (born December 20, 1951) in North London and educated at the Highgate Primary School, South Hampstead High School and Oxford Polytechnic, is a British politician, being the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Hornsey and Wood Green. She has lived in the Hornsey and Wood Green constituency for over thirty years. Her family's wealth is generated from a family business started by her parents - the Ryness chain of hardware and electrical shops in London. She lives in Highgate on the western side of the constituency.

Contents 1 London Borough of Haringey 1998-2002 2 Contest of Hornsey and Wood Green 1997-2005 3 Member of the London Assembly 2000-2005 4 2006 Haringey Council elections 5 References 6 External links

[edit] London Borough of Haringey 1998-2002

She was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Haringey in 1998 for Muswell Hill ward. She and her two colleagues (June Andersen and Julia Glenn) were the first three Liberal Democrat councillors to be elected in the borough. She was leader of Liberal Democrat Group (and thereby Leader of the Opposition) on the council 1998-2002.

[edit] Contest of Hornsey and Wood Green 1997-2005

She contested the Hornsey and Wood Green seat at the 1997 General Election where she finished in third place some 25,998 votes behind the winner Barbara Roche. She again contested Hornsey and Wood Green at the 2001 General Election, moving into second place and reducing Roche's majority to 10,614. In one of the largest overturns of majorities at the 2005 General Election Featherstone ousted Roche with a majority of 2,395 votes. She made her maiden speech on May 24, 2005 [1]. In Parliament, Lynne Featherstone was appointed as a junior home affairs spokeswoman by Charles Kennedy in 2005, and to the environment audit select committee. She was co-chair of Chris Huhne's unsuccessful campaign to be leader of the Liberal Democrats following the resignation of Charles Kennedy in January 2006. In March 2006, following the election of Menzies Campbell as Liberal Democrat leader, she was promoted to number two in the Liberal Democrat home affairs team and made London spokesperson.

[edit] Member of the London Assembly 2000-2005

From 2000 until 2005 she was a member of the London Assembly, but stepped down in order to concentrate on her work as an MP. She was replaced as a member of the London Assembly by Geoff Pope. In 2005 a speech she made pointing out that local councillors receive an allowance which they could use to free up time to do council work by hiring domestic cleaners and babysitters was used against her by opponents. A transcript of this speech was reported in the Evening Standard newspaper.[2]

[edit] 2006 Haringey Council elections

She stood down from Haringey Council at the May 2006 elections. She played a substantial role in the May 2006 election campaign in Haringey where Labour's majority was cut from 25 to 3, with 30 Labour councillors elected to 27 Liberal Democrats. In 2006 she was shortlisted in the "Rising Stars" category of the Channel 4 political awards, but did not win.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Lynne Featherstone MP profile at the site of Liberal Democrats
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Lynne Featherstone MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Lynne Featherstone MP
• The Public Whip - Lynne Featherstone MP voting record
• MayorWatch Interview with Lynne Featherstone
• Article by Lynne Featherstone for Liberal Review

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by: Barbara Roche	Member of Parliament for Hornsey and Wood Green 2005 – present	Incumbent