Kate Hollern | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2020 | |||||||||||||
| Member of Parliament for Blackburn | |||||||||||||
| Assumed office 7 May 2015 | |||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Jack Straw | ||||||||||||
| Majority | 18,304 (40.9%) | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council | |||||||||||||
| In office 14 September 2010 – 1 April 2015 | |||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Michael Lee | ||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Mohammed Khan | ||||||||||||
| In office 1 July 2004 – 17 May 2007 | |||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Bill Taylor | ||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Colin Rigby | ||||||||||||
| Member of Blackburn with Darwen Council | |||||||||||||
| In office 4 May 1995 – 7 May 2015 | |||||||||||||
| Ward | Bank Top (1995–1997) Wensley Fold (1997–2015) | ||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Christine Cramsie | ||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Quesir Mahmood | ||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||
| Born | Catherine Malloy Hollern 12 April 1955 Dumbarton, Scotland | ||||||||||||
| Political party | Labour | ||||||||||||
| Spouse | John Roberts (died 2017) | ||||||||||||
| Website | Official website | ||||||||||||
Catherine Malloy Hollern (born 12 April 1955) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Blackburn since 2015. A member of the Labour Party, she served as Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council from 2004 to 2007 and 2010 to 2015.
Catherine Malloy Hollern was born on 12 April 1955 in Dumbarton, Scotland.[1][2] She moved to Blackburn in the late 1970s.[3] Hollern worked as a manager at a footwear factory, before becoming a manager at Blackburn College.[3]
At the 1995 local elections, Hollern was elected to represent Bank Top on Blackburn with Darwen Council.[4] She defeated the incumbent councillor, a former Labour representative standing as a Labour independent.
Re-elected to represent Wensley Fold following boundary changes in 1997,[5] she succeeded Bill Taylor to become Council Leader in 2004. Continuing as group leader after Labour lost control in 2007, she returned to lead the Council once they regained power in 2010.[6]
Hollern stepped down as Council Leader ahead of the 2015 general election, and didn't seek re-election to the Council in the local election of the same year.[7]
In March 2014, Hollern was selected, using an all-women shortlist, to succeed former cabinet minister Jack Straw as Labour's candidate for the constituency of Blackburn.[8] She was elected in the 2015 general election.[9][10][11] Hollern served as a Shadow Defence Minister from January 2016 to October 2016, following the resignation of Kevan Jones.
She supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the leadership election.[12] On 10 October 2016, she was appointed Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government.[13] In July 2017, Hollern was also appointed as Corbyn's Parliamentary Private Secretary.[14]
Following Keir Starmer's election as Labour leader, Hollern served as Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government from 2020. She resigned on 12 May 2021 after being accused of trying to "isolate a parliamentary worker who had made allegations of sexual harassment" against former Labour MP Mike Hill.[15]
Her partner was Labour Party councillor John Roberts, until his death in February 2017 from cancer.[16] She has two daughters.[3][16]
