Lilian Greenwood
MP
Official portrait, 2020
Member of Parliament
for Nottingham South
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded byAlan Simpson
Majority12,568 (26.1%)
Chair of the Finance Committee
In office
29 January 2020 – 25 May 2021
Preceded byChris Bryant
Succeeded byNick Brown
Chair of the Transport Committee
In office
13 July 2017 – 29 January 2020
Preceded byLouise Ellman
Succeeded byHuw Merriman
Shadow portfolios
Shadow Cabinet
2015–2016Transport
Shadow Frontbench
2023–presentArts, Heritage and Civil Society
2021–2023Deputy Chief Whip
2011–2015Rail
2010–2011Assistant Whip
Personal details
Born
Lilian Rachel Greenwood

(1966-03-26) 26 March 1966 (age 57)
Bolton, Lancashire, England
Political partyLabour
Alma materSt Catharine's College, Cambridge (BA)
Websitewww.liliangreenwood.co.uk

Lilian Rachel Greenwood (born 26 March 1966)[1][2] is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nottingham South since 2010, and the Shadow Minister for Arts, Heritage and Civil Society since 2023.[3]

A former union official, she served as the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport in Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet from 2015 until her resignation in 2016, and as a shadow transport minister under opposition leader Ed Miliband from 2011 to 2015. On the back benches, Greenwood chaired the Transport Select Committee from 2017 to 2020, and the Commons Finance Committee from 2020 to 2021. She served as the Opposition Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Commons since from 2021 to 2023.

Early life and career

Greenwood was born on the 26 March 1966 in Bolton, Lancashire.[4] She attended Canon Slade School, a local Church of England state secondary school, before attending St. Catharine's College, Cambridge.

Moving to Southwell, Nottinghamshire in 1999,[5] Greenwood worked in the county for Unison, the public sector trade union, for 17 years.[6]

Parliamentary career

Greenwood was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the 2010 general election after the incumbent Labour MP, Alan Simpson, announced in 2007 that he would not stand for re-election.[7] She was elected as the MP with 37.3% of the vote, a margin of 4.4% over her closest rival.[8]

Shortly after her election, she joined the Transport Select Committee,[9] and was subsequently appointed as an assistant opposition whip. In late September 2011, she was promoted by Labour leader Ed Miliband to the role of Shadow Minister for Rail, a position she held up to her re-election at the 2015 general election.

Following the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party, on 14 September 2015 she was promoted to the Shadow cabinet as the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport.[10]

Greenwood resigned from the Shadow Cabinet in the aftermath of the 2016 EU referendum, among with dozens of her colleagues, in protest against what she saw as Jeremy Corbyn's weak leadership.[11][12] She supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election.[13]

As a backbencher, Greenwood has chaired the Transport Select Committee and the Commons Finance Committee, and sat on the Liaison Committee, Education Select Committee and Regulatory Reform Committee.[14]

She was re-elected at the 2017 and 2019 General Elections, and backed Lisa Nandy in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election.[15]

On 14 February 2020, Greenwood self-quarantined herself after learning that she and Alex Sobel, another Labour MP, had attended a conference eight days earlier where a confirmed COVID-19 pandemic case had also been in attendance.[16]

Greenwood returned to the opposition front bench in May 2021, when she was appointed by Labour leader Keir Starmer as the Opposition Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Commons for legislation, succeeding Alan Campbell following his promotion to Chief Whip.[17]

References

  1. ^ "No. 59418". The London Gazette. 13 May 2010. p. 8744.
  2. ^ "Your representatives – Lilian Greenwood". Democracy Live. BBC News. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  3. ^ "Meet our Shadow Cabinet". The Labour Party. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  4. ^ "Who's Who". Ukwhoswho.com. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  5. ^ "Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary candidates - Telegraph". Archived from the original on 7 December 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
  6. ^ "Lilian Greenwood". Labour Party. Archived from the original on 7 May 2010. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
  7. ^ Staff writer (18 February 2007). "Blair critic to stand down as MP". BBC News. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  8. ^ Staff writer (7 May 2010). "Election 2010 – Nottingham South". BBC News. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  9. ^ ThisIsNottingham (5 July 2010). "Lilian Greenwood wins seat on transport committee". Nottingham Post. Archived from the original on 14 June 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
  10. ^ Staff writer (14 September 2015). "Five Midlands politicians appointed to new Shadow Cabinet". ITV News. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  11. ^ Syal, Rajeev; Perraudin, Frances; Slawson, Nicola (27 June 2016). "Shadow cabinet resignations: who has gone and who is staying". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  12. ^ Greenwood, Lilian (18 July 2016). "Jeremy Corbyn continually undermined me in the job I loved". New Statesman. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  13. ^ "Full list of MPs and MEPs backing challenger Owen Smith". LabourList. 21 July 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  14. ^ "Lilian Greenwood MP". GOV.UK. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  15. ^ Nowell, Andrew (10 January 2020). "Here are the 23 MPs backing Wigan's Lisa Nandy in the Labour Party leadership contest". Wigan Today. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  16. ^ "Coronavirus: Two MPs axe engagements after attending same conference as COVID-19 patient". Sky News. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  17. ^ Rodgers, Sienna. "Reshuffle: Keir Starmer's new Labour frontbench in full". LabourList. Retrieved 15 May 2021.

External links

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Parliament of the United Kingdom Preceded byAlan Simpson Member of Parliamentfor Nottingham South 2010–present Incumbent Political offices Preceded byMichael Dugher Shadow Secretary of State for Transport 2015–2016 Succeeded byAndy McDonald
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