Maria Eagle | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Minister of State for Defence Procurement and Industry | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 8 July 2024 – 6 September 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Keir Starmer | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | James Cartlidge | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Luke Pollard | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Minister of State for Justice and Equalities[a] | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 2 July 2007 – 6 May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Gordon Brown | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Gerry Sutcliffe | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Crispin Blunt | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children in Northern Ireland | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 6 May 2006 – 28 June 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Jeff Rooker | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Office abolished | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 17 June 2005 – 6 May 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Margaret Hodge | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Beverley Hughes | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Disabled People | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 11 June 2001 – 17 June 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Margaret Hodge | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Anne McGuire | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of Parliament forLiverpool Garston Garston and Halewood (2010–2024) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 1 May 1997 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Eddie Loyden | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Majority | 20,104 (47.9%) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1961-02-17)17 February 1961 (age 64) Bridlington,East Riding of Yorkshire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Labour | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Relatives | Angela Eagle (sister) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | |||||||||||||||||||||
Maria Eagle (born 17 February 1961) is a BritishLabour Party politician who has been theMember of Parliament (MP) forLiverpool Garston, previouslyGarston and Halewood, since1997. She served as a junior minister in the governments ofTony Blair,Gordon Brown andKeir Starmer.
The twin sister ofAngela Eagle, also a Labour MP, Eagle was born in theEast Riding of Yorkshire to a working-class family and raised inMerseyside. She studiedPhilosophy, politics and economics atPembroke College, Oxford and Law at theCollege of Law, London. After graduating with her law degree, she worked as anarticled clerk and solicitor in both London andLiverpool. After unsuccessfully contestingCrosby in1992, she was elected as MP forLiverpool Garston at the1997 general election.
Under Tony Blair, Eagle was a junior minister at theDepartment for Work and Pensions,Department for Education and Skills andNorthern Ireland Office. She wasMinister of State at theMinistry of Justice andGovernment Equalities Office under Gordon Brown. Following the2010 general election, Eagle becameShadow Solicitor General for England and Wales. She served in theShadow cabinet asShadow Transport Secretary,Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary,Shadow Defence Secretary and finallyShadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary. Sheresigned from theCorbyn shadow cabinet in June 2016. She returned to the frontbench as Shadow Minister for Procurement in 2023.
Maria Eagle was born on 17 February 1961 inBridlington,[1] the daughter of Shirley (née Kirk), a factory worker, and André Eagle, a print worker.[2][3] She was educated at St Peter's Church of England School inFormby,Merseyside andFormby High School before attendingPembroke College, Oxford, where she graduated with aBachelor of Arts degree inPhilosophy, politics and economics in 1983.[4]
Eagle worked in the voluntary sector from 1983 to 1990, and then went to theCollege of Law,London, where she took her law finals in 1990, before she joined Brian Thompson & Partners inLiverpool as anarticled clerk in 1990. In 1992 she became a solicitor with Goldsmith Williams in Liverpool, and later a Solicitor at Stephen Irving & Co also in Liverpool, where she remained until her election toWestminster.[4]
After joining the Labour Party, Eagle was elected the secretary of theCrosby Constituency Labour Party (CLP) for two years in 1983,[5] and was also elected as the campaigns organiser with that CLP for three years in 1993.[5]
At the1992 general election, Eagle stood as theLabour Party candidate inCrosby, coming second with 25.7% of the vote behind the incumbentConservative MPMalcolm Thornton.[6][7][8]
Prior to the1997 general election, Eagle was selected through anall-women shortlist to stand as the Labour candidate inLiverpool Garston.[9][10] Eagle was elected to Parliament as MP for Liverpool Garston with 61.3% of the vote and a majority of 18,417.[11] She made hermaiden speech on 17 June 1997.[12]
She became a member of the Public Accounts Committee and in 1999 she was appointed theParliamentary Private Secretary to theMinister of State at theDepartment of Health,John Hutton. Her proposed ban onmink fur farming was defeated as aPrivate member's bill but subsequently picked up by the government and enacted as theFur Farming (Prohibition) Act 2000.[13]
Eagle was re-elected as MP for Liverpool Garston at the2001 general election with an increased vote share of 61.4% and a decreased majority of 12,494.[14]
Eagle was promoted to theTony Blair government following the2001 general election as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at theDepartment for Work and Pensions.
At the2005 general election, Eagle was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 54% and a decreased majority of 7,193.[15] Following the election, she was theMinister for Children at the Department for Education and Skills, until the May 2006 reshuffle moved her toNorthern Ireland, where she was minister forEmployment and Learning.
Eagle was moved to theMinistry of Justice when Gordon Brown becamePrime Minister in June 2007. In September 2008, she was nominated for Stonewall Politician of the Year for her work to support equality for lesbian, gay and bisexual people.[16] As part of the government reshuffle in October 2008, she assumed additional responsibility forEqualities. In the June 2009 reshuffle, she was promoted toMinister of State.[5]
On 17 May 2009, during theUnited Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal,The Daily Telegraph revealed that Eagle had claimed £3,500 for the refurbishment of the bathroom of her Liverpool home, then switched her second home designation to a different property four months later. Eagle voted in favour of legislation which would have kept MPs' expenses information secret.[17]
Prior to the2010 general election, Eagle's constituency ofLiverpool Garston was abolished, and replaced withGarston and Halewood. At the 2010 general election, Eagle was elected to Parliament as MP for Garston and Halewood with 59.5% of the vote and a majority of 16,877.[18]
Following the election, she served in interim Labour leaderHarriet Harman's frontbench asShadow Solicitor General for England and Wales and Shadow Minister for Justice.[5][19][20] In October 2010 Eagle was elected to theShadow cabinet of new Labour Party leaderEd Miliband as Shadow Secretary of State for Transport in theLabour Party Shadow Cabinet election.[21]
In February 2013, she voted in favour in the House of Commons Second Reading vote on marriage equality in Britain.[22]
At the2015 general election, Eagle was re-elected as MP for Garston and Halewood with an increased vote share of 69.1% and an increased majority of 27,146.[23][24]
Eagle was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Defence in September 2015 by newly elected Labour leaderJeremy Corbyn.[25][26] She said she was surprised by her appointment as she had disagreed with Corbyn's advocacy of unilateral nuclear disarmament and supported the renewal of theTrident nuclear weapons system.[27] Tasked with leading Labour's defence review, she said she would not rule out the possibility of it recommending unilateral disarmament.[27] However, she described Corbyn commenting he would not countenance using a nuclear deterrent as "unhelpful" to the policy process.[28]
In January 2016, Eagle was moved to the position ofShadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.[29] She resigned from the shadow cabinet on 27 June 2016 in themass resignation of the Shadow Cabinet following the Brexit referendum.[30]
She supportedOwen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the2016 Labour leadership election.[31]
At the snap2017 general election, Eagle was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 77.7% and an increased majority of 32,149.[32] She was again re-elected at the2019 general election, with a decreased vote share of 72.3% and a decreased majority of 31,624.[33]
She is a supporter ofLabour Friends of Israel.[34]
On 15 February 2023, she was appointed as a member of thePrivy Council.[35]
In the2023 British shadow cabinet reshuffle, she was appointed Shadow Minister for Procurement.[36]
Due to the2023 review of Westminster constituencies, Eagle's constituency of Garston and Halewood was abolished, and replaced withLiverpool Garston. At the2024 general election, Eagle was elected to Parliament as MP for Liverpool Garston with 58.4% of the vote and a majority of 20,104.[37] She was appointed asMinister of State for Defence Procurement and Industry on 8 July.[38][39]
In November 2024, Eagle voted in favour of theTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which proposes to legaliseassisted suicide.[40]
Eagle left the government in the2025 British cabinet reshuffle.[41]
Following her initial election, Eagle joined her twin sisterAngela in Parliament.[b] Maria describes herself as "the straight one", while Angela is a lesbian.[43]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forLiverpool Garston 1997–2010 | Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forGarston and Halewood 2010–2024 | Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forLiverpool Garston 2024–present | Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Minister for Disabled People 2001–2005 | Succeeded by |
| Minister for Children and Families 2005–2006 | Succeeded by | |
| Preceded by | Minister for Children in Northern Ireland 2006–2007 | Office abolished |
| Preceded by | Minister of State for Justice and Equalities 2007–2010 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Solicitor General for England and Wales 2010 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for Transport 2010–2013 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 2013–2015 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for Defence 2015–2016 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 2016 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
