Ruth Kelly | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait,c. 2004–05 | |
| Secretary of State for Transport | |
| In office 28 June 2007 – 3 October 2008 | |
| Prime Minister | Gordon Brown |
| Preceded by | Douglas Alexander |
| Succeeded by | Geoff Hoon |
| Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government | |
| In office 5 May 2006 – 28 June 2007 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | David Miliband[a] John Prescott[b] |
| Succeeded by | Hazel Blears |
| Minister for Women | |
| In office 5 May 2006 – 28 June 2007 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Tessa Jowell |
| Succeeded by | Harriet Harman[c] |
| Secretary of State for Education and Skills | |
| In office 15 December 2004 – 5 May 2006 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Charles Clarke |
| Succeeded by | Alan Johnson |
| Financial Secretary to the Treasury | |
| In office 15 May 2002 – 15 December 2004 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Paul Boateng |
| Succeeded by | Stephen Timms |
| Economic Secretary to the Treasury | |
| In office 8 June 2001 – 15 May 2002 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Melanie Johnson |
| Succeeded by | John Healey |
| Member of Parliament forBolton West | |
| In office 1 May 1997 – 12 April 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Tom Sackville |
| Succeeded by | Julie Hilling |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1968-05-09)9 May 1968 (age 56) Limavady,County Londonderry,Northern Ireland, UK |
| Political party | Labour (1990–2018) |
| Spouse | Derek Gadd |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | The Queen's College, Oxford London School of Economics |
Ruth Maria Kelly (born 9 May 1968) is the chair of Water UK, the trade association representing all of the water and wastewater companies of the United Kingdom.
She was previously a BritishLabour Partypolitician who served as theMember of Parliament (MP) forBolton West from1997 until she stood down in2010. Previously, she served as theSecretary of State for Transport,Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government,Minister for Women and Equality andSecretary of State for Education and Skills, serving under bothGordon Brown andTony Blair.
Kelly was born inLimavady,County Londonderry,Northern Ireland. Her mother was a teacher and her father ran a pharmacy. Her maternal grandfather had been the teacher of a village school inAltishane, County Tyrone. She lived briefly in theRepublic of Ireland before moving to England, where she was educated at a number of private schools. She initially attended Edgarley Hall, thepreparatory school forMillfield School. She was then educated at the independentSutton High School, run by theGirls' Day School Trust (GDST) After being moved up a year and sittingO-levels at Sutton High School at the age of 15, she decided to move back toIreland to look after her ill grandmother. Her grandmother died after six weeks, but Kelly stayed for a year, living with her aunt and taking A-level French. She returned to England on winning a scholarship to thesixth-form ofWestminster School.[1][2]
Kelly then enrolled atThe Queen's College, Oxford, where she studiedPhilosophy, Politics and Economics in 1986 (having originally won a place to study medicine), graduating in 1989. She then undertook postgraduate study at theLondon School of Economics, where she was awarded aMSc degree in economics in 1992.[2]
Kelly taught atUniversity of Navarra, after she joined the Labour Party in 1990, becoming a member of the party'sBethnal Green and Stepneyconstituency party.[citation needed]
She was an economics writer forThe Guardian from 1990, before becoming deputy head of theInflation Report Division of theBank of England in 1994.
She married Derek John Gadd, a local government officer, in 1996, and they have four children.[2]
Kelly's maternal grandfather, Philip Murphy, served as an officer in theIrish Republican Army (IRA) during theIrish War of Independence (1919–1921). In 1922 he wasinterned by theGovernment of Northern Ireland. Murphy's detention file refers to him as 'quartermaster of the WestFermanagh IRA Battalion'. He went onhunger strike to protest at his detention. He was released unconditionally in June 1924, when internment ended.[3] Her paternal grandfather Francis (Frank) Kelly joined theConnaught Rangers and served in France during theFirst World War. After the war, he returned toCounty Tyrone and took up a post of School Master in Altishane. His first wife died leaving a young family of six. He remarried Mary Agnes and had another six children. One of them James (Seamus) was Ruth's father.
Kelly is a practisingRoman Catholic, a member of theOpus Dei,[4][5][6] and a regular attender at their meetings and events.[7][8] Her brother, Ronan Kelly, is also a member of the group.[9] Previously, uncertainty existed over Kelly's membership; she declined to say whether or not she was a member, saying only that she had received 'spiritual support' from the organisation.[10]Kelly is Vice President of theCatholic Union of Great Britain.
In the1997 general election, Kelly gained the seat of Bolton West from theConservatives while heavily pregnant, and gave birth to her first son eleven days later. She gained her place in parliament as Tony Blair became Prime Minister with Labour's landslide election victory.
She served on theTreasury Select Committee; she was also appointed asParliamentary Private Secretary to theAgriculture Minister,Nick Brown, from 1998. Kelly was a member of a commission set up by theInstitute for Public Policy Research into thePrivate Finance Initiative, which expressed some scepticism about the operation of the policy.
After Labour won the2001 general election, Kelly was appointed asEconomic Secretary to the Treasury. Her role focused oncompetition policy and small businesses. After a year she was promoted to beFinancial Secretary to the Treasury, giving her responsibility for regulation of the financial services industry. In both positions her principal task was in the thorough revision of the Financial Services regulation system which was introduced by theFinancial Services and Markets Act 2000. Kelly brought in new regulations to tackle the funding ofterrorism afterSeptember 2001 attacks.
Kelly was assigned the task of dealing withEquitable Life after the Penrose Report into the life insurance company was published. She rejected calls for government compensation to Equitable policyholders, on the grounds that the losses arose from actions of the company rather than from any defect of regulation, and that it was still trading. Equitable policyholders continued to demand redress.
As a mother of four young children, she refused to work the long hours normally associated with such positions and refused to take ared box in the evening whilst at the Treasury.[11]
In a minor reshuffle, she was promoted to beMinister for the Cabinet Office on 9 September 2004, replacingDouglas Alexander. Kelly guided theCivil Contingencies Bill through its final stages in Parliament, which faced serious objections from somecivil liberties campaigns.[12]
Kelly hardly ever voted against the position of her party and in the most divisive votes over Labour's term, she followed the party line.[13] She voted for the Iraq War,[14] and subsequently voted against an independent investigation into the run-up to the war.[15] Kelly also voted for the introduction of tuitiontop-up fees,[16] in a vote that saw a massive rebellion amongst Labour MPs. She also voted for the introduction of identity cards,[17] voted for replacing Trident,[18] and argued against the addition of asunset clause in part 2 of theCivil Contingencies Act 2004.[19] In a free parliamentary vote on 20 May 2008, Kelly voted for cutting the upper limit for abortions from 24 to 12 weeks, along with two other Catholic cabinet ministersDes Browne andPaul Murphy.[20]
In the reshuffle following the resignation ofDavid Blunkett on 15 December 2004, Kelly entered theCabinet (also becoming a member of thePrivy Council) with the position ofSecretary of State for Education and Skills. She became the youngest woman ever to sit in the Cabinet.[21]
The Government's Extended Schools policy, which planned to open some schools from 8am to 6pm and provide child-care services for working parents, was dubbed by some as "Kelly hours" after Kelly,[22] although the National Childcare Strategy with before and after-school care funded in most schools by the New Opportunities Fund pre-dated extended schools (and Kelly's ministerial tenure) by several years. The extended schools initiative was predicated on wider use of and access to schools as community resources, not just for parents and children. Her proposals in the 2005white paper to reduce the number and influence ofparent governors intrust schools[23] were seen as a partial reversal of this earlier stance.
Kelly attracted considerable criticism by rejecting the proposals of the Tomlinson report on education reform for the 14–19 age group, which suggested replacingA-level exams with a four-tier diploma.[24] After the 2005 election, it was rumoured that she was to be demoted back into her old post at the Treasury and although she kept her position at the DfES, she was said to have been "less than thrilled" by the appointment of Tony Blair's adviserAndrew Adonis as a Minister within her department.[25]
On 9 January 2006, it came to light that Kelly's department had granted permission for a man who had been cautioned by police for viewingchild pornography images and who was on asex offenders register to be employed at a school, on the basis that he had not been convicted of an offence. He, and an unknown number of others on the sex offenders register, were not on theDfES prohibited list, "List 99".[26]On 13 January,Kim Howells, aMinister of State at the DfES, admitted that it was he who had actually made the decision, in accordance with advice given to him by civil servants that the "person did not represent an ongoing threat to children but that he should be given a grave warning". In response to the critical media coverage surrounding the issue,Downing Street issued a statement confirming their confidence in Kelly and denying rumours that she was to be replaced.[27]
There was further controversy when it transpired that another teacher had been cleared to work at a school, despite the fact that he had been convicted in 1980 forindecent assault on a 15-year-old girl and had been previously removed from three schools. A letter from the Department for Education that suggested the Secretary of State had considered his case and found that although his past actions had been unwise and unacceptable, he had undertaken teaching work to good effect since.[28]
A controversy in Kelly's time at the DfES was the proposed introduction oftrust schools. The Trusts were intended to be non-profit making and to have charitable status, although they could be formed by commercial enterprises. In fact, one of the early DfES-hosted seminars on the establishment of Trusts included representatives fromMicrosoft andKPMG.[29] However, it was their ability to set their own admission arrangements that generated the most criticism.
A large number of Labour backbenchers, as well as numerous party luminaries likeNeil Kinnock and former Education SecretaryEstelle Morris, made known their opposition to the proposals and published an alternative white paper.[30] Faced with such a rebellion, the government initially stressed that it would "press on" with the reforms. However, new Tory leaderDavid Cameron unexpectedly announced that these reforms were in line with Tory policies and that he would support the bill if presented in the proposed form. The government were faced with the prospect of pushing through their reforms only with opposition support and in the face of increased resistance from its own supporters.
When the Education and Inspections Bill 2006 was finally published on 28 February 2006, it contained much of what had been trailed, although most notable by its absence was any mention of "trust school". Foundation and Voluntary Aided schools were left to pick up the mantle of trust schools.
The effect of her religious viewpoint on her opinions regarding controversial scientific questions has been of concern to some scientists who have speculated that her religious views could have an effect on government policy regardingstem cell research.[8]
All four of Kelly's children started at a Roman Catholicprimary school inWapping, east London.[31] However, on 8 January 2007, theDaily Mirror revealed that she had withdrawn her son from thevoluntary aided school, and — following professional advice[32] — sent him to apreparatory school that specialises in the education of boys aged 7–13 withdyslexia and/ordevelopmental coordination disorder.[33] Though the additional cost for specialist support outside the state sector sometimes is covered by the local authority, Kelly stated she has not and will not seek its help in meeting these costs.[32]
According toOfsted inspection in 2002[34] "those withspecial educational needs, make particularly good progress" at English Martyrs Roman Catholic school,[clarification needed] and that pupils generally meet "standards that are much better than those gained by pupils in similar schools". The school achieved the best exam results in the borough ofTower Hamlets[35] and among the best in the UK, with 96% of children reaching the expected standard for English, and 100% for Maths and Science.[36] The area's education authority also runs sixspecial needs schools within reach of Kelly's home and responded to the controversy saying, "We are proud of the quality of education we offer to all children. We have a strong record in helping children with a wide range of learning needs to succeed."[37]
Ian Gibson, Labour MP for Norwich North, called the decision "a slap in the face for the teachers and pupils in the school the child has been taken out of".[38] However, Conservative Party leaderDavid Cameron, whose own disabled son Ivan attended a statespecial needs school,[39] defended her decision, saying "People should recognise that politicians like everyone else are parents first and will act in the best interests of their children".[40]
Kelly made a complaint to thePress Complaints Commission about theMirror's reporting of the story, but the complaint was rejected, with the PCC ruling that the story was "a matter of considerablepublic interest", given that she is "a Cabinet minister – who had previously been Secretary of State for Education and Skills", and "even if government policy included an acceptance of private schooling for those with special needs, the fact that the complainant did not feel that the current state system could meet her child's requirements raised questions about the nature of publicly-funded schooling and its ability to cater for children with special needs – including those whose families would not be able to pay for private schooling."[41]
Twice Kelly has been targeted by members offathers' rights groupFathers 4 Justice in egg-throwing incidents. The first was in April 2005; protester Simon Wilmot-Coverdale was charged, and in February 2006 Kelly gave evidence at Salford Magistrates Court. As she left the court, she was again attacked, this time by Michael Downe; the egg smashed on the back of her head.[42] Downes was fined and given anASBO, which he proceeded to rip up outside the court, promising to continue to fight for fathers' rights.[43]
After theEnglish local elections in May 2006, Kelly was appointedSecretary of State for Communities and Local Government, a position created when these functions were split off from theOffice of the Deputy Prime Minister. The department also took over theHome Office's responsibilities for active communities and civic renewal. She was also given the post ofMinister for Women and Equality. Kelly's successor at theDepartment for Education and Skills wasAlan Johnson.
On 16 October 2006, she announced that her new role would involve cutting down on extremists within communities.[44]
Kelly's staunchly Catholic beliefs and social positions clashed with her Cabinet position as a member of Tony Blair's government, which was pushing for a number of progressive reforms andequality for gay and bisexual people. Criticism intensified when Kelly later becameMinister for Women and Equality, and criticism was aired onBBC Radio 5 Live and the front page ofThe Independent in 2006 over her stance on homosexuality. Blair's government repealed many laws that were perceived as beinganti-gay, but Kelly consistently opted out of voting on her party's measures. Kelly opposed lowering theage of consent for homosexuality, as well as voting against outlawing discrimination againstgay couples adopting children. Out of fourteen votes during the Blair government surrounding the political issues of homosexuality, Kelly had only attended two.[45]
LGBT rights activistPeter Tatchell attacked Kelly for her views on homosexuality, claiming: "Tony Blair would never appoint someone to a race equality post who had a lukewarm record of opposing racism".[46][47] In a letter published inThe Times on 11 May 2006, theCatholic Archbishop of Westminster claimed that attacks on Kelly wereanti-Catholic. CardinalCormac Murphy-O'Connor wrote "Ms Kelly may well be scrutinised for her fitness in office. That is a political judgement. But her Catholicism should not be a criterion in forming that judgement."[48]
The Observer newspaper reported on 15 October 2006 that Kelly had joined the Prime Minister in seeking to exempt churches from new equality laws which would require Christian churches to treat homosexuality withequal validity toheterosexuality, which Kelly felt went against Catholic teaching.[49]Lorely Burt, theLiberal Democrat Equalities spokesperson, who opposed allowing churches to preach against homosexuality in schools, called for Kelly to be removed from the Cabinet.[50] It was reported in January 2007 that Kelly supported an exemption for Catholic adoption agencies from new laws that would allow them to refuse service to gay couples.[51][52]
Kelly demonstrated some opposition to the development of skyscrapers from her first months asSecretary of State for Communities and Local Government. In November 2006, she stopped the Brunswick Quay proposal, which represented over £100 million worth of investment intoLiverpool, from going ahead. The final report of the planners who carried out the public inquiry had recommended approval for the project.[53] In December 2006, she called apublic inquiry into the 20 Fenchurch Street tower inLondon's financial district,[54] on the basis that a tall building would be "unsuitable for this site". In May 2007, she blocked a 42-storey, 120-m tower in theNew England Quarter development inBrighton, designed byAllies and Morrison and being planned by theBeetham Organization.[55][56] She approved the building of new homes and businesses inWalker,Newcastle, in a bid to regenerate the area.
Kelly was appointed to the position in Gordon Brown's new cabinet on 27 June in a government reshuffle, though it had been speculated she would be removed from the cabinet.[citation needed] Within a few days of entering her job, she faced tough work as she was responsible for securing the public's safety through transport after some attempted terrorist attacks. She came under fire for admitting along with other Labour Ministers that she had smokedcannabis as a teenager.[57]
Kelly's support for biofuels drew criticism from activists who felt that it impoverishes third world farmers to assuage first world environmental guilt. "If people starve because of biofuels, Ruth Kelly and her peers will have killed them," wrote environmentalistGeorge Monbiot inThe Guardian. "Like all such crimes, it is perpetrated by cowards, attacking the weak to avoid confronting the strong."[58]
Kelly announced a major increase of railway capacity by providing extra trains across the country by 2010 which drew criticism for her London bias as most of the funding would be spent there.[59] She gave the go-ahead in 2007 for billions of pounds of public money to be spent on theCrossrail project in London, which caused outrage amongst MPs in other cities, especiallyManchester, who had been told that no public transport funding would be given without acongestion charge scheme.[60]
Kelly set out proposals for a third runway and a sixth terminal at Heathrow under new extensive plans.[61] Gordon Brown admitted this was one of the biggest challenges which faced the UK Government over the coming years.[62][63]
In November 2007 it emerged that Kelly had misused part of her £10,000 communications allowance for party political material. The funds should have only been used for politically neutral material, and Kelly apologised for breaking the rules.[64]
In September 2008, Kelly announced her intention to resign from the cabinet to spend more time with her family. This ended her time as Transport Secretary and cabinet minister after four years.[65] She did not stand at the2010 general election.[66]Damian McBride, a former senior Labour Party strategist, was shifted from being Gordon Brown's political spokesman to Number 10, after criticism of the way he handled Kelly's resignation.[67]
On 18 May 2009, Kelly became involved in theMPs' expenses scandal when theDaily Telegraph revealed she had claimed a total of £31,000 between 2004 and 2008 for rebuilding, refurbishing, and purchasing appliances for her second home. It was subsequently revealed on 21 May 2009 that some of this money was used to repair damage caused by a burst pipe. Kelly was insured for this damage but did not claim on that insurance after being advised by the fees office that a reasonable amount could be claimed under the allowances system.[68]
In May 2010, Kelly became the Global Head of Client Strategy atHSBC.[69]In 2015, Kelly left HSBC and was appointed to become Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Enterprise atSt Mary's University,Twickenham.[70] Kelly has since left St Mary's University and now[when?] works for theVatican on its financial portfolio. In 2010, Kelly supportedDavid Miliband for the leadership of theLabour Party over his brother,Ed. In 2018, she left theLabour Party over the leadership ofJeremy Corbyn after nearly thirty years of membership.[citation needed] In 2022 Kelly joined the right-leaning think tankPolicy Exchange.[71] Kelly replaced Anthony Ferrar as chair ofWater UK in March 2023.[72]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forBolton West 1997–2010 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Economic Secretary to the Treasury 2001–2002 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Financial Secretary to the Treasury 2002–2004 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for Education and Skills 2004–2006 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded byasMinister of State for Communities and Local Government | Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 2006–2007 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Women 2006–2007 | Succeeded byas Minister for Women and Equality |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for Transport 2007–2008 | Succeeded by |
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