Amelia Lockhart

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Amelia Lockhart
Posts: 53
Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2020 1:00 pm
Constituency: Great Grimsby
XP: 7
Trait(s): None
Discord username: Croslandfan

Amelia Lockhart

Post by Amelia Lockhart »

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Name: Amelia Lockhart
Age: 65 (b. 02/01/1936)
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: White
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Religion: Church of England
Avatar: Elizabeth Warren
Discord Username: Croslandfan

Education: BA Sociology, University of Hull; MA, University of York; PhD, University of York
Career: Academic

Party: Labour
Constituency: Great Grimsby
Faction: Blairite
Parliamentary Career: MP for Great Grimsby (1992 – Present); Member, Department of National Heritage Select Committee (1993 – 1994); Opposition Spokesperson on Health (1994 – 1997); Minister for Public Health (1997 – 1999); Secretary of State for Health (1999 – ).

Bio: Born to Mr Henry Lockhart and Mrs Sophie Lockhart (nee Clynes) on the 2nd January 1936, Amelia was their only child. Her parents worked in the Grimsby’s fishing industry, with her father working on the fleet and her mother in the processing factories. While her family was not prosperous in those first few years of Amelia’s life, they were not destitute either.

But the start of World War Two changed all that. Mr Lockhart continued to work as part of the fishing fleet during World War Two, while many of his friends served in the Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy. This did not save him from action or injury in the North Sea. From December 1939, the Luftwaffe started attacking unarmed fishing vessels with bombs and machine guns. At the height of the Battle of Britain, when the Humber – particularly Hull – was a target for attacks, Mr Lockhart’s vessel was attacked and sunk. He was the only survivor – and injured below the waist. Following the attack, Mr Lockhart never had sustained employment again. He was too unwell to work on the fleet or in the factories that dotted around Grimsby and the local area. The family was dependent upon financial assistance from the new welfare state, and Mrs Lockhart’s job.

Despite the financial difficulties faced by her parents, Amelia was a bright and intelligent child at school. Her parents recognised the importance of education and pushed her to do well at school, eventually going to the local grammar school. When choosing where to go to university, Amelia wanted to stay local to her parents and choose the University of Hull which was on the very of rapid expansion. She attended the university at the same time as John Prescott, the MP for Hull East but they never met. He studied economics and economic history, while she studied sociology.

Following her BA, Amelia went to the University of York to gain her MA and PhD, both in sociology. Her PhD looked at the impact of the fishing industry on communities across the United Kingdom, and how their relationship with the sea influences political values. After completing her PhD, Amelia returned to the University of Hull – and stayed in academia until her election to Parliament in 1992.

In 1970 Amelia met Stephen Granger, a journalist with the Hull Daily Mail. While initially put off by his request for a drink during an interview, Amelia quickly saw it as an opportunity for free booze and relented. They married in 1973, during the three-day week – but Amelia didn’t change her surname on marriage. They have one child: Olivia, born in 1976.

While at the University of Hull as an academic in the 1970s and 1980s, Amelia published a number of key contributions to the debate on declining industry, poverty, and inner-city communities. She particularly focused on the fishing industry, picking up themes from her early life and PhD. These studies highlighted the impact of the Cod Wars on Hull and Grimsby, and how both places were abandoned by the Government to economic forces and community collapse. Her most famous study in 1985 was titled: Sleep with the Fishes, after the Godfather quote. She became a powerful critic of the Thatcher Government, seeing the attacks on the coal industry as risking the same consequences as those experienced by Hull and Grimsby. Her increasingly strident attacks turned her into a public intellectual, with frequent newspaper articles in left-wing newspapers.

Amelia didn’t join the Labour Party until relatively late in life, following the 1987 election. Her colleagues encouraged her to do so, and she quickly became a leading light in the Fabian Society which she joined at the same time. She contributed to a number of pamphlets and panel discussions on how Labour can win again, on an education policy fit for the future, on tackling inequalities, and on the European Union.

When Austin Mitchell stood down as MP for Great Grimsby because of ill-health in 1992, Amelia was seen as a frontrunner for the nomination. Popular with the CLP due to her focus on Grimsby in her research, she won convincingly on the first ballot – and became the first female MP for the constituency.

Following her election as MP– and Labour’s fourth successive election defeat – Amelia became a ‘moderniser’. She argued that Labour could not be a force for good in Grimsby if it was not a force for good in southern England and able to win an election. Following John Smith’s death in 1994, she became a strident support of Tony Blair who she claims to agree with on everything except the Euro - pointing to her Fabian pamphlet: Europe Doesn't Solve Everything. Her support was rewarded with a promotion into the Official Opposition as Shadow Spokesperson on Health, the most junior role within the shadow team. She remained there until Labour’s victory in 1997, serving under three different Shadow Secretaries of State for Health.

Following Labour’s landslide victory, Amelia became the first Minister for Public Health. She focused on improving health and reducing inequalities, and published a Green paper called 'Our Healthier Nation'. Her parliamentary speech on this garnered significant praise from the sector and the Labour Party. Seen as a safe pair of hands, and a trusted ally of the Prime Minister, she was promoted to Secretary of State for Health in 1999 with a focus on reduction in waiting times and delivering modernisation in the NHS.

Total points used: 95
Female: 10
Married with 1 child: 0
56 when elected: 0
Church of England: 0
Attended grammar school: 7
Bachelors: 0
Masters: 5
Doctorate: 10
Working class: 0
Mid-level Professor: 10+15
Public intellectual: 5
Ground-breaking work: 10
MP cost: 1992 – 1997: free; 1997 – 2001: 2
Delivered key speech on health inequalities as Public Health Minister: 3
Shadow Health Spokesperson: 5
Public Health Minister: 6
Secretary of State for Health: 7
Amelia Lockhart
Labour Party
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (2001 - )
MP for Great Grimsby (1992 - )

Deputy Prime Minister (2001 - )
Secretary of State for Business, Transport and Social Mobility (2001 - )


Secretary of State for Health (1999 - 2001)
Minister of State for Public Health (1997 - 1999)
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Barclay A.A. Stanley
Posts: 249
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2020 1:26 pm
Constituency: Macclesfield
XP: 0
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Discord username: @BarclayCalhoun#5933

Re: Amelia Lockhart

Post by Barclay A.A. Stanley »

Approved: 4 XP
Lt. Col. Sir Barclay A.A. Stanley, Rtd., KBE
Member of Parliament for Macclesfield

Armed with nothing but a pint of gin, Sir Barclay went to battle against the forces of Communism, Socialism, and Liberalism.
User avatar
Amelia Lockhart
Posts: 53
Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2020 1:00 pm
Constituency: Great Grimsby
XP: 7
Trait(s): None
Discord username: Croslandfan

Re: Amelia Lockhart

Post by Amelia Lockhart »

Signing out.
Amelia Lockhart
Labour Party
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (2001 - )
MP for Great Grimsby (1992 - )

Deputy Prime Minister (2001 - )
Secretary of State for Business, Transport and Social Mobility (2001 - )


Secretary of State for Health (1999 - 2001)
Minister of State for Public Health (1997 - 1999)
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