Elizabeth Margaret Trust was born October 13, 1975 in Cambridge, England to Dr. John Trust, an economics professor and Liberal Councillor, and Mary-Anne Trust (née Cowper), a public school teacher. Elizabeth split her youth between her mother’s family home in Dumbartonshire, Scotland and her own family residence in Cambridgeshire, where her father was a professor of Economics at the university. Of her childhood, Elizabeth remarked that she was “incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to grow up on both sides of the northern border.”
Elizabeth was educated at St. Mary’s School in Cambridgeshire, where she would excel in literature. She would then go on to read PPE at Newnham College, Cambridge. At the girls’ college, Elizabeth allegedly had a relationship with TV presenter, Clare Balding, who was 4 years her senior but in her year. Though they both deny having had a romantic involvement, Balding has acknowledged that the two were “very close” during those years, and that “Elizabeth was one of the first people at Cambridge who knew I was gay.”
Trust had been a Liberal Democrat, like her father, when she went to Cambridge, even serving as Secretary of the University of Cambridge Liberal Association; but in late 1994, Trust resigned her role and left the Lib. Dems to join Tony Blair’s “new” Labour Party. She would eventually go on to serve as Chair of the Cambridge University Labour Club in 1996. Trust completed her studies at Cambridge earning a 2:1 honours degree.
She began her career as a Special Assistant to Patricia Hewitt (1997-2002), following from her constituency office to the Ministry of Women. In 2002, Trust was offered a position with the Institute for Public Policy Research, becoming an Associate Director for Health and Social Care. In 2006, Trust would return to government work, taking on a role as Special Advisor to Harriet Harman, working in the Deputy Leader’s Office until 2010.
In 2010, with the blessing of her once-boss, Trust was chosen to be Labour’s candidate in the constituency of Leicester West. She was duly elected and has been the MP for the seat ever since. With the resignation of Gordon Brown following electoral defeat, Trust was in the envious position of having her former employer now serving as leader of the party.
Harriet Harman, who had employed Trust for four years and campaigned for her in the general election, was now in the leader’s office, albeit temporarily. Nevertheless, Trust’s relationship with Harman proved useful, and Elizabeth was made Shadow Secretary of State for Transport. In 2011, she was shuffled by Miliband to serve as Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, delivering a keynote address at the Manchester Policy Week, a speech which gained her some notoriety for her charming and whimsical style. She remained at International Development until 2015.
With the election of Jeremy Corbyn to the leadership of the party, Trust was removed from the Shadow Cabinet. She alleges that she offered to continue in the post of International Development, but that she was told by text message that Corbyn had decided to go with a different MP. Having returned to the backbenches, Elizabeth was able to cultivate her image as a charming, slightly geeky and entirely sincere woman with ideological tendencies that ran across the party's factions. She made several television appearances, featuring regularly on Question Time; and she has come to be regarded as a leading spokesperson for the non-Momentum wing of the Labour Party.
Elizabeth married Peter Lane (b. 1973) in July of 1998. The couple have two children, Eleanor and Patrick, and they have a cocker spaniel named Davey. In addition to their family home in Leicestershire, Elizabeth holds her mother's family home in Dumbartonshire, Scotland, and rents a flat in London for work purposes. Peter is an architect with a London-based firm, but works out of Leicester. When she is not working, Elizabeth can often be found at the football ground. She is a supporter of Leicester City.
Memberships and Affiliations
Labour and Cooperative Parties
Labour Together
Labour For the Common Good
Fabian Society
Labour Women’s Network
Tribune Group
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