Fiona Mactaggart
Encyclopedia
Fiona Margaret Mactaggart (born 12 September 1953) is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

, who has been the Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for Slough
Slough (UK Parliament constituency)
Slough is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...

 since 1997
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...

.

Early life

While at university, she was an outspoken member of the Young Students and Socialists Society and sought to live down her school days at the private Cheltenham Ladies' College
Cheltenham Ladies' College
The Cheltenham Ladies' College is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.-History:The school was founded in 1853...

. She read for a BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 in English at King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...

, an MA
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 at the Institute of Education, Bloomsbury
Institute of Education
The Institute of Education is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom specialised in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It is the largest education research body in the United Kingdom, with...

 and a PGCE
Postgraduate Certificate in Education
The Postgraduate Certificate in Education is a one-year course in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for undergraduate degree holders that allows them to train to be a teacher....

 at Goldsmiths, University of London.

She was Vice-President and National Secretary of the National Union of Students from 1978 to 1981. She was Press and Public Relations Officer for the National Council of Voluntary Organisation (NCVO) for six months before being General Secretary of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants from 1982-87. She was a primary school teacher in Peckham
Peckham
Peckham is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...

 from 1987-92, noting "I have a voice that children can hear at the other end of the playground".

Mactaggart was a councillor and Leader of the Labour Group on Wandsworth Council
London Borough of Wandsworth
The London Borough of Wandsworth is a London borough in southwest London, England, and forms part of Inner London.-History:The borough was formed in 1965 from the former area of the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea and much of the former area of the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth, but...

 from 1988 to 1990. From 1992-7, she was a Lecturer in Primary Education
Primary education
A primary school is an institution in which children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...

 at the Institute of Education and Chair of Liberty
Liberty (pressure group)
Liberty is a pressure group based in the United Kingdom. Its formal name is the National Council for Civil Liberties . Founded in 1934 by Ronald Kidd and Sylvia Crowther-Smith , the group campaigns to protect civil liberties and promote human rights...

. While a primary school teacher, she decided to become an MP, as being able to change the world "thirty kids at a time" seemed too slow for her. She is a feminist.

Parliamentary career

Mactaggart was elected as Labour MP for Slough in 1997. She was selected to stand for election for Labour through an all-women shortlist
All-women shortlists
The use of all-women shortlists is the political practice intended to increase the proportion of female Members of Parliament in the United Kingdom by allowing only women to stand in particular constituencies for a particular political party. Though the practice is available to all parties, only...

. This method of selection was subsequently declared illegal in January 1996 as it breached sex discrimination laws, Despite the ruling she remained in place as the candidate for the following year's election.

From May 2003 until she asked to leave her post in the 5 May 2006 Cabinet reshuffle, she served at the Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...

 as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State with responsibility for Criminal Justice
Criminal justice
Criminal Justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts...

, Race Equality and Communities and then Offender Management.

In 2004 MacTaggart attracted criticism for a reluctance to condemn violent protests by Sikhs which led to the cancellation of the play Behzti
Behzti
Behzti is a play written by the British Sikh playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti. The play sparked a controversy in the United Kingdom in December 2004. A controversial scene set in a Gurdwara included scenes of rape, physical abuse and murder. Some members of the Sikh community found the play deeply...

 at the Birmingham Rep. 1,000 protesters stormed the production, set in a temple, at the opening of the curtain, speaking on BBC Radio 4 MacTaggart stated "I think that when people are moved by theatre to protest, in a way that's a sign of the free speech which is so much part of the British tradition. I think that it's a great thing that people care enough about a performance to protest." Mactaggart also suggested the play and its author would benefit from the violent protests, adding that the controversy was "a sign of a lively flourishing cultural life."

In November 2008, MacTaggart attracted criticism on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

's Today in Parliament programme for using unreliable statistics that were not fully supported by evidence when discussing the issue of prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...

. Mactaggart was asked how those criminalised by a new law were supposed to know if a prostitute had been trafficked or not. She replied "I think they can guess", "something like 80% of women in prostitution are controlled by their drug dealer, their pimp, or their trafficker." When questioned on her claim she stated that it "came from an official Government publication into prostitution and the sex trade". However, a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 magazine article states that "it is impossible to find that number in any research done on this subject." The Home Office have also stated that they "do not endorse or use the figure that 80 per cent of prostitutes are controlled by others". The controversy continued in January 2009 with MacTaggart told the House of Commons that she regarded all women prostitutes as the victims of trafficking, because their route into the sector "almost always involves coercion, enforced addiction to drugs and violence from their pimps or traffickers." Again this claim is not supported by any known research.

In May 2011 McTaggart was criticised by the Association of Political Thought for calling the some of the views of London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...

 professor of political and gender theory Anne Phillips
Anne Phillips
Anne Phillips is Professor of Political and Gender Theory at the London School of Economics , where she is based at the Gender Institute and Government Department.-Profile:...

 "frankly nauseating" because of her supposed support for prostitution. This assessment was based on the existence of a question on an LSE reading list about the ethical differences between legal waged labour and prostitution. Mactaggart had previously caused controversy with her hard-line approach to the issue of prostitution by comparing men who use prostitutes to abusers of children, stating "I don't think most men who use prostitutes think of themselves as child abusers
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...

, but they are".

Personal life

Her father, the late Sir Ian Mactaggart Bt
Mactaggart Baronets
The Mactaggart Baronetcy, of King's Park in the City of Glasgow, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 2 February 1938 for John Mactaggart. He was a housing expert and the co-founder of the building firm Mactaggart & Mickel. The second Baronet was Managing Director...

, was a multimillionaire Glasgow property developer, Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 candidate and Eurosceptic
Euroscepticism
Euroscepticism is a general term used to describe criticism of the European Union , and opposition to the process of European integration, existing throughout the political spectrum. Traditionally, the main source of euroscepticism has been the notion that integration weakens the nation state...

. Her mother's father, Sir Herbert Williams Bt, was a Conservative Member of Parliament for 27 years. Her great-grandfather however was Sir John Mactaggart, the first treasurer of the first branch of Keir Hardie
Keir Hardie
James Keir Hardie, Sr. , was a Scottish socialist and labour leader, and was the first Independent Labour Member of Parliament elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

's Labour Party. Her father left her a fifth of his £6.5m estate
Estate (law)
An estate is the net worth of a person at any point in time. It is the sum of a person's assets - legal rights, interests and entitlements to property of any kind - less all liabilities at that time. The issue is of special legal significance on a question of bankruptcy and death of the person...

, and it is thought she is the second richest Labour MP. Critics often make an issue of MacTaggart's huge wealth, with journalist Benedict Brogan describing her as "a Scottish laird who is as wealthy as she is humourless".

MacTaggart owns three homes, one in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, one on the Isle of Islay and also a flat in Slough. She suffers from multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...

 and is an ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer is a cancerous growth arising from the ovary. Symptoms are frequently very subtle early on and may include: bloating, pelvic pain, difficulty eating and frequent urination, and are easily confused with other illnesses....

 survivor. Her sister stood as a Parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...

 in Devizes
Devizes
Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The town is about southeast of Chippenham and about east of Trowbridge.Devizes serves as a centre for banks, solicitors and shops, with a large open market place where a market is held once a week...

 in the 1992 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 1992
The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...

.

External links

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